Weigh vs. Measure...Food

CricketClover

Recently I have found that if you only measure food, dry food especially, then it isn't a very accurate serving size. I don't seem to have this problem with liquids though. Just out of curiousity the other day I was cooking just one serving of cheese tortellini. The package said that a serving size was 1/2 a cup so I measured out a serving but thought that it seemed like such a tiny amount of food for a serving, I was pretty sad actually. I decided to weigh it to make sure that it was correct. A serving was 98g, I put the half cup amount on the scale and it was only 56g. I was so excited, that meant I could have more. One by one I added a tortellini until I reached the 98g.

This morning I was measuring out my cereal and decided to weigh it too, to see if it was correct. Boy was it not! The complete opposite happened. A serving is 56g and it weighed in at 98g, so I had to take some off. I was sad about that because I absolutely love my cereal but do not want to over do it since I eat the Quaker Oatmeal Squares and they are HIGH in calories.

My question is, what do you measure and what do you find that weighing is more accurate. I am starting to think that I need to weigh everything that isn't liquid. Before, the only thing I would weigh would be my meat (chicken breast, deli meat, etc.), and pasta.

carlynishere

I weigh everything that is not liquid...

russelljclarke

I weigh everything that is not liquid...

Me too

niclagi

Oh, that's interesting. I'll have to be more careful.

tnorkus

I agree. If I want to KNOW what I'm eating and exactly how much then I weigh everything.

kevans1683

I have found alot of the same results myslef. I use my scale daily.

kateopotato

I weigh everything that is not liquid...

Me too

Same here

tigersword

Recently I have found that if you only measure food, dry food especially, then it isn't a very accurate serving size. I don't seem to have this problem with liquids though. Just out of curiousity the other day I was cooking just one serving of cheese tortellini. The package said that a serving size was 1/2 a cup so I measured out a serving but thought that it seemed like such a tiny amount of food for a serving, I was pretty sad actually. I decided to weigh it to make sure that it was correct. A serving was 98g, I put the half cup amount on the scale and it was only 56g. I was so excited, that meant I could have more. One by one I added a tortellini until I reached the 98g.

This morning I was measuring out my cereal and decided to weigh it too, to see if it was correct. Boy was it not! The complete opposite happened. A serving is 56g and it weighed in at 98g, so I had to take some off. I was sad about that because I absolutely love my cereal but do not want to over do it since I eat the Quaker Oatmeal Squares and they are HIGH in calories.

My question is, what do you measure and what do you find that weighing is more accurate. I am starting to think that I need to weigh everything that isn't liquid. Before, the only thing I would weigh would be my meat (chicken breast, deli meat, etc.), and pasta.

I just want to point out, liquid ounces and solid ounces are not the same. If you use the same measuring cup to measure liquids and solids you won't get any kind of accuracy, either.

That said, always weigh non-liquid foods. The problem with volumetric measuring is that different sized items can change the accuracy of the measurement. Salt is a perfect example, measure out a quarter cup of kosher salt, and a quarter cup of pickling salt, then watch how different the weights are.

dls06

I weigh everything that is not liquid...

Me too

This too!:drinker:

Acg67

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

Seminolegirl97

I weigh solids and measure liquids. Remember there are strange calcuations out there pasta being one of them (Dried v. Cook) Popcorn another. There are plenty of website to help you. Good Luck.

pixiechick8321

I absolutely weigh, just make sure, as mentioned, that you are careful to whether it is uncooked or cooked...meat looses weight when cooked, pasta gains...check the calories and see which it applies to.

I wish MFP had more weight options on the list, and the ones it has are very different, so whenever possible, use the container your food came in - it will have serving size by weight and by volume, use the weight!

CricketClover

Thank you everyone. I was concerned about the cooked/uncooked on my tortellini's but it didn't mention which the nutrition facts were for. I took it as uncooked because there were three servings in the package and by weighing out the 98g of uncooked pastas there were exactly three. But normally I do look for the cook/uncooked thing. I am definitely going to start weighing everything non liquid.

Riley4ever

Because weighing can get quite monotonous :S I tend to weigh the foods that are high cals e.g. pasta, rice, cereals, pulses, nuts and don't worry too much about weighing any veg.