Calories on Frozen Food Products

SusieBanyon
SusieBanyon Posts: 6 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have Great Value Tater Tots which list the calories at 160 per 84g (/3oz). After cooking 252g (/9oz) I have 7.6oz of tots left. The calorie difference is 70 which might not seem too substantial but I want to eat the maximum amount that I can so every little bit helps. Should I log this lunch as the 9oz serving (which is what it was frozen) or as the finished 7.6oz serving?

I generally have this question about all frozen food things that weigh less when thawed/prepped. Like frozen pineapple pieces.

Replies

  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    The nutrition label will usually specify if it should be weighed uncooked or cooked. If it doesn't specify, uncooked is usually preferred, as varied cooking times can vary calorie count/weight. I like my tator tots to be nearly charred stumps of crunch, and weighing those would give me a widely different count for the same weight as you weighing following the directions, so that's why uncooked is generally better - it'll be the same for each weigh.
  • jdhcm2006
    jdhcm2006 Posts: 2,254 Member
    Another vote for frozen.
  • JohnBarth
    JohnBarth Posts: 672 Member
    Most labels I've seen say "X Pieces" and give grams. Weigh them up, and I bet you'll find the closest value for frozen weight.
  • SusieBanyon
    SusieBanyon Posts: 6 Member
    If they're burnt to a char (ash) then how could they be the same amount of calories as a totally intact tot? Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I feel like if it has been chared/burned to ashy and has very little substance left then it couldn't be as calorically rich as a full on potatoey tot. Even if it's not ashy, you're taking away some substance by over-cooking, right?

    I just feel like in the case of pineapple chunks, thawed would be more accurate since you're losing water through the thawing process that was previously liquid. I feel the same about the tots - you're cooking out water, you're not cooking out potato. IDK.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    weigh them out frozen - log those calories and then prepare
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,133 Member
    SusieBanyon wrote: »
    If they're burnt to a char (ash) then how could they be the same amount of calories as a totally intact tot? Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I feel like if it has been chared/burned to ashy and has very little substance left then it couldn't be as calorically rich as a full on potatoey tot. Even if it's not ashy, you're taking away some substance by over-cooking, right?

    I just feel like in the case of pineapple chunks, thawed would be more accurate since you're losing water through the thawing process that was previously liquid. I feel the same about the tots - you're cooking out water, you're not cooking out potato. IDK.

    Mostly, what cooking takes away is water, via evaporation during heating. Since water has zero calories, the same ol' calories the food had at the start get concentrated in a lower weight of food. Often, it's lots lower.

    Thawing, on the other hand, evaporates fewer calories than heating. But I'd still use frozen weight.

    If the package doesn't specify frozen/cooked/thawed, assume "as packaged", which for frozen things is frozen.

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