How much food is in your canned food?

We’ve had a look at label accuracy, liquid weight and net weight vs drained weight to see how much food is actually in cans. The trick is to look at the percentage on the ingredients list to find out the actual weight of canned foods (see below).

Do you check these details when buying canned food?


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Sometimes but usually only when comparing unit prices. Something I haven’t done is check whether these unit prices are based on net weights…always assumed they have.

I find that smaller items of product (beans, corn kernels etc) always seem to be full to the brim, while other things like artichokes, pineapple slices or baby beetroot seem to have a lot of empty space in the cans, possible due to can size not overly ideal dimensions for larger products.

Liquid in cans is also an interesting thing as it is very much dependent on the shape of the product, its dimensions and the ultimate ‘pore’ space between the items. Liquid in larger products always seems to be a higher percentage, but this could be due to the liquid in these cans draining quickly (baby beetroot) whereby slowly in say a can of lentils (which also has a higher viscosity).

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Like @phb, I look when comparing prices.

I also look what the filler liquid is. Is it water, syrup, or a natural juice from the product, oil, etc?

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