Food labelling grr

[ladyofastolat]

(Dried) Egg pappardelle, "bySainsbury's" (ingredients: durum wheat semolina, free range egg (16%)): kcal per 100g: 372

(Dried) "Pappardelle made with free range eggs," Sainsbury's Taste the Difference (ingredients: durum wheat semolina, free range egg (24%)): kcal per 100g: 141

Something does not compute here! One would expect a slightly higher egg content to make some difference to the calorie content, but not this much.

But the plot thickens. Version 1 claims that a serving is 100g. Version 2 claims that a serving is 200g. Presumably, in version 1, 100g refers to dry weight, whereas in version 2, is refers to cooked weight, with the weight doubled by water. Nowhere is this made clear. And, in this case, version 2 is particularly unhelpful to me as I stand there with my weighing scales, measuring out a sensible portion size, since if I do it without measuring, it always balloons into enough to feed a hungry army. I don't often cook dried pasta, so can never remember what's a sensible portion size, so I could very easily have measured out 200g of dried pasta per person today, were it not for the fact that I still had a tiny bit left of the old packet left, and could compare.

I do appreciate nutritional information on food, but sometimes they seem to go out of their way to obscure what they really mean. Grump!

Comments

[leesa_perrie]

That's really not helpful, it should state whether its dried or cooked weight!

Tip for pasta measuring: Hubby thinks that half an ordinary sized mug of dried pasta is about right for one person. You end up with enough pasta to cover a dinner plate with only a slight heaping in the middle. And for rice, he thinks that about a mug full of dried rice is enough for a person - though I find three-quarters is about right for me. Does this help any?

[themis1.livejournal.com]

Pasta measure: two handfuls per person (if you have very small or very large hands, adjust accordingly).

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Cook some pasta. If the result is Too Much Pasta, put some of it in the fridge and make a cold pasta salad for another day...?

[inamac.livejournal.com]

Dried pasta does just about double in size when cooked, so (for two people) I just fill one of the bowls I'll be serving it in with the amount I want to serve. For spaghetti I have a ring measure.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

*laughs* We have at least very different sizes of "ordinary" mugs, quite apart from the ginormomugs. As for rice, we have a little metal pot that has lived in the rice tin for many a year, which gives enough for the two of us... but... (suddenly pauses) it's a lot smaller than a mug. *goes down to check.* Okay. The amount of dried rice we cook for 2 people fills a third of a mug. Clearly we have either very big mugs, or very small appetites! :-D

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I've never really got into the mentality of leftovers. I really should. I do cook stews and things in bulk, but I apportion them out to tupperwares of Exactly The Right Size and freeze them, so they can be thawed out one meal at a time, no leftovers involved. I was thinking about this just the other day, when someone said, "oh, just use leftovers," taking it for granted that everyone had leftover remains of many past dinners in their fridge. "But I don't have any leftovers!" I wailed sadly. "I never do!"

[leesa_perrie]

Oops, I got it all the wrong way round! Argh!! ONE cup of rice for TWO people, and one cup of pasta for one person! See, it works most of the time, but occasionally my brain mixes it up!! Fortunately so far not when cooking!

[kargicq.livejournal.com]

I never have leftovers either -- I cook the amount we're going to eat! (And I somehow picked up that a serving of dried pasta = 75g, for what it's worth.)