Weighing food

dointhis4me
dointhis4me Posts: 52 Member
in Food and Nutrition
My bf and I are having a disagreement and I thought I might get the community's opinion. He thinks I should weigh food before I cook it, I think I should weigh it after. I guess his logic is that 'everyone does it that way'. Mine is that when the ham I eat weighs 3oz before I cook it, and then 2.5oz after I cook it... I would want to record 2.5 because that's what I'm actually ingesting.

What are your thoughts?

Replies

  • navyrigger46
    navyrigger46 Posts: 1,301 Member
    Most things before (meats especially,) few things after, some things both (like pasta.)

    Rigger
  • AngelaBianco82
    AngelaBianco82 Posts: 91 Member
    I weigh after but that's because it's easier for me.....I don't want to use a plate to weigh it raw and than use another plate to eat it....I think it doesn't matter as long as you are recording the right info....I use the site for cooked items.

    http://nutritiondata.self.com
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Ideally, before, as some things don't always weigh the same when cooked (like pasta), but as long as you use the proper entry, in the end it doesn't make a huge difference.

    Typically though, unless the nutrition labels says 'cooked', it's the nutrition info for the raw product, so you should weigh it raw.
  • james6998
    james6998 Posts: 743 Member
    Just be careful, cooked food is more calories, meaning 200 grams of chicken might be 200 calories, raw, 200 grams of cooked chicken might acutally be 250-300 calories, depending on what weight was lost in the cooking process. So 200 grams of cooked chicken didn't start out at 200 grams of raw chicken.
  • steffipaulina
    steffipaulina Posts: 161
    After? because everything else is weighed like that?

    It would only make sense for butchers to weigh raw because they're sellring it in that form. But if you're watching your intake you would weigh after because that's what's going into your body. - That's how I see it anyways.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    My bf and I are having a disagreement and I thought I might get the community's opinion. He thinks I should weigh food before I cook it, I think I should weigh it after. I guess his logic is that 'everyone does it that way'. Mine is that when the ham I eat weighs 3oz before I cook it, and then 2.5oz after I cook it... I would want to record 2.5 because that's what I'm actually ingesting.

    What are your thoughts?
    Calorie counts for meats are usually pre-cooked weights.
  • magtart
    magtart Posts: 161 Member
    I weigh before if I am making a recipe, otherwise I weigh after.
  • ChrisM8971
    ChrisM8971 Posts: 1,067 Member
    Calories for uncooked food are generally constant for the weight, after cooking they are more variable due to weight variation.

    Meat loses moisture so loses weight but the calories don't go anywhere so after cooking has more calories per gram. How many more depends on how much moisture is lost and that depends on a variety of things

    Pasta weighs more after cooking because it absorbs water, again how much depends on the type of pasta, how long you cook it etc.

    So for me uncooked weights give the most accurate calories.

    That being said it is sometimes impractical to weigh uncooked, say if you are doing pasta for the whole family
  • smn76237
    smn76237 Posts: 318 Member
    Typically weigh everything in its raw, uncooked form. Different levels of moisture will be cooked in/out of the product depending on how long you cook it.

    Pasta should always be measured dry because it will always absorb various amounts of water during cooking.

    For example, if we both start with 200g of raw chicken, you might cook yours much longer and end up with 100g of cooked chicken (because the longer you cook it, the more moisture comes out), whereas I might end up with 150g of cooked chicken because I cook it for less time. Yet we both started with the same amount of raw chicken.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    Weight it before cooking whenever possible to be the most accurate.
  • freezerburn2012
    freezerburn2012 Posts: 273 Member
    Typically weigh everything in its raw, uncooked form. Different levels of moisture will be cooked in/out of the product depending on how long you cook it.

    Pasta should always be measured dry because it will always absorb various amounts of water during cooking.

    For example, if we both start with 200g of raw chicken, you might cook yours much longer and end up with 100g of cooked chicken (because the longer you cook it, the more moisture comes out), whereas I might end up with 150g of cooked chicken because I cook it for less time. Yet we both started with the same amount of raw chicken.

    ^This!
  • Hondo_Man
    Hondo_Man Posts: 114 Member
    The only "confusing" problem I am encountering is when counting macros and using the Daily Food Diary. When you add 100gr of chicken breast, is the data for cooked or uncooked? It doesn't always indicate such.

    When I purchase packaged chicken, it is usually 500gr raw. After it is all cooked, I then divide the cooked chicken into five portions. But again, Nutrition Content it not always clear on macros for cooked versus uncooked.
  • 81Katz
    81Katz Posts: 7,074 Member
    search for cooked or raw. Use the USDA listings, they usually list cooked or raw, baked or grilled, etc.
  • GlitterrMagpie
    GlitterrMagpie Posts: 302 Member
    I usually check on the label / website to see if the calorie count per 100g is for cooked or uncooked. For the pasta I use, 75g uncooked is the same as 200g cooked.
  • Hondo_Man
    Hondo_Man Posts: 114 Member
    I am living in Germany. We don't have the USDA here. Our packages are different. Also, as I am adding German foods in the diary... same difference.
  • ahviendha
    ahviendha Posts: 1,291 Member
    i weigh before. who has time to weigh stuff when it's hot and ready to be eaten?!
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    I weigh after but that's because it's easier for me.....I don't want to use a plate to weigh it raw and than use another plate to eat it....I think it doesn't matter as long as you are recording the right info....I use the site for cooked items.

    http://nutritiondata.self.com

    Tare the pot or bake dish. Unless the cooking container is already hot, I seldom need another container to weigh raw meat.
  • craftywitch_63
    craftywitch_63 Posts: 829 Member
    I weigh before. It seems more consistent.
  • knra_grl
    knra_grl Posts: 1,566 Member
    depends on what you are making? If I am making something with lots of ingredients I enter all the ingredients raw in the recipe calculator and figure out how many servings then I weigh or measure it after it's cooked

    If I am making steamed veg I weigh it after

    if I am making a roast you kind of have to weigh it after to get your portion amount

    When I made beef and turkey sliders I weighed all the meat before and weighed the raw slider before and after (so each would be the same amount of cals) once was cooked the weight per slider was substantially lower due to fat/water loss in the meat but I still went with the before amount of cal (really how can you figure out how many cals were lost through the cooking process of something like that?)

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