Help! I am so confused about measuring...

KeithWhiteJr

Last night when putting my lunch together, I got out my scale and measured everything, as I do every night. Today at work, someone asked about my salad dressing and pizza sauce. I mentioned my scale and he said that I cant get accurate measurements of salad dressing and sauce with my scale because those are fluid ounces and not regular ounces. Is that true? Is 1 oz of Italian dressing on my scale not the same as 1 fl oz of dressing? Which is more and am I eating more calories than I thought?

kshama2001

While fluid ounces are different than regular ounces, and which is more will depend on the particular food, assuming you're in the US, salad dressing and pizza sauce should have grams on the label. You do indeed measure grams (or solid ounces) on your scale. My salad dressing is 2T / 30 g = 150 calories.

While I might use a measuring cup and fluid ounces for a thin liquid like milk using fluid ounces, I weigh thick fluids like salad dressing and sauces.

ValeriePlz

Fluid ounce is a measure of volume. Ounces and grams are measurements of weight / mass. One fluid ounce will weigh differently depending on how heavy / thick the liquid is.

KeithWhiteJr

kshama2001 wrote: »

While fluid ounces are different than regular ounces, and which is more will depend on the particular food, assuming you're in the US, salad dressing and pizza sauce should have grams on the label. You do indeed measure grams (or solid ounces) on your scale. My salad dressing is 2T / 30 g = 150 calories.

While I might use a measuring cup and fluid ounces for a thin liquid like milk using fluid ounces, I weigh thick fluids like salad dressing and sauces.

I am in the US, but, neither of them lists grams, which is why I used ounces.

YvetteK2015

KeithWhiteJr wrote: »

kshama2001 wrote: »

While fluid ounces are different than regular ounces, and which is more will depend on the particular food, assuming you're in the US, salad dressing and pizza sauce should have grams on the label. You do indeed measure grams (or solid ounces) on your scale. My salad dressing is 2T / 30 g = 150 calories.

While I might use a measuring cup and fluid ounces for a thin liquid like milk using fluid ounces, I weigh thick fluids like salad dressing and sauces.

I am in the US, but, neither of them lists grams, which is why I used ounces.

You can get cheap food scales that will measure: grams, fl.oz, oz, and ml. I make sure all my scales have those measurements.

nowine4me

Use a measuring spoon for liquids and your scale (in grams) for solids.

StaciMarie1974

Do you mean the scale does not use ounces, or the food label does not? Most US food labels list grams where 28 grams is approx 1 ounce.

1 ounce fluid volume is not necessarily the same as 1 ounce by weight. It depends on the liquid. If the label lists milileters then use a spoon, and see how many grams it comes out to. It will probably not be far off 1 tbs = 15 ml. But some liquids are more dense, such as oils I believe.

cwolfman13

I'm looking at my bottle of Newman's Own Lite Italian...serving size 2 Tbsp (30g)...so if I weigh it out, I weigh out 30g.

cmriverside

I think more to the point is why people feel the need to question your sauces and dressings. I'm sure your measurements/calculations are close enough. It will be within a few calories.

kimny72

I checked all the sauces and dressings in my fridge and they all list grams. Personally, if a liquid doesn't list grams, I would measure it by measuring cup or spoon, because a fluid oz is NOT the same as a weighed oz. Although as long as your not using a ton of it, I doubt the calorie difference would be much at all.

Having said that, I would tell your coworker to get his face out of your salad

KeithWhiteJr

StaciMarie1974 wrote: »

Do you mean the scale does not use ounces, or the food label does not? Most US food labels list grams where 28 grams is approx 1 ounce.

1 ounce fluid volume is not necessarily the same as 1 ounce by weight. It depends on the liquid. If the label lists milileters then use a spoon, and see how many grams it comes out to. It will probably not be far off 1 tbs = 15 ml. But some liquids are more dense, such as oils I believe.

I have had 2 scales and neither of them had fluid ounces. I had no idea it wasnt the same lol

KeithWhiteJr

cwolfman13 wrote: »

I'm looking at my bottle of Newman's Own Lite Italian...serving size 2 Tbsp (30g)...so if I weigh it out, I weigh out 30g.

It seems that I bought the only salad dressing on earth without grams on the label.

KeithWhiteJr

cmriverside wrote: »

I think more to the point is why people feel the need to question your sauces and dressings. I'm sure your measurements/calculations are close enough. It will be within a few calories.

Having lost 138 lbs, people ask me A LOT of questions lol. But I dont mind. Everyone at work has been very supportive.

