Food Scales!

danikat15

My current food scale is over 10 years old. Looking for an upgrade is a little overwhelming! I want something that's accurate and looks reasonably nice.

Which ones do you guys recommend?

goal06082021

I have the "Nicewell Food Scale" from Amazon, it was US$27.99 when I bought it and it looks like the price has dropped a tiny bit to US$23.99 at time of writing. It has a 22lb weight limit (I have a lot of heavy pots/casserole dishes and wanted to be able to weigh finished dishes without dirtying another container), tare function, it goes negative, and shows g/kg as well as oz and lb:oz. It eats batteries pretty quickly but I have rechargeables so it's not that much of an issue for me; I also find that as the batteries power down, the accuracy suffers a little bit, but again, it's not a problem for me to swap in fresh batteries as needed. I do wish the buttons were a little more sensitive - sometimes I need to tap Tare several times before it will do the dang thing. Also, the screen and buttons are part of the scale surface, so touching them does alter the readout for the second or two that your finger is there. It's easy to clean, though, which is great.

Cheesy567

My Accuweight scale has served me well for about 6 years now, cost about $13 on Amazon. It even fell off the counter and fell apart, I just stuck it back together and it kept on ticking.

The only thing I’ll look for in a different scale is one that weighs for smaller than 4 or 5 gram minimum, but that’s pretty minor. Once you meet that minimum it’s been very accurate. And I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth.

earlnabby

goal06082021 wrote: »

I have the "Nicewell Food Scale" from Amazon, it was US$27.99 when I bought it and it looks like the price has dropped a tiny bit to US$23.99 at time of writing. It has a 22lb weight limit (I have a lot of heavy pots/casserole dishes and wanted to be able to weigh finished dishes without dirtying another container), tare function, it goes negative, and shows g/kg as well as oz and lb:oz. It eats batteries pretty quickly but I have rechargeables so it's not that much of an issue for me; I also find that as the batteries power down, the accuracy suffers a little bit, but again, it's not a problem for me to swap in fresh batteries as needed. I do wish the buttons were a little more sensitive - sometimes I need to tap Tare several times before it will do the dang thing. Also, the screen and buttons are part of the scale surface, so touching them does alter the readout for the second or two that your finger is there. It's easy to clean, though, which is great.

I have the same scale (paid $19.99 3 years ago) and love it. I haven't noticed excess battery use, I change them maybe once a year.

katvg17

I've been using the Salter 'Arc' scale for almost 2 yrs. It takes a CR2032 button battery which I think I have replaced once, so let's say average 1 battery/year. It's easy to switch between ounces or grams, and can measure as low as one gram (or less than one ounce). Not sure what's the max weight capacity as I'm not usually weighing very large things. The scale itself is not very large, doesn't take up a lot of space to store.
Looks like Amazon still carries this model --
https://www.amazon.com/Salter-1066WHDR15-Electronic-Kitchen-Scale/dp/B0024OB072

[note a lot of reviews complain it doesn't measure ml but don't most of us use measuring cups to measure liquids anyways?]

Justin_7272

katvg17 wrote: »

[note a lot of reviews complain it doesn't measure ml but don't most of us use measuring cups to measure liquids anyways?]

Measuring cups measure volume, not weight...so no, if you want to track accurately you don't use measuring cups to measure liquids.

https://smile.amazon.com/Crownful-Digital-Function-Batteries-Included/dp/B08CZ9R2D5/ref=sr_1_11?crid=2T4LS0Y7I6MMN&keywords=food+scale&qid=1640631926&sprefix=food+scal,aps,93&sr=8-11

Many of these under different brand names on Amazon. Cheap, accurate, and small, so you can just pop it in a drawer/cabinet once done and don't have to be too concerned about how it looks on your countertop.

AnnPT77

RIght now I have the GeekClick Digital Food Scale, which is $18.99 on Amazon. It's fine.

I don't think scale choice is a profoundly nuanced decision, personally. Lots of models are fine, and some of the issue is personal preference.

Features I think are important:
* Weighs in grams (fine if it does ounces/pounds, too)
* Can handle a relatively high weight (heaviest frequently-used pot plus contents - many I see now do up to 22 pounds)
* Easy tare function to zero the scale with weight on it, not so easy that one does it accidentally
* Will display negative weights (very important so I can, say, put the peanut butter jar on the scale, tare, take a spoonful, read the negative as the amount I took out). Extra nice if it can handle larger negative weights - some have a high positive weight capability, smaller negative capability
* Repeatable/consistent (hard to tell pre-purchase)
* Durable (hard to tell pre-purchase, but reviews may help)
* Accurate to fine gradation (the specs supposedly tell the resolution, but hard to tell pre-purchase IMO)
* Manageable batteries/power (personal preference, I like batteries for which I always have spares for general household use - here, the stores can be out of some of the button batteries more often than out of AA/AAA, too).
* For home use, large enough weighing surface to be stable for fairly big stuff (for ultra-big, I put a bowl on the scale - and tare, of course - to raise the cookie sheet or whatever, so the display is still visible)
* Easy to clean (crevices are annoying)
* Auto shut-off
* Easy to read display, that will be visible when weighing common things (the bowl trick applies here, too, but I don't want to be doing that for routine items, just extra big ones).

I leave mine out on the counter all the time. For some people, that would mean looks matter. I honestly don't care, but the current one is pretty sleek/modern looking.

katvg17 wrote: »

I've been using the Salter 'Arc' scale for almost 2 yrs. It takes a CR2032 button battery which I think I have replaced once, so let's say average 1 battery/year. It's easy to switch between ounces or grams, and can measure as low as one gram (or less than one ounce). Not sure what's the max weight capacity as I'm not usually weighing very large things. The scale itself is not very large, doesn't take up a lot of space to store.
Looks like Amazon still carries this model --
https://www.amazon.com/Salter-1066WHDR15-Electronic-Kitchen-Scale/dp/B0024OB072

[note a lot of reviews complain it doesn't measure ml but don't most of us use measuring cups to measure liquids anyways?]

Yes, because the ml reading is just grams, not ml - ml is a volume measure. Things with the specific gravity (density) of water will weigh one gram per milliliter. A scale can't measure volume, just weight.

Water's specific gravity is 1. 1 milliliter of water weighs 1 gram.
Just to pick a few random other liquid foods:
Honey's specific gravity is 1.43. 1 milliliter of honey weighs 1.43 grams.
Pure olive oil's specific gravity is 0.91. 1 milliliter of pure olive oil weighs 0.96 grams.

In calorie-dense things used in significant quantities, it can make a difference in calories.

Specific gravities are from: https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/industry/npc/Pages/specific-gravities.aspx

paperpudding

one thing I would look out for is one where the reading sticks out further than a dinner plate - the one I have now does not and makes it difficult to read - probably fine for measuring baking ingredients but bit tricky for items on dinner plates when the reading is tucked underneath the plate

does that make sense?