Dumb Question By A Nutritionally Challenged Person

mreko2005
mreko2005 Posts: 56 Member
edited November 2024 in Food and Nutrition
If 1 lb. of Perdue raw ground chicken has 724 calories, why does it have 880 calories when it is cooked?

Replies

  • rjt1000
    rjt1000 Posts: 700 Member
    If 1 lb. of Perdue raw ground chicken has 724 calories, why does it have 880 calories when it is cooked?

    I don't know. But the calories raw are sort of useless arent' they? WHo's going to eat raw chicken? Seriously unhealthy. Salmonella city.

    Good question, though.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    It doesn't. Now, if you cook it in oil, and the chicken absorbs the oil while it cooks, then it might have more calories.

    Cooking food doesn't change the caloric value. Always use raw weights when entering calories.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,927 Member
    Someone entered it wrong. You can edit it.

    When the blue food box appears, click "Nutrition Info", then "No" when it asks if the info is correct. Make your changes and "Save". Then that food is in your foods, and it will be easier for you to find the one you want to use.
  • jayne_mel
    jayne_mel Posts: 173 Member
    I pound raw cooks down, you need more then 1 pound raw to end up with 1 pound cooked
  • annemama
    annemama Posts: 245 Member
    I'm assuming that the calories you quoted were each for one pound of ground chicken... so one pound of raw chicken will not weigh one pound after it has been cooked. It will weigh less... due to moisture loss. So you would actually have to start out with MORE than one pound of raw chicken to end up with one pound cooked. For example, maybe you have 1.25 pound of raw chicken (724 x 1.25 = 905 calories), but after you cook it (if you were to weigh it again) now lets say it weighs 1 pound. So this one pound of cooked chicken would still contain 905 calories (now it just weighs less). So no, cooking does not add calories to the total volume of food (unless, of course you add oil)... but it does reduce the volume (and weight) of the food. So either measure it before you cook it and use the raw calories, or measure it AFTER YOU COOK IT and used the cooked calories. Either way, you should find out that its the same number of calories. Actually, maybe you should just do a little experiment to prove it to yourself... measure it both raw and cooked and calculate it both ways. I hope this has been helpful... or at least that I don't sound insane! And obviously this is not a dumb question! Good for you for educating yourself on your health!
  • mreko2005
    mreko2005 Posts: 56 Member
    Thanks for the advice annemama, I guess it makes sense the way you explained it. I couldn't understand why the packaging label was showing different nutritional values for whether the meat was raw or cooked. I was totally perplexed how just cooking something, without adding anything, would add more calories.
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