Well, I returned my food scale today.

hroush

When I decided to purchase a food scale a week ago, I wanted to get a digital scale, but the cheap one was $20. I'm a frugal guy, so I decided to get the analog scale for $9.00 at walmart. I used it throughout the week, but everything I wanted to use it for was too small to easily discern the exact amount (grams were in 25g increments and I wanted to weigh 30g). I returned the scale today and got the digital one so that I didn't have to buy a smaller scale too.

Taylor521

25 gram increments??? I got a 5 dollar one made by taylor with 1 gram increments that works fine from target

hroush

The scale could weigh up to 7 lbs, that's why the divisions were so big. If I wanted to get a more exact scale for smaller items, I also would have to had bought a smaller one for $5. I don't know what it's increments were, but probably 1g.

kje2011

A scale does sound like a grand idea....but I am not sure how to use it.
Where do I find out about how much food/weight a person should eat of an item??? help?

hroush

To use it, make sure it's zeroed and then put what you want weighed on it.

A lot of items in the database also contain weight serving sizes, usually in grams. Using this method is much more exact than trying to measure volume and easier to throw together if you do it properly.

For example, I love granny smith apples, but I always had to enter it as granny smith apple - medium. How do I know what a medium granny smith apple looks like? Now if I weigh the apple before I eat it and then the core afterwards, I know exactly how much I consumed. I also plan to use this for my cereal in the morning. I'll put my bowl on the scale, tare (zero it), and then pore the cereal in until it hits 30g (1/2 cup).

ThePinkSheep

How is that different than just measuring 1/2 cup of cereal and pouring it into your bowl? I am clueless with the scale thing.

hroush

Weighing it out is more exact than a half cup (is it rounded, little under...). Heck, who knows if the half cup is actually a half cup? It's also easier as I don't need the measuring cup, one less thing to clean. I just went and did a quick test (discovered I misremembered and 1/2 cup is 15 g), and what I would have considered a good half cup was 14g, so it was close. But were the scale is really useful is fruits and veggies as they don't measure very well unless you puree them. Meats are another item that are much easier to weigh.