Bacon: How is the calorie count measured?

bacon

(the cheater) #1

After it’s cooked - and I like mine crispy - I know a lot of the fat has been drained off or whatever. So is the calorie/macro count for bacon based on cooked bacon or packaged bacon? Because surely, if it’s based on packaged, then cooked probably has a fraction of the calories and fat.

Thanks in advance, if anyone knows for sure about this :slight_smile:


(Karen) #2

I count it around 100, because I cook my eggs et al in the pan and eat it and the fat rendered.

K
See what I did there…"et (it) “all”


(Garry (Canada)) #3

Calories listed are prior to cooking.


(Rob) #4

My tracking app counts cooked with fat rendered off which is appropriate since it is there in the pan and goes into the tub for cooking other things later. I like it crispy too and use 55 kcal for thick cut and 40 for thin (all US streaky belly bacon, not UK back bacon)

My app also records fried eggs as higher fat/calories than boiled/poached so that’s built in. I only add in the bacon fat when it cooks sometime else e.g. I pan fry Brussels sprouts and count them as steamed sprouts plus the amount of bacon nectar used up to cook them e.g. 2-3 tbsp


(*Rusty* Instagram: @Rustyk61) #5

I’ve often wondered about this very thing. I’ve been cheating myself. Of course MFP isn’t the best thing to use.


(Pete A) #6

I count 3 slices of bacon as 4 as I eat the fat it cooks in… Generally I do note cooked food as having less weight than the package if it shrinks during cooking i.e. a pound of ground beef may split as 2 7 oz burgers. That’s either fine or wishful thinking on my part, but it seems to work for the big picture.


(the cheater) #7

Haha, well, I appreciate the replies, however, it seems we’re back where we started, with no one knowing for sure. Oh well. I guess for now I’ll keep going by what it says on the package or MFP, even though it’s probably wildly inaccurate :frowning:


(Straight outta ‘Straya’) #8

Yeah I use it as “best guess” app


(Trish) #9

I’ve entered the info from the package into my tracking app never thinking about all the fat left in the pan bit now it makes sense why 4 pieces of my brand bacon is like 500 calories and 4 pieces of generic bacon already part of the app is a fraction of that. Doh! LOL


(Rob) #10

We do know. The packet states uncooked values (as all raw things have to I believe) and what you should count is a cooked value which is less (by around half for belly bacon) UNLESS you drink the rendered fat.

All nutrient/calorie counts are indicative since your specific food item will vary from the reference count but you just need to do the best you can based on common sense.


(the cheater) #11

I did find this: https://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/usda/bacon-(cured-microwaved-cooked) Which suggests a cooked piece of bacon ranges from 27 to 65 calories depending on how it’s cooked (pan fried, microwaved, etc.) and it’s relative thickness. I do wish there was a way to know for sure, but I guess it’s one of those things that just can’t be figured out since everyone cooks their bacon differently and they’re all different thicknesses and different sizes. Oh well. Thanks anyway, everyone.


(Pete A) #12

In general it’s best to use your judgment in in how you log your food. It’s a guide, impossible to be exact and with many variables.


(*Rusty* Instagram: @Rustyk61) #13

So this is one of those threads that’s been eating at me. So I started to do some research. I’m still no where near a definitive answer to the question but what I’ve found is this…
1-slice of bacon raw = 40cal., 3.5g of fat and 2.5g of protein.
1-slice of bacon cooked = 20cal., 1.7g of fat and 1g of protein.
size of your slice of bacon will have a differing factor along with cook time and method of cooking

12oz of pork belly raw = 1762cal., 180.3g of fat and 31.8g of protein.
12oz of pork belly cooked = 959cal., 84g of fat and 52g of protein.
Same conditions as above**

So in short, we are still in the same boat as we were in yesterday.


(roxanna) #14

All the bacon that I’ve ever seen is for cooked weight (it will usually say the weight is for pan fried slices). If you weigh after cooking it should be fairly accurate. You can also use the USDA count for raw and then weigh how much fat cooks off and subtract it if you want the most accurate.


(Karen) #15

Here’s some info for raw bacon

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/pork-products/2208/2

K


#16

You could use the nutrition information from the package, cook the bacon and measure the rendered fat and then subtract the calories in the rendered fat from your total… it would be 115 calories per tbsp or 115 calories per 12.9 grams of bacon grease.


(Garry (Canada)) #17

I don’t worry about the calories in the bacon… I keep life simple and just count each slice as one net carb.

… Does it really matter whether it’s 45 cal or 75 cal per slice? C’mon.