steel cut oats confused

bosanka
bosanka Posts: 336 Member
edited September 2024 in Food and Nutrition
bit confused -
1 cup of dry s.c. oatmeal - is not the same amount you get when you cook it- :)

cooked 1 cup of it today with 3 cups of water and got about 4 cups of oatmeal.
so which amount do i go buy ? is it still " 1 cup " because that's how much i put into it... or do you measure 1 cup of cooked oatmeal ? i'm a little confused now.. in the database when i search for it you get 3/4 cups dry- .. or 1 cup dry.. but if i eat 1 cup of cooked.. out of the " 4 " cups i got out of the 1 cup dry.. ?

i hope someone understands my twisted question :)

THank you for your help

Replies

  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
    One cup is a LOT.

    Serving size for steel cut oats is 1/4 cup DRY. That is 150 calories.

    If you eat regular old fashioned oats the serving size is 1/2 cup DRY. That is also 150 calories.
  • BrentGetsFit
    BrentGetsFit Posts: 878 Member
    I see what you mean though I never really thought about it. I would use the nutrition info for dry since that what you actually used. The dry oats soaked up the liquid and expanded in volume, same amount just taking up more space.
  • RaeannePemberton
    RaeannePemberton Posts: 382 Member
    weigh it in grams, and use the label to see how much one serving is. :) weigh it dry using a food scale.
  • dlaplume2
    dlaplume2 Posts: 1,658 Member
    Your cooking it with water. Water won't add calories only volume. You don't need to eat it all either, that;s a lot of oatmeal.
  • bosanka
    bosanka Posts: 336 Member
    Well i'm not cooking the 1 cup for " one meal" - more like to put it in fridge and have it ready for 2-3 days .. :) it needs like 20 minutes to get cooked and i don't have that time on Monday am- so i just made some for tomorrow ..
  • reese66
    reese66 Posts: 2,920 Member
    It's one cup! The water adds no calories just volume.
  • MzBug
    MzBug Posts: 2,173 Member
    Most dry foods give nutritional information for just the dry food, not anything else you may add to it. When you measure out the 1 cup of oats, add 3 cups of plain water, the calories will be the same because water does not add calories. If you measured out the same cup of oats and used milk instead to cook it, you would have to add the dry oats calories to the calories for the 3 cups of milk to get your total calories for the entire pot. At that point if you only ate 1/4 of the total pot (1 cup cooked) you would divide the total pot cals by 4 to get the cals per serving.

    Some packaged foods will give you 2 amounts on the labels, one for dry package and the other for "prepared as directed". So if you follow the directions and only add what they say to add you can use that label for nutritional information.

    Edit: Pssst...if you want to cheat on the steel cut oats, start the pot on the stove the night before. Bring it to a boil for 2-5 minutes, cover and remove from heat. Let it sit on the cold stove overnight. In the morning you can just scoop and nuke what you want and put the rest in the fridge. No more waiting for it to cook all the way.
  • runrgrl3
    runrgrl3 Posts: 4
    I usually make 1 cup dry (which yields 4 cups in the end). Package it in to 4 containers & eat it for breakfast each day. 1/4 cup dry (1 cup prepared) should be about 140 cal.
  • bosanka
    bosanka Posts: 336 Member
    Thank you for the expl. it makes sense :) I bought it bulk from a farmer's market so i don't have a label.. don' t know how many kcls etc..
  • kdipronio
    kdipronio Posts: 1 Member
    I cook 1 cup of dry with 4 cups of water every Sunday to eat during the week. After refrigeration, I cut it into 5 roughly equal pieces and put into separate microwaveable bowls. I am now ready for the work week. I love adding a half cup of plain or vanilla Greek yogurt and fresh fruit. I feel like I'm eating blueberry or blackberry cobbler for breakfast. Fantastic!
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