confused about measuring canned foods

squishprincess
squishprincess Posts: 371 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
okay so this is something i've been a bit confused about for a while. whenever i eat canned foods and measure them, i usually weigh them on my food scale in grams. often the amount in my bowl looks more than the 1/2 cup that is the serving size, and it definitely doesn't look like inside that can there are the 2.5 - 3.5 servings they say they have. but i weigh, sometimes reweigh and measure it out to the serving size in grams listed on the can. and it's not just my food scale, i have two different ones that give me the same numbers for the same amount of food. it just feels like the serving is more than 1/2 a cup or whatever listed on the can and that i am off. am i doing something wrong? should i use cup measurements for that kinda stuff? just trying to be accurate.

also please don't tell me canned foods are bad for me, i know what i'm eating & what's sometimes convenient :smile:
thanks!

Replies

  • Whitezombiegirl
    Whitezombiegirl Posts: 1,042 Member
    Dont the cans give cals by gramm or per 100 g? Cant you look that figure up on the database?
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    Whitezombiegirl wrote: »
    Dont the cans give cals by gramm or per 100 g? Cant you look that figure up on the database?

    +1

    Labelling on cans can be confusing especially if it has "drained contents" or some such, not to mention arbitrary servings. Get the value per 100g and go with the weight. US labels suck.
  • squishprincess
    squishprincess Posts: 371 Member
    usually i weigh the contents drained (unless it's soup lol) and i go by the amount on the can. so are you saying to weigh each portion as 100 grams as the serving? or am i misunderstanding. sorry if i sound stupid
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    squishprincess wrote: »
    usually i weigh the contents drained (unless it's soup lol) and i go by the amount on the can. so are you saying to weigh each portion as 100 grams as the serving? or am i misunderstanding. sorry if i sound stupid

    weigh portion that you eat, multiply by the nutritional value per 100 grams, divide by 100.

    Forget the "serving" nonsense.
  • squishprincess
    squishprincess Posts: 371 Member
    oh okay i get it now!
  • namelesshere
    namelesshere Posts: 334 Member
    If you are weighing the grams for the serving size, who cares that it looks more or less. If you want to be sure, you could always put a 1 cup measure on your scale, tare it out and start adding the food until the scale shows serving size amount.
  • weird_me2
    weird_me2 Posts: 716 Member
    If it's something that you drain, it would be more accurate to drain it, then weigh the total can drained and divide that by the number of servings on the can. What you drain away usually has very few of the calories because it's mostly water (like with corn, peas, beans, etc), so if you weigh 100 grams drained, you could be getting twice as many calories as expected. It's not as big of a deal with the low calorie vegetables or even the fruits that are packed in juice or syrup, but it does make a difference.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I've been on MFP for 3 years and I still have no idea. Some cans say the serving weight is drained, some don't, so honestly I just weigh it drained...

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