Wrong measurements in frozen foods!

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robinhager3998
robinhager3998 Posts: 45 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I love the convenience of eating Birdseye Steamfresh vegetables, but I have a real pet peeve with them. For example, I had one of the veggie and pasta combinations tonight. A serving is supposed to be one cup cooked and 185 grams. The whole bag is 306 grams. They say the bag is two servings! OK, people, which one is it? I measured the cooked product in my one cup WW measuring cup and the contents of the whole bag was barely over a cup. I'm so confused! Any words of wisdom?

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  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
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    Did you weigh it on a food scale? Measuring cups aren't very accurate for measuring solids.
  • robinhager3998
    robinhager3998 Posts: 45 Member
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    I just went by the weight on the bag. Surely it is accurate, or at least you would think so! That's a good idea, but is the gram amount for frozen or cooked? That too is confusing.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,082 Member
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    Make your own pasta and add vegetables?
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,082 Member
    edited March 2018
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    I very rarely eat any pre-prepared things like that - for that very reason. One meal per week is my general guideline for anything I didn't make myself from whole ingredients or ingredients I'm sure about - like dry pasta and my own vegetable and butter or sauce. It would be really easy and much cheaper to make some version of that package yourself and then you'd have the right number.
  • robinhager3998
    robinhager3998 Posts: 45 Member
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    Good advice!
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
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    robinhager3998 wrote: »
    I just went by the weight on the bag. Surely it is accurate, or at least you would think so! That's a good idea, but is the gram amount for frozen or cooked? That too is confusing.

    But did you weigh it after cooking to see how much food was actually in the 185 grams?

    Usually the label will mean uncooked/unprepared, unless it says otherwise (which makes those steamable bags tricky because of any weight changes during cooking). However, weighing after cooking on a product like that would probably have a negligible impact, so I would suggest cooking the bag, then weighing out the serving in grams, and logging that. A measuring cup could potentially hold far more than what the weight serving size/calories listed on the package are.
  • GretaGirl8
    GretaGirl8 Posts: 274 Member
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    I like frozen entrees. I am careful to select ones that are high in protein, low in fat with limited ingredients. If I had to make those similar entrees, I would be in trouble. While measuring out a fourth a cup of cheese, for example...I would be eating three slices in the process. I can't be hands on with food. too much anxiety. So, I take the word on the package for the most part.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Yep, food scale. But even then, depending on how long you cook it, it will probably depend... I typically just log two servings in this case.

    At least it's giving you the weight of a serving cooked... most 'steam in the bag' veggies give you the weight of a serving frozen, which is absolutely useless as you're not supposed to open the bag until it's cooked!
  • Falklang
    Falklang Posts: 220 Member
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    If in doubt just use a food scale. That's what I do if things don't add up. :)
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
    edited March 2018
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    The nutrition info is formulated based on the weight, the grams. Then they "estimate" the volume serving, how many cups or chips etc. and how many servings are in the package. The estimation is often awful.

    This is why the food scale is important :smile: I used to think "The bag says two servings so I'll just make half the bag." Once I started weighing everything, I realized that's a great way to underestimate your calories! I've gotten boxes of fish fillets that say a serving is 2 fillets and there are 4 servings in a box. And there are 7 fillets in the box. And no 2 fillets add up to anywhere near the weight of 1 serving. It will drive you crazy. So just take out how much you want to eat, weigh it, and calculate the calories for the weight.

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