How to weigh grains

ipmac22

I am new to weighing my food (finally!) and my question for all of you experienced food weighers out there is when do you weigh grains? Uncooked or cooked? I just weighed farro to portion out with my lunches for the week but it occurred to me the serving size says dry. After cooking, it contains all the water also added. I just want to make sure I'm able to log it accurately after putting in the effort to weigh it. I did a brief thread search but didn't see the answer. Just looking for a little guidance. Thank you for any insight!

malibu927

Before cooking. If you do happen to weigh after cooking instead, look for an entry for cooked weight.

ipmac22

Thank you! My bad this time.

ipmac22

I'm really having a hard time trusting the food scale now. I'm frustrated because for so long I was afraid to use one because I was afraid I'd become obsessive over it. But finally giving in to using it, I'm not sure whether or not to trust it. I bought one off of Amazon that was the most highly rated and reviewed one in the lower price range ($13ish). Today, I measured out my peanut butter powder which is listed as 2 TBS (12 grams) for 50 calories. However, when I weighed it, 2 TBS came nowhere near 12 grams. I would have had to almost double the amount to get to 12 grams. I figured the scale would show me inaccuracies between measuring and weighing, but I didn't think it would be so great and on the light side.

Any insight? How do you know if your scale is accurate? Do you ever worry that you are putting trust into the scale and it could be off?

gaelicstorm

You can check for accuracy by placing an item on there with a known weight. There are times mine goes crazy and I have to turn it off and back on again. Make sure it is on a flat surface and that what you are weighing isn't accidentally leaning up against anything nearby. With you PB powder, did you pack it into the tablespoon? If not, perhaps the weight on the back is for a packed weight (sort of like with brown sugar)?

ipmac22

gaelicstorm wrote: »

You can check for accuracy by placing an item on there with a known weight. There are times mine goes crazy and I have to turn it off and back on again. Make sure it is on a flat surface and that what you are weighing isn't accidentally leaning up against anything nearby. With you PB powder, did you pack it into the tablespoon? If not, perhaps the weight on the back is for a packed weight (sort of like with brown sugar)?

Thanks, it is on my counter with nothing around it. I've turned it on and off a few times to make sure it was throwing up the same numbers. I can't figure out a known weight of anything, so I've been trying to figure out how to test it! It might be for packed weight, but it doesn't say so I don't know. I'm trying so hard to make sure I get accurate weights and I'm finding weighing my foods to be a lot more confusing than I really thought it would be!

cmriverside

I've never used PB powder, but are you sure that isn't "prepared weight"?

I find my little $10 scale from Amazon works great. I've used one for ten years and it seems accurate to me. A measurement that is off by 50% sounds wrong - but when in doubt I always go with gram weight, not spoons.

livingleanlivingclean

I had a scale a long time ago that came with a 200g weight to calibrate it with. I have that on the kitchen bench and use it every few days to check the scale.

My biggest problem is if stuff gets stuck in the "feet" of the scale, cleaning them sorts it out. Low batteries can also cause issues.

Sometimes the scale does the like weighing small amounts - i find weighing out of containers easier for things like powder when I'm not using a lot.

ipmac22

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

I had a scale a long time ago that came with a 200g weight to calibrate it with. I have that on the kitchen bench and use it every few days to check the scale.

My biggest problem is if stuff gets stuck in the "feet" of the scale, cleaning them sorts it out. Low batteries can also cause issues.

Sometimes the scale does the like weighing small amounts - i find weighing out of containers easier for things like powder when I'm not using a lot.

Thank you! This is helpful. I might buy a weight like that specifically to check/calibrate it!

ipmac22

cmriverside wrote: »

I've never used PB powder, but are you sure that isn't "prepared weight"?

I find my little $10 scale from Amazon works great. I've used one for ten years and it seems accurate to me. A measurement that is off by 50% sounds wrong - but when in doubt I always go with gram weight, not spoons.

