Tofu after you press the water out of it?

distinctlybeautiful
distinctlybeautiful Posts: 1,041 Member
edited December 2024 in Food and Nutrition
I feel like the answer to this is in my brain, but I can't quite figure it out.

The tofu I bought said the serving size is 85 grams and that there are 4 servings in the box. I pressed it for about thirty minutes to dry it out and then dry-fried it (cooked it in a pan with no oil or anything - just the tofu). I weighed it all afterward and found it weighed only about 165 grams.

I guess my question is, am I still eating four servings of tofu, just in denser form, or am I eating closer to two? It seems to me that since only water was drained, I've still eaten the same number of calories, but like I said, I'm not trusting my logic!

I didn't even think of this until after I was done, or I would have weighed it first and then after I drained it and again after I cooked it. I'll do that next time, but in the meantime, what can y'all tell me?

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    The water has no calories so I don't factor it in. When I eat tofu, I log the pre-pressing weight. I don't think they press it before calculating the calories.
  • sunnyskies1780
    sunnyskies1780 Posts: 24 Member
    Log after pressing. Divide by 4 - that number of grams = 1 serving. It isn't perfect, but it will be close enough, unless you eat tofu for every meal.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    sunnyskies1780 wrote: »
    Log after pressing. Divide by 4 - that number of grams = 1 serving. It isn't perfect, but it will be close enough, unless you eat tofu for every meal.

    I may be wrong, but won't that leave some calories unlogged?

    If a package contains 200 grams (for example) and 400 calories and I press out some of the calorie-free weight (the water), logging the remaining, smaller, weight will leave some calories unaccounted for.

  • sunnyskies1780
    sunnyskies1780 Posts: 24 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    sunnyskies1780 wrote: »
    Log after pressing. Divide by 4 - that number of grams = 1 serving. It isn't perfect, but it will be close enough, unless you eat tofu for every meal.

    I may be wrong, but won't that leave some calories unlogged?

    If a package contains 200 grams (for example) and 400 calories and I press out some of the calorie-free weight (the water), logging the remaining, smaller, weight will leave some calories unaccounted for.

    I look at it this way - the 400 calories for the tofu is going to be 400 with water or without. So 1/4 of your water full tofu = 100 calories. 1/4 of your pressed tofu = 100 calories.

    I may not be explaining this correctly.

    When I bake tofu for salads/other uses throughout the week I do the following to get the correct calorie calculation in the recipe builder:

    Enter the total calories for a pack of tofu
    add 10g of canola oil

    Then I press my tofu, toss in oil and bake.

    Then I weigh my finished product and call my serving 1 gram

    I may be off by a bit due to packaging errors, but it has been pretty accurate in terms of my results.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    sunnyskies1780 wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    sunnyskies1780 wrote: »
    Log after pressing. Divide by 4 - that number of grams = 1 serving. It isn't perfect, but it will be close enough, unless you eat tofu for every meal.

    I may be wrong, but won't that leave some calories unlogged?

    If a package contains 200 grams (for example) and 400 calories and I press out some of the calorie-free weight (the water), logging the remaining, smaller, weight will leave some calories unaccounted for.

    I look at it this way - the 400 calories for the tofu is going to be 400 with water or without. So 1/4 of your water full tofu = 100 calories. 1/4 of your pressed tofu = 100 calories.

    I may not be explaining this correctly.

    When I bake tofu for salads/other uses throughout the week I do the following to get the correct calorie calculation in the recipe builder:

    Enter the total calories for a pack of tofu
    add 10g of canola oil

    Then I press my tofu, toss in oil and bake.

    Then I weigh my finished product and call my serving 1 gram

    I may be off by a bit due to packaging errors, but it has been pretty accurate in terms of my results.

    You are explaining it well -- I misunderstood what you wrote initially. I didn't understand that you were counting the total calories at the beginning, so you are describing a way to account for all the calories.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
    The calorie count on the packet is for the tofu as it is in the packet, before you squeeze it. Don't even bother weighing it after squeezing, it's not relevant to anything, because what you squeezed out was only water, with no calories. So the calories in the whole pack are unchanged, the calories in half a pack are unchanged, the calories in a quarter pack are unchanged.

    You're doing what my students do regularly - overthinking it! If you're eating the whole pack, and the pack has 4 servings in it, you're eating 4 servings. Simples.
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