Calorie difference between brands for essentially the same product.

thiosulfate
thiosulfate Posts: 262 Member
edited December 1 in Food and Nutrition
Hey all, I recently switched to a new grocery store and bought canned small peas and sliced white potatoes. I've compared the labels on my old cans to these, and these are nearly half of my old can's calories (same size cans, respectively).

Perhaps I'm a bit paranoid but I don't know if either can is accurate now.. Or could they both be accurate? I would have thought that they should have similar-ish calories but the small peas have a difference of 79 calories and the sliced white potatoes have a difference of 173 calories.

Replies

  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    Did you look to see if there was a difference in the ingredients? Are the calories for one drained and the other with the fluid?
  • Cbean08
    Cbean08 Posts: 1,092 Member
    Portions are the same? Check the weights for the portion size listed.
  • thiosulfate
    thiosulfate Posts: 262 Member
    I think I see where the difference for the Peas are, the higher calorie brand has sugar in it and the other doesn't. Still not sure about the potatoes.

    They are both 540 mL cans. Brand A lists calories at 80 calories per 250 mL. Brand B lists calories at 80 calories per 125 mL. Both have the same ingredients: Potatoes, water, salt, calcium chloride. There are a few differences in the nutrition facts such as Brand A has 18g of carbs per 250 mL serving and Brand B has 17g of carbs per 125 mL serving.
  • Ahanaz
    Ahanaz Posts: 353 Member
    thiosulfate wrote: »
    I think I see where the difference for the Peas are, the higher calorie brand has sugar in it and the other doesn't. Still not sure about the potatoes.
    Yup, that'd do it :tongue:
    thiosulfate wrote: »
    They are both 540 mL cans. Brand A lists calories at 80 calories per 250 mL. Brand B lists calories at 80 calories per 125 mL. Both have the same ingredients: Potatoes, water, salt, calcium chloride. There are a few differences in the nutrition facts such as Brand A has 18g of carbs per 250 mL serving and Brand B has 17g of carbs per 125 mL serving.
    It could be that they're using different types of potatoes, but twice the amount is still pretty significant.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    Make sure they are the same number of portions per can also; drained versus undrained can change that.
  • thiosulfate
    thiosulfate Posts: 262 Member
    I'm not really sure about undrained/drained to be honest. The nutrition facts don't specify either so I've just been working with the calories from the entire can. Visually, it seems like they had the same amount of potatoes, but I could be wrong because I didn't weigh the drained products. I might do that if I get a hold of more cans.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    thiosulfate wrote: »
    I'm not really sure about undrained/drained to be honest. The nutrition facts don't specify either so I've just been working with the calories from the entire can. Visually, it seems like they had the same amount of potatoes, but I could be wrong because I didn't weigh the drained products. I might do that if I get a hold of more cans.

    You could also contact the manufacturer. I suspect one is for drained and one is undrained. The "juice" in the can would add a fair amount of weight but not change the nutritional value (except what it absorbs from the product).
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,097 Member
    thiosulfate wrote: »
    I'm not really sure about undrained/drained to be honest. The nutrition facts don't specify either so I've just been working with the calories from the entire can. Visually, it seems like they had the same amount of potatoes, but I could be wrong because I didn't weigh the drained products. I might do that if I get a hold of more cans.

    Doesn't the label say how many servings are in the can? lf the high calorie can says about one servings, and the low calorie can says about two servings, in the same size can, you know the high calorie can is using drained volume as the serving measure.
  • thiosulfate
    thiosulfate Posts: 262 Member
    edited December 2018
    lynn_glenmont wrote: »
    thiosulfate wrote: »
    I'm not really sure about undrained/drained to be honest. The nutrition facts don't specify either so I've just been working with the calories from the entire can. Visually, it seems like they had the same amount of potatoes, but I could be wrong because I didn't weigh the drained products. I might do that if I get a hold of more cans.

    Doesn't the label say how many servings are in the can? lf the high calorie can says about one servings, and the low calorie can says about two servings, in the same size can, you know the high calorie can is using drained volume as the serving measure.

    Nope. A lot of items in Canada don't list an approximate amount of servings in a product. I've kind of come down to the conclusion that Brand A is including water in it's serving size. There are approximately 1 to 1.5 cups of product in the cans and it kind of close to the calories of 1.25 cups of boiled, skinned potatoes. So I'm a little less anxious about a can of potatoes being about 175 calories.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    Take a photo of the labels and post them here. We might be able to figure it out.
  • thiosulfate
    thiosulfate Posts: 262 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Take a photo of the labels and post them here. We might be able to figure it out.

    Sure thing

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  • Cbean08
    Cbean08 Posts: 1,092 Member
    I'd just use the info for the Great Value brand. That's Walmart's brand and I'd trust that over a brand I'm not familiar with. Sometimes I go shopping at different grocery stores and I've seen labels that made no sense from their generic/store brand. In those cases, I either buy a different brand, or buy that product and use the information I think to be correct.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    It's got to be water, but I'd email the companies to ask.

    For logging I'd drain it and log potatoes from the USDA entry (cooked if you cook it before weighing).
  • thiosulfate
    thiosulfate Posts: 262 Member
    Cbean08 wrote: »
    I'd just use the info for the Great Value brand. That's Walmart's brand and I'd trust that over a brand I'm not familiar with. Sometimes I go shopping at different grocery stores and I've seen labels that made no sense from their generic/store brand. In those cases, I either buy a different brand, or buy that product and use the information I think to be correct.

    Both of these brands are major generic/private label brands in Canada. I just think Compliments' label includes the water.
  • thiosulfate
    thiosulfate Posts: 262 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    It's got to be water, but I'd email the companies to ask.

    For logging I'd drain it and log potatoes from the USDA entry (cooked if you cook it before weighing).

    Seems like a good idea, thanks :)
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