Unit price and drained weight: a better grocery comparison

Start with equivalent products

A kilogram price is helpful when the products have the same intended use. It does not make dry chickpeas and cooked chickpeas directly equivalent, or a pure spice and a seasoned blend identical. Choose the ingredient and format first.

For ordinary packaged groceries, look at the displayed unit such as €/kg or €/l as well as the total pack price. German price rules provide for kilogram or litre comparisons, and where a drained weight is required the unit-price basis is the declared drained weight.

Work through a simple example

Imagine two fictional cans with the same type of drained beans. Can A costs €1.20 and declares 240 g drained; can B costs €1.50 and declares 300 g drained. Both work out at €5.00 per kilogram of drained beans: price divided by drained grams, multiplied by 1,000.

Those figures are examples, not Tukwila offers. Use the current product page and pack values. A can's total weight including liquid is a different figure from the usable drained amount for a recipe.

Separate shipping and contents

Shipping weight can include packaging and is useful for transport calculations. It is not the net amount of food. Similarly, a multipack needs both a container count and the size of each container before you compare it with one large pack.

Value includes what you will use

A lower kilogram price can still mean more money spent and more leftover food. Check storage space and after-opening instructions before buying a large pack. Add delivery charges to the basket comparison and review the total at checkout. For dry versus ready-cooked choices, read chickpea formats; for a familiar bulk ingredient, see rice pack planning.

Sources and label checks

• German PAngV: unit prices and drained weight
• European Commission: net and drained weight