Use raw nutrition with raw weight, or cooked nutrition with cooked weight. If you know the raw and cooked weight of your batch, you can convert any cooked portion back to its raw equivalent.
A package of dry pasta usually describes the product as sold. A FoodData Central entry may say "rice, white, cooked" or "chicken breast, raw." Read that description before entering the number. The FoodData Central documentation treats raw or cooked state as part of the food description.
Cooking changes the denominator
Boiled rice and pasta absorb water, so the cooked batch weighs more. Meat and roasted vegetables often lose water, so the finished food weighs less. That changes calories per 100 grams even when most of the food energy remains in the batch.
The change is not always water alone. Fat can render into a pan, cooking oil can be absorbed, and solids can be discarded with liquid. USDA describes cooking yield as a weight change caused by moisture loss, water absorption, or fat gain or loss. Its meat and poultry yield tables report different results for specific cuts and cooking methods. That is why one fixed "chicken loses 25%" rule is only a rough shortcut.
Use the yield from your own batch
Weigh the edible food before cooking, then weigh the finished edible batch. Keep the pot, pan, bones, packaging, and discarded liquid out of both measurements.
- Cooking yield % = cooked batch weight ÷ raw batch weight × 100
- Raw equivalent = cooked portion weight × raw batch weight ÷ cooked batch weight
- Batch fraction = cooked portion weight ÷ cooked batch weight
The raw to cooked weight calculator runs these three calculations together.
Example: 500g raw becomes 375g cooked
The cooking yield is 375 ÷ 500 = 75%. A 150g cooked portion is 40% of the finished batch. Its raw equivalent is 150 × 500 ÷ 375 = 200g.
If the original 500g of food supplied 800 calories and nothing caloric entered or left, that 150g cooked portion would contain 40% of the batch, or 320 calories. For a mixed recipe, add every ingredient first and use the recipe macro calculator to apply the cooked portion fraction to the recipe totals.
Ground beef needs its own check
Ground beef is a common place to mix up the basis. A raw package label describes the meat before cooking. A cooked database entry may describe pan-browned beef after water and fat have left. Those entries can both be valid and still answer different questions.
If you cook the full pack, the cleanest method is to weigh the raw edible meat, cook it, weigh the cooked edible batch, then enter your cooked portion in the raw to cooked weight calculator. If you drain fat from the pan, note that separately. The weight conversion does not prove how many calories left with the drained fat.
Lean and fatty ground beef can lose different amounts of weight. A pan that keeps rendered fat in the meal is also different from a pan that is drained. If you change fat percentage or draining method, measure a new batch instead of reusing the old yield.
Do not use color or weight loss to judge safety. For ground meats, use the USDA FSIS temperature guidance and a food thermometer.
Rice and pasta usually fail in the opposite direction
Dry rice and pasta gain water. That means a cooked bowl can weigh far more than the dry amount that supplied the calories. Logging 200g cooked rice against a dry-rice entry can badly overstate the amount eaten.
The fix is the same, but the intuition feels different. Weigh the dry amount before cooking, weigh the cooked batch after draining, then split the finished batch by cooked portion weight. If you only have a cooked portion and no batch weight, use a cooked food entry that matches the food, not the dry package label.
For meal prep, label containers by cooked weight and keep the original dry or raw batch details in the recipe note. That gives you one repeatable method instead of a new debate each time you open a container.
A meal-prep workflow that stays repeatable
For a batch you will eat across several days, write down four numbers: raw edible weight, cooked edible weight, finished recipe calories, and finished recipe weight. Those four numbers let you log any container by cooked weight without rebuilding the recipe.
Example: 600g raw chicken cooks to 450g. The recipe totals 990 calories before cooking oil. If you eat 150g cooked chicken, that is one third of the cooked batch, or 330 calories before any oil or sauce. If the pan also used 12g olive oil, add the oil to the recipe first or log it beside the portion.
This method is slower once and faster every time after that. Save the checked version as a repeat meal in Mori, including the raw and cooked batch weights in the note.
When you meal prep mixed bowls, weigh the finished batch after all ingredients are combined. If you weigh chicken, rice, and vegetables separately but later mix them unevenly, one container may not represent the same share of every ingredient. Finished-batch weight is the simpler audit trail.
If you forget to weigh the cooked batch, do not invent a conversion factor after the containers are gone. Use the best matching cooked entry for that meal, then measure the next batch properly. A repeatable slightly imperfect method is better than a perfect-looking number with no record behind it.
Fast decision table
| Situation | Use this basis | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You have the raw package and have not cooked yet | Raw weight with raw label | The package nutrition describes the food as sold. |
| You cooked a full batch and weighed it before and after | Cooked portion converted to raw equivalent | The portion can be tied back to the original batch. |
| You only have leftovers from someone else | Cooked database entry or careful estimate | The raw starting weight is unknown. |
| You cooked rice or pasta from dry | Dry batch total, then split cooked weight | Water gain makes cooked grams very different from dry grams. |
If two rows seem to apply, choose the one with the measurement you actually have. Do not invent a raw weight after cooking unless you measured the batch.
If you are not sure which entry to use, pick the one that describes what was on the scale at the moment you weighed it. Raw on the scale means raw entry. Cooked on the scale means cooked entry, unless you measured the full batch and are deliberately converting back to raw equivalent.
Check the database entry before the math
The formula only works after the food entry is right. A tracker result for "chicken breast" may describe raw meat, roasted meat, grilled meat, meat with skin, meat without skin, or a restaurant preparation. Rice entries can differ by cooked state, grain type, added fat, and whether salt or sauce is included.
Use the food database entry checker when two entries look close but not identical. Normalize both to 100g, then compare the food state and macros. If the raw and cooked basis differs, fix that first with the raw to cooked weight calculator.
A good Mori entry keeps the uncertainty visible. Write "150g cooked chicken, from 500g raw batch to 375g cooked" instead of only "chicken." That note explains why the raw equivalent was used and makes the entry easier to repair later. If the batch method changes, save a new repeat entry instead of editing the old one silently.
Four mistakes that produce confident wrong numbers
- Raw weight with a cooked entry. The food state differs, so the value per gram is attached to a different amount of water.
- A universal conversion percentage. Cut, cooking time, temperature, and method change the yield.
- Assuming calories never leave the pan. Rendered fat, discarded liquid, breading, and absorbed oil can alter the batch total.
- Changing the method but reusing the old yield. Measure the new batch when the food or preparation changes enough to affect its final weight.
FDA guidance notes that Nutrition Facts values are usually based on one labeled serving and its displayed gram amount. Check that basis before converting anything. A raw-to-cooked calculation changes the weight basis; it does not repair a serving-size mistake.