I'm confused about couscous

I log it for cooked, and that's the brand I normally make. 1/4 cup of uncooked couscous is a lot.

I have the same problem with pasta and rice too. These carbs are all around 100 cals / 100 grams when cooked, and around 250- 300 calories for the same units of uncooked food (assuming you don't add any fats or other "additives").

The dried grain/ grain products absorb water on cooking so 100 grams when uncooked becomes 250 - 300 grams, depending how long you cook it. Do you have your pasta "al dente" or "soggy", for example?

I came back to say that I checked the database here and at least one entry specifies that it refers to cooked couscous. Have a look - the high calorie entries are for raw couscous.

Also edited to correct units!

I hate that the nutritional information is for DRY rather than cooked - who is going to eat it dry - or only make 1/4 cup out of the box??? Even if I was single I'd make the whole thing and eat leftovers.

However, that being said - my husband told me to figure double when cooked (he's a chef so I'll trust him on it since it seems hard to find and it's a good place to start) So 1/4 dry become 1/2 cup cooked.

dry. What it says on the box is meant to be the uncooked measurement or weight, unless it specifically says "prepared" or "cooked" or something along those lines. This is true for rice as well as pasta. Because cooking methods can vary so widely, they have to give the nutrition info based on the uncooked product or there would be less than zero accuracy and everybody'd be crying foul.

Oh wow! I've been cheating myself out of couscous and other things.... I always thought it was cooked....
I wonder if Quinoa's the same? I love Quinoa...

Yep, same deal. Same too with all the other grain type stuff - amaranth, farrow, spelt, oats, etc etc.... Cool that you get to eat more now huh!!

OMG!!! I am totally eating half a cup cooked now! FFS!! I learn something new every day, thanx everyone lol

I hate that the nutritional information is for DRY rather than cooked - who is going to eat it dry - or only make 1/4 cup out of the box??? Even if I was single I'd make the whole thing and eat leftovers.

However, that being said - my husband told me to figure double when cooked (he's a chef so I'll trust him on it since it seems hard to find and it's a good place to start) So 1/4 dry become 1/2 cup cooked.

I just measure out portions, I'll do like 4 portions so 1 cup, then I weigh the food once it's cooked, and then I dived the cooked grams by 4 and I just eat one of the portions, it's not super hard, but it took me a little bit to get used to.

Its been hard for me to get used to not just cooking a ton of food, and just eating, but it's working so I'm not going to complain.

Wow, that would be amazing!! :happy: