Weighing Ice Cream in Canada

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recoveryroad24
recoveryroad24 Posts: 6 Member
in Food and Nutrition
hey guys

As most Canadians on here know when purchasing ice cream in Canada; it can be hard for those wanting to weigh our food to input and receive the accurate nutrition, to figure out a serving of the ice cream.

Do any other fellow Canadians have any suggestions/tips/tricks they've figured out to be able to weigh that darn ice cream from CAN companies like Nestle, Chapman's, Breyer's CA, etc?

So far I've contacted Nestle and Breyer's Canada to see if they also had the gram measurements of those servings on the sides of the CAN labels and both seemed confused/annoyed as to why a consumer would care? :\

Replies

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Check the database, some flavors might be entered in grams in there. Or you could ask on the forums probably, or check the US site to see if they post nutrition information there?
  • sjaplo
    sjaplo Posts: 974 Member
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    Surely its on the nutrition label on the side like everything else?
  • jdhcm2006
    jdhcm2006 Posts: 2,254 Member
    edited January 2015
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    sjaplo wrote: »
    Surely its on the nutrition label on the side like everything else?

    Not to be snarky, but I'm assuming she/he checked the label first before asking this question and contacting the companies for the gram equivalent.

    But JIC, OP did you check the label? It sometimes has the grams in parenthesis.

    Update: checking the Canadian Haagen Dazs website shows serving sizes in measurements of "cup" and "ml" not "g"
  • sjaplo
    sjaplo Posts: 974 Member
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    I just checked - they are in mls instead of grams, but they nutrition label is there. OP I would just treat it as a liquid and measure is that way. It is a liquid actually - a frozen liquid.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
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    sjaplo wrote: »
    Surely its on the nutrition label on the side like everything else?

    Ice cream in Canada is, for some reason, only ever in ml, not grams, which makes it difficult to count accurately.

    The last time I had ice cream I just looked up a similar flavour with the same number of calories in an American brand that showed the weight and used that to know how much 125 ml of my ice cream actually weighed, I think.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    sjaplo wrote: »
    I just checked - they are in mls instead of grams, but they nutrition label is there. OP I would just treat it as a liquid and measure is that way. It is a liquid actually - a frozen liquid.

    Yeah but it's kinda tough to fit ice cream in a measuring cup, lol.
  • sjaplo
    sjaplo Posts: 974 Member
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    Getting it in the measuring cup isn't the problem...... >:)
  • GF125
    GF125 Posts: 3 Member
    edited January 2015
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    I'm a little rusty on my math, but I think this would work:

    First, weigh an empty ice cream carton. This should be fairly standard if you stick with one brand of ice cream.

    Then weigh a full ice cream carton of the same size, in your desired flavor.

    Math time:
    Full weight - Weight of the empty carton = Weight of all the ice cream in the carton

    Then read the carton's nutritional label. Check for number of servings per carton and number of calories per serving.

    More Math:
    Number of calories per serving x Number of servings per carton = Number of calories in the whole carton

    Number of calories in the whole carton / Weight of all the ice cream in the carton = Calories per gram of ice cream

    Calories per gram of ice cream x Number of grams you ate = Calories of ice cream you ate
  • sjaplo
    sjaplo Posts: 974 Member
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    Why not just buy an appropriately sized ice cream scoop. I have many different sizes on the shelves in my warehouse.............
  • recoveryroad24
    recoveryroad24 Posts: 6 Member
    edited January 2015
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    GF125 wrote: »
    I'm a little rusty on my math, but I think this would work:

    First, weigh an empty ice cream carton. This should be fairly standard if you stick with one brand of ice cream.

    Then weigh a full ice cream carton of the same size, in your desired flavor.

    Math time:
    Full weight - Weight of the empty carton = Weight of all the ice cream in the carton

    Then read the carton's nutritional label. Check for number of servings per carton and number of calories per serving.

