Nutrition question - calculating cooked values

Triathlon Forum
1

Quick question for the nutrition gurus out there about calculating calories in a cooked product vs. the dry form. I believe I’m figuring this correctly, but wanted to verify.

I’ve been making a lot of black beans lately and Goya shows the following for nutritional info on the bag of their dry, uncooked black beans:

Serving size: 1/4 cup
Servings per bag: 14

Calories: 70
Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 0
Sodium: 20mg
Carbohydrates: 23g
Fiber: 15g
Sugar: 1g
Protein: 9g

I take the beans, rinse and spin them to remove any particulates. I then add them to a large plastic container along with garlic powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper, cumin, and a few bay leaves. I cover them with filtered water and let them soak for 24 hours, after which I transfer the contents to a large pot, boil for 5 minutes, and then let simmer until the beans are “al dente” (that way I can reheat them in the microwave throughout the week and they don’t turn to mush).

It’s a really “clean” recipe that tastes decent , but I’m not 100% certain if I’m calculating my serving size/amounts correctly.

I’m not adding any oils, fats, proteins or anything other than what was listed above. When I check sites like Livestrong, Peertrainer, Training Peaks, Fatsecret, WholeFoods, etc, the calorie values are literally all over the map… some say 90c per 1/2-cup; others say 227c per cup… Goya’s website says absolutely nothing.

After preparing the beans, the bag “yields” 22 servings of 1/4c. I’ve measured this by scooping level 1/4c servings from the cooked pot - I average about 22 servings per batch.

What I’ve been doing is taking the “gross” contents of the entire bag 14 servings @ 90c and multiplying accordingly to yield 980 calories for the bag. I then divide the 980 by 22 (cooked servings), for approximately 45 calories per 1/4 cup. Does that sound reasonable/correct?

Seems basic, but with all of the varying info that’s out there, I’m doubting myself. :slight_smile:

2

How does your math work out if you count a serving as 1/4 c. DRY beans? Say, you make your recipe using 1 c. of dry beans, that is 4 servings, even though once cooked up, the cooked volume is probably more like 1.5 cups.

3

That’s the challenge… so, if the entire bag when dry = 980 calories (14 servings of dry), I figured that when it “expands” to 22 servings cooked through only the addition of water, I should be able to take the 980 and divide it by 22 servings for 45 calories per serving. I usually eat 1 cup, cooked with dinner, and I believe it’s 180 calories per cup at that point. But, my logic may not be accurate.

4

Maybe you could just cook 1 serving raw and then weigh it again when cooked for comparison. Might be worth the time if you get this dish on a regular basis. I also use the weight in the serving size, the cup / tablespoon etc.

5

227 pre cup cooked

Thom
.

6

But I don’t think it is expanding to 22 servings. I bet the nutritional info is based on the dry measurement. So whatever 1/4 c. dry cooks up to, whether that is 1 cup, 1/2 cup, or whatever, that is the 70 calories.

If you measure the dry beans out of the bag, do you get approx. 14 x 1/4 cup?

7

227 pre cup cooked

Thom

Thank you for sharing what I shared earlier… But my primary question is - how is that value even possible? Where do the beans “gain” the extra calories from? I also noticed that every resource that quotes the 227/cup cooked value shows sodium at 460mg - I’m not adding any salt, and the dry beans show much less sodium.

8

But I don’t think it is expanding to 22 servings. I bet the nutritional info is based on the dry measurement. So whatever 1/4 c. dry cooks up to, whether that is 1 cup, 1/2 cup, or whatever, that is the 70 calories.

If you measure the dry beans out of the bag, do you get approx. 14 x 1/4 cup?

Yes - nearly exactly 14 x 1/4 dry is what I get when I measure with my MIU measuring cups. And, I’ve made the recipe about 15-16 times so far and nearly every time, I get 20-23 x 1/4c when cooked.

9

Therefore, the 70 cal for 1/4 cup is for the dry beans. That is what the PACKAGE nutritional info relates to.

So…then I think this means that your math from the OP is ok. You are getting 22 x 1/4 cup of the cooked product, right? So you can take the 980 for the bag and divide it by your 22 quarter cups, getting the 45 cal for 1/4 cup COOKED product, since you are adding no calories. If you eat 1 cup, that’s 180 cal. It works. (yay!)

I think what you have to do is to disregard whatever you are finding online for the nutritional value of cooked black beans. You do not have any idea HOW any of those are being prepared, and I bet many of them have added oils/fats. I tried to look up some things the other day and the variation was mind-boggling for some items.

And add to that, yesterday I read that even package info has some room for error…so we might not ever be able to be 100% accurate. We do the best we can to keep up, right?

10

packages do have some room for error; you’ll also notice values are always rounded to the nearest 10.