Macros for ground beef raw vs cooked

Shelleytate
Shelleytate Posts: 4 Member
in Food and Nutrition
SO, logging raw ground beef seems inaccurate, as it still has all the fat. I drain off as much grease as I can when cooking, so how do you log cooked ground beef? I understand most meats reduce 25% due to lost water, but ground beef pre-cooked has a lot more fat than cooked meat.

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,314 Member
    I always use the raw weight.

    Is there some reason why you need to use cooked?
  • penguinmama87
    penguinmama87 Posts: 1,158 Member
    Typically when I'm weighing meat it's for a recipe. I put the raw weight into the recipe builder, and then will either divide the finished recipe into equal size servings, or weigh the completed dish and use that as the number of servings so I can log it accurately.

    I frequently cook with the bones and/or fat on and then remove them after cooking (to let the nutrients from those parts come in and for better flavor), so yeah, that's going to mess a little bit with precision, but I figure it's working out in my favor and it isn't going to amount to much in the long run.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    If you weigh cooked, use the cooked entry (and the fat percentage you started with). If you weigh raw, use the raw entry.
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    OK, if the entire ground beef ingredient is eaten, and the fat not drained off, you can use raw. But, since rendered fat that is drained or stays in the pan at 115 calories per tablespoon, your count will be vastly inaccurate if you both drain and use a raw weight. When I make chili for 6 servings I easily pour off three tablespoons of fat after browning the meat. That would put my count off by 50 calories per serving.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,053 Member
    edited March 2021
    Shelleytate wrote: »
    SO, logging raw ground beef seems inaccurate, as it still has all the fat. I drain off as much grease as I can when cooking, so how do you log cooked ground beef? I understand most meats reduce 25% due to lost water, but ground beef pre-cooked has a lot more fat than cooked meat.
    1. Go to https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/
    2. Check "Require All Words"
    3. Uncheck everything else but SR Legacy
    4. Search for "ground beef cooked"
    5. Select the entry that matches your % of fat
    6. Paste that into MFP

    Ex: "Beef, ground, 85% lean meat / 15% fat, patty, cooked, broiled"
  • extra_medium
    extra_medium Posts: 1,525 Member
    If you want to be even more accurate, use raw weight, then weigh the fat you pour out and subtract however many grams of fat calories.

    That's a bit much though.
  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    edited March 2021
    extra_medium wrote: »
    If you want to be even more accurate, use raw weight, then weigh the fat you pour out and subtract however many grams of fat calories.

    That's a bit much though.

    That will still be 100 calories off because the pan will be coated with about a tablespoon of fat. The only way is to weigh the cooked product that you actually consume. The only time to use raw is when the meat goes in the dish and you eat every bit of it.
  • Poobah1972
    Poobah1972 Posts: 943 Member
    edited March 2021
    I like Kshama2001's answer... I'll have to tinker with that.

    But Ground beef is alot like bacon.... I believe the average 2 slices of bacon raw is 200 calories, yet cooked only about 35-50 per piece.

    Last dish I cooked with ground beef, I fried it all drained it in a strainer with water then incorporated back into my dish.

    I searched around and eventually chose 90% Costco Lean Ground beef drained and figured that would be close enough.

    Edit: Extra little detail. Raw the total weight was in about 25 Ounces and cooked and drained it was just over 14 ounces.
  • Shelleytate
    Shelleytate Posts: 4 Member
    Wondering if the cooked macros would be correct for ground beef and bacon, since they are user submitted...???
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,314 Member
    Shelleytate wrote: »
    Wondering if the cooked macros would be correct for ground beef and bacon, since they are user submitted...???

    Re-Read this - this is how to get the COOKED values from the USDA (Government) website. You can't get any closer than that.
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Shelleytate wrote: »
    SO, logging raw ground beef seems inaccurate, as it still has all the fat. I drain off as much grease as I can when cooking, so how do you log cooked ground beef? I understand most meats reduce 25% due to lost water, but ground beef pre-cooked has a lot more fat than cooked meat.
    1. Go to https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/
    2. Check "Require All Words"
    3. Uncheck everything else but SR Legacy
    4. Search for "ground beef cooked"
    5. Select the entry that matches your % of fat
    6. Paste that into MFP

    Ex: "Beef, ground, 85% lean meat / 15% fat, patty, cooked, broiled"

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,053 Member
    Same process for bacon as posted above for ground beef but I will give it to you again:
    1. Go to https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/
    2. Check "Require All Words"
    3. Uncheck everything else but SR Legacy
    4. Search for "bacon cooked"
    5. Select the entry that matches your cooking method
    6. Paste that into MFP

    Ex:
    1. Pork, cured, bacon, cooked, baked
    2. Pork, cured, bacon, cooked, microwaved
    3. Pork, cured, bacon, pre-sliced, cooked, pan-fried


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