Food Scale?

Shanel0916
Shanel0916 Posts: 586 Member
in Food and Nutrition
What is the best most accurate food scale? Also how do you properly weigh food and should you way everything, even things that you normally measure with a measuring cup?

thanks for responses.
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Replies

  • Shanel0916
    Shanel0916 Posts: 586 Member
    ...
  • haroon_awan
    haroon_awan Posts: 1,208 Member
    If you have measuring cups, then there isn't any need to weigh it as a lot of the foods in the database are measured by cups. But if the database doesn't have the cup measurement, then yes, weigh it.

    Anything by Salter is a good scale, quite frankly just get a decent one that will last a few years. They're pretty cheap. There is no such thing as the most accurate.
  • Tina0488
    Tina0488 Posts: 18 Member
    Any food scale will work. I use a cheap one from walmart. And only things that are measured in weight need the scale. Something's will be measured by a cup
  • pholbert
    pholbert Posts: 575 Member
    I got one at walmart by Biggest Loser. It shows oz or grams. I like it cause I can use a plate on it and weigh multiple items. You just zero it out for the next item.
  • AllonsYtotheTardis
    AllonsYtotheTardis Posts: 16,947 Member
    I have a cheap digital scale, and it's accurate within 2 grams. That's close enough for most purposes. It's by "starfrit". I've been using it for a year now, and I love it.

    I don't think the brand matters that much... but digital is a lot easier to use with accuracy than a manual one.

    I weigh everything I can that isn't a liquid. It's more accurate.
  • benflando
    benflando Posts: 193
    I suggest buying one at your local organic store
  • majope
    majope Posts: 1,325 Member
    I like my Sharper Image digital scale. Got it at Tuesday Morning for $15. It's great for random-weight things like meat.

    I have found that when I weigh things that I used to measure in cups, it's very close. As long as you aren't fudging cup size by heaping things or packing them down, you should be okay with measuring cups for those items.
  • joanneg572
    joanneg572 Posts: 54 Member
    I LOVE my STARFRIT digital scale!!!
    scale_zps3f85f2f5.jpg
  • cassandraallegre
    cassandraallegre Posts: 13
    If you have measuring cups, then there isn't any need to weigh it as a lot of the foods in the database are measured by cups.

    Weight is MUCH more accurate than measuring cups, simply for obvious volume reasons... weight is weight no matter what, but if you have bigger strawberries (for example) there will be more extra space that isn't filled in the measuring cup.
  • neonemesis
    neonemesis Posts: 74 Member
    got the starfrit too it was 14.99 i weight most everything. some things might come up higher that the serving size in grams especially my bran cereal near the end of the box because the flakes are all busted up and more fits into the cup.
  • taiyola
    taiyola Posts: 964 Member
    If you have measuring cups, then there isn't any need to weigh it as a lot of the foods in the database are measured by cups.

    Weight is MUCH more accurate than measuring cups, simply for obvious volume reasons... weight is weight no matter what, but if you have bigger strawberries (for example) there will be more extra space that isn't filled in the measuring cup.

    This. I got one from Argos for like £15. It turns out that what I thought was 100g chips is actually about 250g!
  • haroon_awan
    haroon_awan Posts: 1,208 Member
    If you have measuring cups, then there isn't any need to weigh it as a lot of the foods in the database are measured by cups.

    Weight is MUCH more accurate than measuring cups, simply for obvious volume reasons... weight is weight no matter what, but if you have bigger strawberries (for example) there will be more extra space that isn't filled in the measuring cup.

    Very true actually.

    My thinking has been a little "can't be bothered" recently as I am trying to put on weight so 20g here or there isn't my main concern.

    But for those who are serious about fat loss, yes, weighing is more accurate and effective than most cup measurements.
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  • CarmenSandiegoInVA
    CarmenSandiegoInVA Posts: 235 Member
    You should always weigh your food even if you do have measuring cups because you can pack more in the measuring cup than an actual portion. Weigh preferably in grams not in ounces it's the most accurate.
  • Theresafinallygetsitright
    Theresafinallygetsitright Posts: 157
    If you have measuring cups, then there isn't any need to weigh it as a lot of the foods in the database are measured by cups.

    Weight is MUCH more accurate than measuring cups, simply for obvious volume reasons... weight is weight no matter what, but if you have bigger strawberries (for example) there will be more extra space that isn't filled in the measuring cup.
    AGREED ^^. As a side note to that, you can reduce your need to wash (saving water, etc) by using the scale to measure salad dressing on a salad, for example, by taring or zeroing the scale with food on it and monitoring additional weight contributed by food you are wishing to measure.
    I have used a food scale for over a year and continue to use it for things I am not sure of but will go based on my experience if I have a pretty good idea already :). Mine is a salter.
  • DavidC1857
    DavidC1857 Posts: 149 Member
    I weight just about everything except liquids and powders (like flour, for example).