There's no preparation to it. So unfortunately, not. I definitely need to check it, possibly with a weight such as one of the other posters mentioned. Thank you.

deannalfisher

ipmac22 wrote: »

I'm really having a hard time trusting the food scale now. I'm frustrated because for so long I was afraid to use one because I was afraid I'd become obsessive over it. But finally giving in to using it, I'm not sure whether or not to trust it. I bought one off of Amazon that was the most highly rated and reviewed one in the lower price range ($13ish). Today, I measured out my peanut butter powder which is listed as 2 TBS (12 grams) for 50 calories. However, when I weighed it, 2 TBS came nowhere near 12 grams. I would have had to almost double the amount to get to 12 grams. I figured the scale would show me inaccuracies between measuring and weighing, but I didn't think it would be so great and on the light side.

Any insight? How do you know if your scale is accurate? Do you ever worry that you are putting trust into the scale and it could be off?

that's the point - the scale is showing you the inaccuracy between measuring and weighing...TBSP for non-liquids is highly inaccurate - i always use grams if that measure if available

deannalfisher

water added has zero calories; if you added any oil that would be proportional...here is how i bulk cook grains (rice, barley, farro)

using the recipe building, input the amount of grain dry that you are cooking
add in any butter/oil that you maybe add to the mix

after it is cooked; weigh the overall total and make that your serving size (i.e. if your cooked total is 500g, then I enter 500 servings); as I dish it out in my meals, i log it

so if i served myself 150g, I would log 150 servings

gaelicstorm

deannalfisher wrote: »

water added has zero calories; if you added any oil that would be proportional...here is how i bulk cook grains (rice, barley, farro)

using the recipe building, input the amount of grain dry that you are cooking
add in any butter/oil that you maybe add to the mix

after it is cooked; weigh the overall total and make that your serving size (i.e. if your cooked total is 500g, then I enter 500 servings); as I dish it out in my meals, i log it

so if i served myself 150g, I would log 150 servings

Yes, the recipe builder tool is a great resource. I use it in this very same way so my diary will sometimes show that I had 191 servings of an item but that is because I call each gram a serving. Last night I made cauliflower fried rice. I manually entered all ingredient and it weighed about 350 grams when finished. I entered that my fried rice had 350 servings and then I could take what I wanted and enter the amount of grams as the serving size. It really helps for when I batch cook. The only time it is tricky is if I'm making something large (like a zucchini lasagna) in heavy pyrex glass and can't put it on my small scale. Otherwise, this method works very well.

CarvedTones

ipmac22 wrote: »

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

I had a scale a long time ago that came with a 200g weight to calibrate it with. I have that on the kitchen bench and use it every few days to check the scale.

My biggest problem is if stuff gets stuck in the "feet" of the scale, cleaning them sorts it out. Low batteries can also cause issues.

Sometimes the scale does the like weighing small amounts - i find weighing out of containers easier for things like powder when I'm not using a lot.

Thank you! This is helpful. I might buy a weight like that specifically to check/calibrate it!

Put a measuring cup on it. Press tare to zero it. Set units to ounces. Fill the cup to the half cup mark with water and make sure it is 4 oz. then all the way to a cup and make sure it is 8 oz.

ipmac22

CarvedTones wrote: »

ipmac22 wrote: »

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

I had a scale a long time ago that came with a 200g weight to calibrate it with. I have that on the kitchen bench and use it every few days to check the scale.

My biggest problem is if stuff gets stuck in the "feet" of the scale, cleaning them sorts it out. Low batteries can also cause issues.

Sometimes the scale does the like weighing small amounts - i find weighing out of containers easier for things like powder when I'm not using a lot.

Thank you! This is helpful. I might buy a weight like that specifically to check/calibrate it!

Put a measuring cup on it. Press tare to zero it. Set units to ounces. Fill the cup to the half cup mark with water and make sure it is 4 oz. then all the way to a cup and make sure it is 8 oz.

This is a good idea, too and doesn't require me buying more things! Thank you. I will try this tonight.