food scale users--no oz./gram options for foods

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andielyn
andielyn Posts: 233 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I got a food scale, went to record my food and for the first several items there is no option to record in ounces in the food database. My choices were a serving or the whole container. I thought the scale might be helpful for caloric dense items or things like a loaf of bakery bread one sliced themselves...so many people here seem to live and die by the food scale and say it's no more effort, but how do you make it work if you can't record precise ounces (or grams)?
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Replies

  • IsisRosa
    IsisRosa Posts: 57 Member
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    I keep looking until I find an option that has grams. The database here has a ton of repeats, so keep looking.
  • amberlykay1014
    amberlykay1014 Posts: 608 Member
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    Can you take a second look at the food label? It will usually say something like Serving Size: 1/4 cup (59g).

    Let's say you weigh your portion on the scale and you come up with 62 grams. Bust out that calculator and divide 62/59 and you'll get 1.05. Log that number as your serving size.

    Edited to add: You can create your own label if you don't see one in the database that's correct. Lots of times there is a correct entry, you just have to find it though.
  • simplydelish2
    simplydelish2 Posts: 726 Member
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    Food scales are great for meat, dry pasta, etc. Many food are measured in cups, tablespoons, etc. Weights and measures are different and not interchangeable. You will find that the foods that should be measured have weight measures associated with them.

    Example: 1/4 c. of one food could be 50 grams, while 1/4 c. of another food could be 30. Those types of foods are measured. Meat on the other hand is very difficult to measure by the cook - so it's measured in ounces on the food scale.
  • Llamapants86
    Llamapants86 Posts: 1,221 Member
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    I keep looking until I find an option that has grams. The database here has a ton of repeats, so keep looking.

    This or I will enter my own based on the packaging.
  • 77tes
    77tes Posts: 7,850 Member
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    I hate 1 serving, but if there is nutrition info on the package, it will say how many grams there are in one serving (at least in the US). If the database entry is the problem, choose a different one. Or weigh the whole thing (loaf of bakery bread) and divide....
  • MityMax96
    MityMax96 Posts: 5,778 Member
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    I keep looking until I find an option that has grams. The database here has a ton of repeats, so keep looking.

    This or I will enter my own based on the packaging.

    Same here
  • CeleryStalker
    CeleryStalker Posts: 665 Member
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    Since you seem to be talking about mostly food with labels, use the MFP app on your phone, snap a pic of the barcode on the label, and presto, you've got all the data from the nutrition label loaded right up, including serving size. If the serving size is, say, 2 oz and you weighed out 1oz, you'd just denote that when you log, that you had .5 of one serving. :) I do it all the time, and trust me when I say, after a short while of religiously logging everything that goes in your mouth, it gets quite effortless!
  • Sunitagt
    Sunitagt Posts: 486 Member
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    Can you take a second look at the food label? It will usually say something like Serving Size: 1/4 cup (59g).

    Let's say you weigh your portion on the scale and you come up with 62 grams. Bust out that calculator and divide 62/59 and you'll get 1.05. Log that number as your serving size.

    Edited to add: You can create your own label if you don't see one in the database that's correct. Lots of times there is a correct entry, you just have to find it though.

    This. Or create/correct the food to have the serving size be in grams, and then record by grams. I usually just create a new one in grams so I don't have to think about it.
  • rrlwelter
    rrlwelter Posts: 40 Member
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    I keep looking until I find an option that has grams. The database here has a ton of repeats, so keep looking.

    This or I will enter my own based on the packaging.

    Yup, I'm here doing the same thing too.
  • elyelyse
    elyelyse Posts: 1,454 Member
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    Since you seem to be talking about mostly food with labels, use the MFP app on your phone, snap a pic of the barcode on the label, and presto, you've got all the data from the nutrition label loaded right up, including serving size.
    Unfortunately, those results tend to be as unreliable and inconsistent as any other random choice from the database. Sometimes it's by servings, sometimes by cup/tbsp, sometimes by weight, and sometimes it's totally the wrong calorie counts and completely useless. I've actually stopped using the barcode option, bc it's usually not a great entry, and I end up doing a manual search anyway.
  • besaro
    besaro Posts: 1,858 Member
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    wow, whenever i scan the barcode MFP matches precisely with the barcode on the packaging, while searching i sometimes have to search through a few entries to find the correct one, but this really doesnt seem too tedious.

    aside from that, i weigh everything in grams, although my scale can switch between oz and grams.

    eta: i should say, when i search manually i occasionally need to view a few entries
  • ashleymmannisto
    ashleymmannisto Posts: 62 Member
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    I keep looking until I find an option that has grams. The database here has a ton of repeats, so keep looking.

    This or I will enter my own based on the packaging.

    Same here



    Yup. This ^^
  • Heatherybit
    Heatherybit Posts: 91 Member
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    While scrolling my heart leaps for joy when I see 1g option!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    I honestly know by heart how many grams is one serving of so many things by now... it's a bit ridiculous, lol. But I'm too lazy to edit all the entries or make my own.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    I got a food scale, went to record my food and for the first several items there is no option to record in ounces in the food database.