    More Math:
    Number of calories per serving x Number of servings per carton = Number of calories in the whole carton

    Number of calories in the whole carton / Weight of all the ice cream in the carton = Calories per gram of ice cream

    Calories per gram of ice cream x Number of grams you ate = Calories of ice cream you ate

    I don't yet have an empty carton yet to do so! But I suppose that's the next step.. I did try something like this the other night but I wasn't sure if it was accurate... I melted some ice cream in a liquid measuring cup to 125ml, then I weighed that melted liquid...


    peleroja wrote: »
    sjaplo wrote: »
    Surely its on the nutrition label on the side like everything else?

    Ice cream in Canada is, for some reason, only ever in ml, not grams, which makes it difficult to count accurately.

    The last time I had ice cream I just looked up a similar flavour with the same number of calories in an American brand that showed the weight and used that to know how much 125 ml of my ice cream actually weighed, I think.

    That's easy for brands like Ben and Jerry's but for brands like Nestle and Chapman's that don't have US counterparts, it limits things.

  • GF125
    GF125 Posts: 3 Member
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    sjaplo wrote: »
    Why not just buy an appropriately sized ice cream scoop. I have many different sizes on the shelves in my warehouse.............

    An ice cream scoop is a great tool for measuring volume, but inaccurate for measuring weight (grams).

    That being said, I rarely measure food in weight. I like my American measurements of cups, tablespoons, etc. even though I know they aren't as accurate.

  • pope705
    pope705 Posts: 109 Member
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    Could you try and figure out the calories in the whole carton? Then you would know there are 2000 calories in 2 litres (for example). Then weigh the full container. Now you know that 2 litres weighs 1300g/1.3kg (again for example). You can then figure out how many calories your serving has based on weight (if 1300g has 2000 calories, then 150g has X calories).
    Makes sense?
  • mizzzc
    mizzzc Posts: 346 Member
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    Am I the only Canadian that just measures out "1 cup" and is done with it?
  • DeWoSa
    DeWoSa Posts: 496 Member
    edited January 2015
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    I just checked the equivalency for milliliters to grams (of water) and it's 1 to 1.

    Is that useful? I really don't know b/c American.

    Also here's the link.
  • pope705
    pope705 Posts: 109 Member
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    Ice cream would weigh more than water I would think, cream or milk being denser than water.
  • sjaplo
    sjaplo Posts: 974 Member
    edited January 2015
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    GF125 wrote: »
    sjaplo wrote: »
    Why not just buy an appropriately sized ice cream scoop. I have many different sizes on the shelves in my warehouse.............

    An ice cream scoop is a great tool for measuring volume, but inaccurate for measuring weight (grams).

    That being said, I rarely measure food in weight. I like my American measurements of cups, tablespoons, etc. even though I know they aren't as accurate.

    But the nutritional labelling is listed by volume. Why would you not use the information available? Liquids should be measured by volume, solids by weight. Needing to convert ice cream to grams in order feel you have the proper "weight" so you can eat it is like only buying gasoline for your car in 1 gal ( or liter) bottles because you can't don't trust the weights and measures act.

    I certainly don't weight beer before I drink it.

  • sjaplo
    sjaplo Posts: 974 Member
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    pope705 wrote: »
    Ice cream would weigh more than water I would think, cream or milk being denser than water.

    Actually depending on the ice cream, if still frozen and full of air - it could weigh less than water.

  • recoveryroad24
    recoveryroad24 Posts: 6 Member
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    pope705 wrote: »
    Could you try and figure out the calories in the whole carton? Then you would know there are 2000 calories in 2 litres (for example). Then weigh the full container. Now you know that 2 litres weighs 1300g/1.3kg (again for example). You can then figure out how many calories your serving has based on weight (if 1300g has 2000 calories, then 150g has X calories).
    Makes sense?

    That does! Thanks for your suggestion, now to just get an empty tub!
  • danaxsa
    danaxsa Posts: 17 Member
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    I was looking for the same answer ... I bought chapmans ice cream and in the states it has the same calories but slightly different by maybe +1 -1 on the macronutrients . Should I go ahead and use the grams serving size the US uses ?

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