Identify what the panel describes before using either weight. Keep solids, discarded liquid and liquid eaten with the meal distinct, and record only your portion.
Read three quantities as separate pieces of information
Net contents can include the food and its packing liquid, while a stated drained weight describes the drained contents. Neither number alone establishes the nutrition calculation. Look beside the panel for words such as drained, as sold or including sauce. Keep the serving definition with the nutrient values rather than pairing a weight from the front with an unrelated column.
The Australian Food Standards Code addresses nutrition information for drained foods. For your diary, use the wording on the particular product rather than assuming every tin follows the same basis. Beans packed in water, fish in oil and a ready-to-eat sauced product require separate checks. If the basis is unclear, consult the manufacturer before treating your calculation as label-based.
Calculate a drained share without using the net weight
Here is an explicitly illustrative example: a tin has 400 grams net contents, 240 grams drained contents and 8 grams of protein per 100 grams drained. You eat 120 grams of the drained food. Your calculation is 120 divided by 100, multiplied by 8, giving 9.6 grams of protein. The 400-gram figure has no role in this drained-solids calculation.
Apply the same 1.2 multiplier to each relevant value in that drained column. Eating half the drained contents does not mean eating 200 grams merely because the unopened tin lists 400 grams. If your actual drained yield differs, use your measured edible amount with the matching nutrition basis rather than forcing the portion to match the package illustration.
Decide whether the packing liquid belongs in the meal
Before discarding the tin, ask whether you drained it, retained everything or used some liquid in a sauce. If the nutrition describes drained solids but you also consume packing liquid, the solids calculation may not describe the complete meal. Seek suitable information for the retained component. Do not invent an exact oil or syrup contribution from the difference between net and drained weights.
Conversely, adding a separate sauce entry may duplicate nutrition when the product panel already describes the whole sauced food. Make one clear boundary: this entry includes these contents. Keep a brief companion note outside the app when the label needs explanation. A useful note says drained solids only or all contents retained, rather than an unsupported precise drainage percentage.
Test this label check with one real lunch in Nexal
Download Nexal for Android, create your account and try free manual meal and macro tracking with a tin you regularly buy. Read the panel, calculate the portion outside the app and enter its nutrition through the available manual workflow. Keep the packaging reference in your own notes if needed; this process does not require a dedicated drained-weight calculator.
When copying that recent meal, confirm both the product and how you handled its liquid. A lunch made with the whole tin differs from one made with half the drained contents. Premium barcode scanning is optional and still needs this check. Finish when the food, label basis and eaten quantity agree, without expecting the download to make uncertain packing-liquid estimates exact.
Record the edible portion after checking the tin’s nutrition basis.
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Frequently asked questions
Should I always use the drained weight?
Use it when you ate drained contents and the nutrition values describe drained food. Other products or retained liquid may need a different basis.
Does scanning a tin establish how much liquid I consumed?
No. Nexal Premium barcode scanning does not establish your portion or how you drained the food. Check those details yourself.
Sources and editorial notes
Prepared by Nexal for general education. This is product-team content, not an independent review or a clinically reviewed programme. Exercise and nutrition examples are illustrative, not personalised recommendations.
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