KeithWhiteJr

kimny72 wrote: »

I checked all the sauces and dressings in my fridge and they all list grams. Personally, if a liquid doesn't list grams, I would measure it by measuring cup or spoon, because a fluid oz is NOT the same as a weighed oz. Although as long as your not using a ton of it, I doubt the calorie difference would be much at all.

Having said that, I would tell your coworker to get his face out of your salad

Now I know for next time. I feel like a goof for not realizing!!

YvetteK2015

I measure by what is stated on the back of the label. My lactaid milk gives calories according to ml, my coffee creamer by tbs and g...so I put my coffee cup on the scale and measure ml and g. Anything like a dressing or sauce is usually broken down by gram...so I go by gram.

cmriverside

KeithWhiteJr wrote: »

cmriverside wrote: »

I think more to the point is why people feel the need to question your sauces and dressings. I'm sure your measurements/calculations are close enough. It will be within a few calories.

Having lost 138 lbs, people ask me A LOT of questions lol. But I dont mind. Everyone at work has been very supportive.

well then - even more reason to just say, "2 TBL is a serving." That's what I used. ::shrug::

callsitlikeiseeit

cwolfman13 wrote: »

I'm looking at my bottle of Newman's Own Lite Italian...serving size 2 Tbsp (30g)...so if I weigh it out, I weigh out 30g.

all of my dressings have the same type of labeling.

i dont find it hard at all ..... lol

KeithWhiteJr

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

I'm looking at my bottle of Newman's Own Lite Italian...serving size 2 Tbsp (30g)...so if I weigh it out, I weigh out 30g.

all of my dressings have the same type of labeling.

i dont find it hard at all ..... lol

It was only "hard" because I didn't realize fluid ounces and regular ounces were different.

vivelajackie

With dressing, it offers a serving size in grams, which is easy on kitchen scales to correctly weigh. I'm actually thinking the majority of food things have a gram option, including your pizza sauce. If you want to go the ounce route, many scales will weigh in fluid ounces as well.

seska422

vivelajackie wrote: »

With dressing, it offers a serving size in grams, which is easy on kitchen scales to correctly weigh. I'm actually thinking the majority of food things have a gram option, including your pizza sauce. If you want to go the ounce route, many scales will weigh in fluid ounces as well.

They don't actually do that except for water and liquids with the density of water. Fluid ounces and ml are both measurements of volume rather than weight. If you "weigh" something in ml, all that happens is that the scale weighs it in grams and then gives that numerical value for ml. The instructions that come with the scale probably specify that the fl oz and ml measurements are only valid for water and liquids with a density close to water.

For the sake of convenience, I do weight many liquids in small amounts. However, I keep in mind that the measurement is pretty close rather than accurate.

heiliskrimsli

kimny72 wrote: »

I checked all the sauces and dressings in my fridge and they all list grams. Personally, if a liquid doesn't list grams, I would measure it by measuring cup or spoon, because a fluid oz is NOT the same as a weighed oz. Although as long as your not using a ton of it, I doubt the calorie difference would be much at all.

Having said that, I would tell your coworker to get his face out of your salad

I have "mini measure" marked shot glasses that have mL, teaspoon, tablespoon and fluid ounce for this reason. Makes it easy to put 30 mL of milk in the iced coffee.

lynn_glenmont

StaciMarie1974 wrote: »

Do you mean the scale does not use ounces, or the food label does not? Most US food labels list grams where 28 grams is approx 1 ounce.

1 ounce fluid volume is not necessarily the same as 1 ounce by weight. It depends on the liquid. If the label lists milileters then use a spoon, and see how many grams it comes out to. It will probably not be far off 1 tbs = 15 ml. But some liquids are more dense, such as oils I believe.

Oil is less dense than water. That's why it floats on water (e.g., an oil slick, or oil separating to the top in a vinaigrette).

lynn_glenmont

YvetteK2015 wrote: »

I measure by what is stated on the back of the label. My lactaid milk gives calories according to ml, my coffee creamer by tbs and g...so I put my coffee cup on the scale and measure ml and g. Anything like a dressing or sauce is usually broken down by gram...so I go by gram.

You cannot measure milliliters with a scale, unless you know the specific density of the substance that you're measuring and you do the calculations to convert. A scale that gives values in milliliters is only valid for water and substances with a specific gravity equal to water.

KeithWhiteJr

vivelajackie wrote: »

With dressing, it offers a serving size in grams, which is easy on kitchen scales to correctly weigh. I'm actually thinking the majority of food things have a gram option, including your pizza sauce. If you want to go the ounce route, many scales will weigh in fluid ounces as well.

As I said, my dressing and sauce must be the only brands that don't list grams lol.