When counting calories, do you weigh food before or after it's been cooked?

Danger781

Bit confused..

Just bought some Aldi Brown Rice.. On the packet it says it's something around 350 kcal / 100g

As I type I'm currently eating 150g cooked rice. Entered that into my livestrong plate and it only gave me 167 kcal.

I always assumed you weighed after it has been cooked.. Have I been weighing all my food wrong?

rubadub

That pack is showing uncooked figures. Water has no calories so any additional weight added during cooking is not adding to the calories, so 100g of cooked rice will have far less calories than 100g dried rice. 100g of the same rice undercooked or overcooked could have quite different finishing weights, so it is best to stick with dry weights.

Some packets will show values for cooked rice too, but if they only show one value it is usually dry (unless its those precooked rice packs of course).

Danger781

Well, in that case would the above value be correct for 150g cooked?

I'm guessing the rice expands about 3x

Also, what about other foods? Do I weigh everything raw?

Thanks :-)

rubadub

Danger781 wrote: »

Well, in that case would the above value be correct for 150g cooked?

I'm guessing the rice expands about 3x

The expansion doesn't matter as much as the new weight, unless you are on a US site talking about cups of rice, which further confuses things.

Your rice is 350kcal per 100g. If you put 50g in the pot you have 175kcal. If you under cook it you might get 100g of cooked rice, it absorbs 50g of water, overcook it until its like rice pudding and it might be 200g -but both are 175kcal.

So I really cannot say for sure if 167kcal is correct, but it is probably a good estimate, I would not be overly worried unless you were eating huge amounts each day. Some estimates will be too high, some low so they should balance out.

here are other estimates
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_calories_in_100g_of_rice

Calories in 100g of rice
Here are examples for different types of rice when cooked and when raw.

In short-grain white rice cooked and raw there are:

*
130 calories in 3½ or 100g when steamed or boiled
*
356 calories in 3½ or 100g when raw.


In medium-grain white rice cooked and raw there are:

*
126 calories in 3½ or 100g when steamed or boiled
*
357 calories in 3½ or 100g when raw.


Long-grain white rice cooked and raw there are:

*
126 calories in 3½ or 100g when steamed or boiled
* 360 calories in 3½ or 100g when raw


In medium-grain brown rice cooked there are:

*
112 calories in 3½ or 100g when steamed or boiled
* 364 calories in 3½ or 100g when raw.


In long-grain brown rice there are:

*
106 calories in 3½ or 100g when steamed or boiled
*
364 calories in 3½ or 100g when raw.


In wild rice there are:

*
98 calories in 3½ or 100g when steamed of boiled
* 300 calories in 3½ or 100g when raw.


Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_calories_in_100g_of_rice#ixzz1t9FfdZIC

So your 167 sounds about right, 167 is 111kcal per 100g cooked.

Danger781 wrote: »

Also, what about other foods? Do I weigh everything raw?

It can depend on the food, and what is convenient for you, since you are using livestrong I would stick with what they are using, as I said any errors should average out. Chicken will typically have values per 100g raw, then it would loose a little weight as it cooks and water boils off, so its the opposite of what is happening with the rice.

Pembily

I tend to weigh every thing raw. Especially rice and pasta as it gets very confusing. Some sites have the calories for dried and cooked.

lisa_celtic

I do Weight Watchers and always weigh raw its easier and more accurate in my opinion.

meijin

Danger781 wrote: »

Well, in that case would the above value be correct for 150g cooked?
I'm guessing the rice expands about 3x

Depends how much water you add, and a bit also evaporates when cooking.
If you make bigger batch, weight it before and after cooking and then it's simple maths