To keep your Christmas meal under 500 kcal, an individual ready meal lets you calculate the total for the dish if it makes up the whole plate; with a sharing pack, you’ll need to know how much is served. A rice pouch may come in under this limit on its own, but that doesn’t mean the whole meal will: calculate the kcal in the rice you eat, then add those from the other foods.
A whole ready meal makes it easy to calculate the kcal without dividing up a large pack. Carrefour’s product information for Carrefour Classic' chicken and mushroom rice lists 120 kcal per 100 g, or 360 kcal for the 300 g tray, before adding any other food.
An express rice pouch can be served as a side with a separately prepared main. To find out whether your plate comes in under 500 kcal, you’ll also need to count the sauce, toppings and other foods you serve.
The weight of the pack won’t necessarily be the same as the amount on each plate. Decide how much to serve, then calculate the kcal using the value given per 100 g.
First, choose the format that suits the role rice will play in your meal: an individual main, a side dish or a portion from a sharing pack.
Choose this if: you want to serve a ready-made dish. The Carrefour Classic' chicken and mushroom rice tray contains 360 kcal per 300 g, according to Carrefour’s product information.
Bear in mind: this product contains milk and crème fraîche, among other ingredients, and must be kept chilled.
Choose this if: the rice is accompanying another dish. Ben's Original Mediterranean-style rice contains around 361 kcal per 220 g pouch, according to Carrefour’s product information.
Bear in mind: you’ll need to add the other items on your plate to the total for the pouch.
Choose this if: you’re deciding how much to serve each person. Tables du Monde Cantonese rice contains 286 kcal per 200 g, based on the values shown by E.Leclerc.
Bear in mind: the 400 g pack would contain 572 kcal if one person ate the whole thing.
| Criterion | What to check | Who is it for? |
|---|---|---|
| Portion and kcal | The kcal per 100 g, the amount actually served and any foods added. | If I want to keep my plate under 500 kcal, the pack weight alone won’t tell me the total. Around 50% of consumers prioritise calculating this per portion. |
| Ingredients | The ingredients and allergen list, as well as the salt per 100 g. | If a guest needs to avoid an ingredient, I should check the exact recipe rather than relying on the dish name alone; around 30% of consumers put ingredients first. |
| Serving and storage | The format, reheating instructions and, for a chilled dish, the use-by date and storage instructions. | If I’m serving rice during the Christmas preparations, I need a format that suits the time and storage space I have available. Ease of serving is the priority for around 20% of consumers. |
Tables du Monde Cantonese rice is listed at 143 kcal per 100 g on E.Leclerc’s product page, which works out at 572 kcal for the whole 400 g pack.
Once you’ve divided or weighed the rice, calculate the total based on how much each person will eat.
Ben's Original Mediterranean-style rice contains around 361 kcal on its own, based on the values shown by Carrefour. That doesn’t give you the total for a plate with other foods.
Add the amounts of sauce, meat, cheese or other side dishes actually served.
Cooked rice recipes can differ in their ingredients and nutritional values, even if the portion contains less than 500 kcal.
Check the label on the product you buy, especially the ingredients, allergens and salt per 100 g.
Products sold chilled need to be stored correctly until they’re served.
Follow the storage instructions and use-by date. Anses recommends monitoring the temperature in the coldest part of the fridge, keeping it at 4 °C.
These examples relate to specific recipes and formats, not to every product from each brand.
The 2 min Mediterranean-style rice comes in a 220 g pouch and is designed to be served as a side dish.
The chicken and mushroom rice is a chilled ready meal in an individual 300 g tray.
The Cantonese rice comes in a 400 g pack to share between guests.
Multiply the kcal per 100 g by the weight you eat in grams, then divide by 100. So a 300 g tray with 120 kcal per 100 g contains 360 kcal if you eat the whole thing. Count the other foods in the meal separately.
No. Nutri-Score doesn’t tell you how many kcal are in the amount you serve. To check the limit, use the energy value per 100 g and the amount you eat. Also check the ingredients and any other nutritional information that may help you choose.
Check the ingredients and allergen list for the product you buy, as recipes vary. Carrefour’s product information for Carrefour Classic' chicken and mushroom rice mentions milk and crème fraîche, among other ingredients. The information for Tables du Monde Cantonese rice mentions egg, wheat, fish and pork, among other ingredients.
Keep the product chilled according to the instructions on the packaging and follow its use-by date. For your fridge, Anses recommends monitoring the coldest area and keeping it at 4 °C. Make sure the cold chain isn’t broken during transport or preparation.