What 100 grams actually looks like

20 September 2026

Every figure on a nutrition panel is per 100 g, and almost no one eats in 100 g units. Some anchors, so you can estimate without a scale.

Meat and fish

• Chicken breast: one average breast is 180–220 g raw. 100 g is a bit under half.
• Beef mince: a 500 g pack serves four at 125 g each raw, which cooks down to roughly 90 g.
• Tinned tuna: a 95 g tin drains to about 80 g. A 185 g tin drains to about 150 g.
• Salmon fillet: a supermarket portion is usually 120–150 g.

Carbohydrate staples

• Dried pasta: 100 g is a generous single serve, and roughly a quarter of a 500 g pack. It roughly doubles in weight when cooked.
• Rice: 100 g raw becomes about 300 g cooked. A standard serve is 60–75 g raw.
• Bread: a supermarket sandwich slice is 35–40 g, so 100 g is about two and a half slices.
• Potato: one medium potato is 150–180 g.

Dairy

• Milk: 100 ml is not quite half a cup. A standard glass is 250 ml.
• Cheddar: 100 g is a solid block — about six thin sandwich slices. A serving is 20–30 g.
• Yoghurt: single tubs are 150–200 g, so most are around one and a half times a panel figure.

Fruit and vegetables

• Apple: medium is about 150 g.
• Banana: peeled, medium is 100–120 g — one of the few foods that lands near 100 g naturally.
• Onion: medium brown onion, peeled, is about 150 g.
• Carrot: medium is 70 g.

Where this matters most

Fats and oils, because the numbers are large and the amounts are small. Olive oil is 3,695 kJ per 100 g, which is meaningless at the stove. A tablespoon is about 15 g — roughly 550 kJ. Two tablespoons into a pan for four people adds about 275 kJ a serve.

The other one is salt. Table salt is roughly 38,000 mg of sodium per 100 g. A teaspoon is about 6 g, so a teaspoon carries around 2,300 mg of sodium.