Food Scale
ACSelkie
Posts: 46 Member
Do you use one ? Pros/Cons? If so any brand recommendations?
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Yes for all solids because it is the proper way to measure them and far more accurate.
https://youtu.be/vjKPIcI51lU 2 -
To add, it makes preparing food much easier as well once you get used to it.2
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Thanks for the input.. Think I'll give one a try...0
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rileysowner wrote: »To add, it makes preparing food much easier as well once you get used to it.
It really does. I rarely use measuring cups anymore.3 -
Yes. I have a Taylor. It's okay. Going on it's second year and it can be a little wonky but it's usually close to when the battery dies. I think I change the battery every 4-6 months.0
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I currently use one from Etekcity. Instant love. Plus two on getting used to it. It's a staple on my kitchen counter now.1
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Hi
use one that will zero out the weight of the container and I use Grams as they end up being more accurate than weighing in ounces. I can add more before the reading changes if I use the ounce setting.
We use a Cuisinart FWIW
Roger0 -
It's easier. I have used one for years just for cooking because it is faster, more accurate and messes up less dishes than using strictly measuring cups and spoons. I use the XOXO Soft works scale that has a pull out display.3
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Thanks all for the input .. Going to give it a try!0
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there is no name brand on my scale, i have had it for years and bought it at either TJMaxx or Marshall's. I LOVE IT and use it EVERY MEAL. it has grams and ounces/pounds. mine is digital and goes out #.## to hundredths place and has a tare feature, which i use alot.
couldn't make it without my scale!!! definitely worth it. i think i only paid about $12-$150 -
Some tips to make it easier, when you give it a try:
- Assembling a salad in a bowl, a stew in a pan, sandwich on a plate? Put the bowl/pan/plate on the scale, zero, add an ingredient, note the weight, zero, add the next ingredient, note the weight . . . .
- Using something from a carton or jar, or cutting a slice from a hunk of cheese? Put the container or chunk on the scale, zero, take out portion, note the negative value (it's the amount you took out).
- Eating a whole apple, banana, unhulled strawberries, corn on the cob? Weigh the ready-to-eat food, eat the yummy parts, weigh the core/hulls/peel, subtract & note.
- I like to keep a few clean plastic yogurt-tub lids around to weigh small items, like a handful of nuts or chopped hardboiled eggs or something. Drop the lid on the scale, zero, add item, note weight, eat or use - just a quick rinse of the lid under the faucet & you're done.
Must people weigh food? Of course not. But for some of us, it definitely helps. And if we're gonna do it, might as well do it efficiently!
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Do you use one ? Pros/Cons? If so any brand recommendations?
No specific brand recommendations but I think the best are flat scales that go up to 10 kg so you can put a bowl or baking dish on it and weigh as you put stuff in it. Works really good to calculate recipes. Tare function is essential. Liquid function is more than useless, it is inaccurate for anything other than water or milk.0 -
Until MFP, aside from the odd American baking recipe I'd used (and bought cups specifically for) it never occurred to me not to use one for cooking etc! Standard kitchen staple in the UK and a lot of people would stare at you blankly if you gave them a cup measurement.0
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I have one. You'll find that once you measure things a time or two that you can learn what a serving size looks like. After that, you can eyeball things.0
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cuadrado12 wrote: »I have one. You'll find that once you measure things a time or two that you can learn what a serving size looks like. After that, you can eyeball things.
Some people can, some cannot. I cannot. I might be close early on, but very quickly which I eyeball becomes bigger and bigger. Good for you it you can, but realize many of us likely cannot.
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VintageFeline wrote: »Until MFP, aside from the odd American baking recipe I'd used (and bought cups specifically for) it never occurred to me not to use one for cooking etc! Standard kitchen staple in the UK and a lot of people would stare at you blankly if you gave them a cup measurement.
A friend and I were talking about it and wishing more American cookbooks included weights. I don't know why scales are so scary to Americans in the kitchen.3 -
VintageFeline wrote: »Until MFP, aside from the odd American baking recipe I'd used (and bought cups specifically for) it never occurred to me not to use one for cooking etc! Standard kitchen staple in the UK and a lot of people would stare at you blankly if you gave them a cup measurement.
A friend and I were talking about it and wishing more American cookbooks included weights. I don't know why scales are so scary to Americans in the kitchen.
Not scary, but historically they were expensive and thus cup were used. Now they are inexpensive, but it is difficult changing long standing tradition.0 -
VintageFeline wrote: »Until MFP, aside from the odd American baking recipe I'd used (and bought cups specifically for) it never occurred to me not to use one for cooking etc! Standard kitchen staple in the UK and a lot of people would stare at you blankly if you gave them a cup measurement.
A friend and I were talking about it and wishing more American cookbooks included weights. I don't know why scales are so scary to Americans in the kitchen.
Because then they would eat less 1 -
VintageFeline wrote: »Until MFP, aside from the odd American baking recipe I'd used (and bought cups specifically for) it never occurred to me not to use one for cooking etc! Standard kitchen staple in the UK and a lot of people would stare at you blankly if you gave them a cup measurement.
A friend and I were talking about it and wishing more American cookbooks included weights. I don't know why scales are so scary to Americans in the kitchen.
It is because Fannie Farmer, the head of the Boston Cooking School, standardized recipes and cooking methods using measuring cups and spoons. Lower class women could cook and did it "by guess and by golly" but she taught middle and upper class America women how to cook using measurements rather than weights. Her cookbook (first published in 1896) was considered the standard for decades. Once a method of measuring has been entrenched for a couple of generations, it is hard to change people.
If recipes would give both weights and measures, people might slowly change but right now, most recipes published in the US are measurements only.1 -
rileysowner wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Until MFP, aside from the odd American baking recipe I'd used (and bought cups specifically for) it never occurred to me not to use one for cooking etc! Standard kitchen staple in the UK and a lot of people would stare at you blankly if you gave them a cup measurement.
A friend and I were talking about it and wishing more American cookbooks included weights. I don't know why scales are so scary to Americans in the kitchen.
Not scary, but historically they were expensive and thus cup were used. Now they are inexpensive, but it is difficult changing long standing tradition.
There are so many people who assume they will be "too hard." We even run into it here. Those of us positing on this thread know better, but there are a large number of Americans that are afraid of changing measurement types.0 -
I use a scale and love it. Defiantly get one that can measure large quantities and is flat so you can put your plate on it and zero out every time before adding a new food, but also get one that takes regular, easy to find batteries. I got one with a glass top before, which was pretty and said it measured up to 4-5 pounds, but it took some weird size flat battery that they didn't sell around me. I got a new one at WalMart that has a pretty bamboo top and takes AA batteries.
Also, it's a lot easier to make large meals and measure out your serving size and freeze in those sizes so you can just take one out of the freezer for lunch in the morning. Or, if you're like me, I really like to can soups, stews, and chilis. I make a giant batch and then put my measured amount in each jar (a pint holds 1.5 cups, a quart holds 3.5, leaving the required 1 inch head space). I can just take a jar of taco soup or chili, or whatever I made, to work with me, and have yummy, homemade soup for lunch. Or for a quick, homemade turkey noodle soup for dinner in 10 minutes; just add noodles, water, and heat.0 -
rileysowner wrote: »cuadrado12 wrote: »I have one. You'll find that once you measure things a time or two that you can learn what a serving size looks like. After that, you can eyeball things.
Some people can, some cannot. I cannot. I might be close early on, but very quickly which I eyeball becomes bigger and bigger. Good for you it you can, but realize many of us likely cannot.
I AGREE. i've been weighing food for years and i still can't eyeball it. LOL1
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