    The database is in dire need of cleaning up. It's littered with incomplete and inaccurate entries.
  • andielyn
    andielyn Posts: 233 Member
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    Thanks for all the answers but this is not what I wanted to hear! :) I have to shake my head and laugh...I've read through some of the past threads about weighing food and there it seems that the is a vocal majority who INSISTS a food scale is the only way to go. I am on the fence and believe one can do this without a scale and have been tracking without one, but got a good deal on one and thought it would be another good tool for my toolbox.

    THEN I realize what a pain in the butt it is to track actual weights! It would be extremely convenient if all the entries gave the option of adding food by the oz/gram. Yeah, I can crack out my calculator and do the math that 3.8 oz of bread is x of 2 oz serving slice, but I rounded it to 2. I love the barcode feature and use it a lot for prepackaged foods. I wanted the scale more for meats, fruits, veggies, or things I won't eat in a pre-portioned serving.

    Live and learn. :)
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
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    I wanted the scale more for meats, fruits, veggies, or things I won't eat in a pre-portioned serving.

    So then use it for that. I have absolutely no problem finding gram measurements for for 99% of what I eat.
  • smn76237
    smn76237 Posts: 318 Member
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    Thanks for all the answers but this is not what I wanted to hear! :) I have to shake my head and laugh...I've read through some of the past threads about weighing food and there it seems that the is a vocal majority who INSISTS a food scale is the only way to go. I am on the fence and believe one can do this without a scale and have been tracking without one, but got a good deal on one and thought it would be another good tool for my toolbox.

    THEN I realize what a pain in the butt it is to track actual weights! It would be extremely convenient if all the entries gave the option of adding food by the oz/gram. Yeah, I can crack out my calculator and do the math that 3.8 oz of bread is x of 2 oz serving slice, but I rounded it to 2. I love the barcode feature and use it a lot for prepackaged foods. I wanted the scale more for meats, fruits, veggies, or things I won't eat in a pre-portioned serving.

    Live and learn. :)

    If you're using the app, the very first entry is typically the official entry (you just cannot see that there is not an asterisk on the app), and if you click on it and expand the options for serving size, you will see you have numerous options, including "100 g"

    For example, a search for "banana raw" will result in "Generic-Bananas-Raw" as your first search result. What you will see in the app is "1.0 cup, mashed, 200 cal," but when you select it, click on "Serving Size" and you will see there are NUMEROUS other serving sizes, including 100.0 g at the very bottom.

    Other tips for finding things by weight are to include "usda" "raw" "g" or "100 g" in your searches. Yes, it is a bit of a pain, but it is very much worth the effort.
  • andielyn
    andielyn Posts: 233 Member
    Options
    If you're using the app, the very first entry is typically the official entry (you just cannot see that there is not an asterisk on the app), and if you click on it and expand the options for serving size, you will see you have numerous options, including "100 g"

    For example, a search for "banana raw" will result in "Generic-Bananas-Raw" as your first search result. What you will see in the app is "1.0 cup, mashed, 200 cal," but when you select it, click on "Serving Size" and you will see there are NUMEROUS other serving sizes, including 100.0 g at the very bottom.

    Other tips for finding things by weight are to include "usda" "raw" "g" or "100 g" in your searches. Yes, it is a bit of a pain, but it is very much worth the effort.

    That is a helpful tip. What I'm not seeing is numerous other serving sizes when opening the serving size but I will try those search terms to see if this helps. Thanks!
  • eddiesmith1
    eddiesmith1 Posts: 1,550 Member
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    Thanks for all the answers but this is not what I wanted to hear! :) I have to shake my head and laugh...I've read through some of the past threads about weighing food and there it seems that the is a vocal majority who INSISTS a food scale is the only way to go. I am on the fence and believe one can do this without a scale and have been tracking without one, but got a good deal on one and thought it would be another good tool for my toolbox.

    THEN I realize what a pain in the butt it is to track actual weights! It would be extremely convenient if all the entries gave the option of adding food by the oz/gram. Yeah, I can crack out my calculator and do the math that 3.8 oz of bread is x of 2 oz serving slice, but I rounded it to 2. I love the barcode feature and use it a lot for prepackaged foods. I wanted the scale more for meats, fruits, veggies, or things I won't eat in a pre-portioned serving.

    Live and learn. :)

    I agree the scale can be a PITA, but I use it consistently at home, at work I do a couple of things. Since I am the purchaser I know most times what it is the chef has put out and the portion sizes so i work from that. for the salads at this point i'm pretty good at eyeballing 100 gr of various lettuces and the other ingredients (and to be honest a 10% error on salad will not be a big deal to me) for the dressings since i use a 2 TBSP ladle I bought for the kitchen i just look up the dressing i used
    Generally though i weigh/measure pretty much everything and if I can't I estimate to the high side

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