Question re calories in meat cooked v uncooked?

AapeGirl
AapeGirl Posts: 3
edited February 15 in Food and Nutrition
(No, Im not eating raw meat).

Hi There, virgin poster!

Im new to MFP and are finding it great with the new improvements with the barcode scanner etc.

I have a problem, however, when trying to work out calories of meat.

So hubby doesn't need to watch calories as he is active enough in daily lifestyle to burn what he eats and never seems to put on weight (yeah, I know, he sucks!).

He brings home a boerewors sausage yesterday and Im trying to work out how much I can have. The label says 1296kj per 100gm. Is that 100gm before cooking or after cooking? Cos when meat, sausages, mince etc get cooked, some fat and some water cooks out of the food, so a portion would weight less.

WDYT?

Replies

  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    If the meat comes in a package uncooked, then the label on the package will always provide nutritional information for a serving of uncooked meat. In this case, the nutritional information for the sausage will be for 100 grams of uncooked sausage.
  • cwsreddy
    cwsreddy Posts: 998 Member
    before cooking - the weight that gets lost is mostly water, you got it. :)
  • AapeGirl
    AapeGirl Posts: 3
    Thanks AJ, that's been stumping me for a while.

    Does the same rule apply to pasta and rice as well? The packet gives you a weight and kj value, but then once cooked, the rice/pasta would have absorbed water making the same amount heavier. Does the weight/kj value apply to cooked or uncooked rice/pasta?

    If your cooking for one, then that's fine to weigh your portion then cook, then you know what your getting. But Im cooking for a family of five, its un realistic for me to cook my portion separately.
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    Thanks AJ, that's been stumping me for a while.

    Does the same rule apply to pasta and rice as well? The packet gives you a weight and kj value, but then once cooked, the rice/pasta would have absorbed water making the same amount heavier. Does the weight/kj value apply to cooked or uncooked rice/pasta?

    If your cooking for one, then that's fine to weigh your portion then cook, then you know what your getting. But Im cooking for a family of five, its un realistic for me to cook my portion separately.

    Yes, the same rule applies for pasta and rice. It will always give you nutritional information for the state that the food is in, in the container in which it is sold. If you're cooking for your family and you want to figure out what your portion will be, you can always do it this way depending on how strong your math skills are. Weigh the entire portion you're cooking for the family uncooked before you cook it and write that number down. When you're done cooking it, weigh the entire family portion again and write that second number down. Finally, weigh out the portion that you're going to eat for yourself. The resulting equation looks like this:

    (Total cooked weight) / (Total raw weight) = (your portion cooked weight) / (uncooked weight of your portion)

    The only unknown in the above equation is the uncooked weight of your portion, so to find that multiply your portion cooked weight by the total raw weight, and divide that answer by the total cooked weight to figure out the uncooked weight of your portion. I apologize if this is extremely confusing, but it's the only real way I know how to do it.
  • Kimmers411
    Kimmers411 Posts: 44 Member
    Here is a thread I found on pasta that has a lot of good input... http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/203908-dry-pasta-measurement-vs-cooked-pasta-barilla-plus-help
  • AapeGirl
    AapeGirl Posts: 3
    That's great, thanks Kimmers and AJ.

    I like their comments about measuring in cups or by weight. Id much rather measure by weight than by cup size but MFP has ALOT of items in cups. Grrr!
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