    I got one of these recently.

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EVHHJC/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    I like it for a number of reasons. For one, the display points forward, so if you are using a really large plate or bowl, you can still read it. It weights in pounds/oz, oz to .05 accuracy, or grams. And you can change by just pushing a button, so you can put something in a bowl in oz, then switch it to grams and add so much of something else, etc. You can set it so that it does NOT turn itself off after a minute. I hated it when I'd be in the middle of making something and my scale would shut off. It runs on batteries so you have to remember to turn it off, but you can use any universal power adapter on it.

    It's not the cheapest and I doubt it's the best but it so far I've been very satisfied.
  • 2012ALM
    2012ALM Posts: 22 Member
    I just use a cheap one from Wal-Mart and it serves me well. I do suggest though that you make sure the display you are reading tilts down towards you. I had gotten this specialty scale that calculates calories, fat, etc. for everything by typing codes in before you weigh it for when I manually used a food diary to write it all down, which is a nice feature, but the display is flush and flat with the scale and hard to read.
  • ron2e
    ron2e Posts: 606
    There was a post the other day where someone posted a link to a youtube video showing the differences between measuring in cups, etc, and weighing, and after a long search I found it in my history, it's this one -

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

    A lesson for everyone who weighs in cups.
  • Arkani7
    Arkani7 Posts: 68 Member
    I weigh EVERYTHING.
    This is why I bought a digital scale. It is much more accurate and helpful. Especially for foods that you use in small amounts, for example flax seeds, ground hazelnuts, etc.

    I'm also convinced that weighing and measuring even the little things gives you a better sense for quantities. Before I started measuring the milk in my coffee, I always estimated that I pour around 30 ml in my coffee... Well, I found out that the amount I used to add was around 120ml. Such things add up over the week.
  • Mexicanbigfoot
    Mexicanbigfoot Posts: 520 Member
    I got a really nice digital food scale at Kohl's that weights ounces or grams and it has the function to zero out or "tare" the weight of a container before you weigh the food. So far, it's been great and really accurate. It will weight up to 5 pounds or 2.3 kg I believe. It was around $20 full price. The display is large and easy to read. Good luck!
  • bradfordjob
    bradfordjob Posts: 5 Member
    I have the biggest loser scale. its way cheap from bed bath and beyond and a good scale, also i weight everything but veggies. cups are not accurate. weight in grams for the most accurate measure
  • ripemango
    ripemango Posts: 534 Member
    i use the ultraship postal shipping and food scale..it is very accurate. it does grams, ounces, and other units of measurement that i don't use. i like that i can put something on it and get a weight or i can put a plate on it, turn on the scale and it's automatically set to zero so that when i put food on the plate i am just getting the weight of the food.

    i weigh things like apples, avocado, cheese, sausage, meat...bc really how big/small is a medium apple? for cheese, what is a 1/4 cup? it is loosely packed or really crammed down in there.

    i've had this scale for years (was originally just used for shipping purposes). sold on amazon but ebay has them cheaper.
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
    If I'm portioning smaller items from a larger container (nuts, trail mixes, etc) I will measure with a cup for expediency. However, something with a larger volume that would leave a lot of empty volume in a cup, I will just weigh it (fruit pieces, meats, etc). I would trust the "weigh everything" approach more, but I'm not that much of a control freak :)
  • karlalband
    karlalband Posts: 196 Member
    I LOVE my STARFRIT digital scale!!!
    scale_zps3f85f2f5.jpg
    Where did you buy these scales at ? They are very nice!
  • bethanykf
    bethanykf Posts: 68
    I weight almost everything I put in my mouth because it's too easy for me to lie to myself with measuring cups.... (a heaping cup vs a level cup of cheese can be quite drastically different). I just use a cheap, no frills scale that I got at walmart years ago. It does grams and ounces and can be zeroed out after each item so you can weight multiple things on the same plate.
  • joanneg572
    joanneg572 Posts: 54 Member
    I LOVE my STARFRIT digital scale!!!
    scale_zps3f85f2f5.jpg
    Where did you buy these scales at ? They are very nice!

    The Starfrit Nutritional Scale was purchased in Canada at Canadian Tire. It was under $20 (on sale).
    I'm not sure where you would find it in the US.
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,383 Member
    I bought a kitchen scale from Amazon a couple years ago and I love it!

    http://www.amazon.com/EatSmart-Precision-Digital-Kitchen-Silver/dp/B001N07KUE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362343350&sr=8-1&keywords=food+scale

    I find the easiest way to measure my food without making a mess is folling one of these processes:

    1. Place plate on top of scale, empty. Use the "tare" feature to get rid of the weight of the plate showing up. Then add your food on (say if you're having a dinner of meat and veggies, I would put on the plate - tare - put on the meat & record weight - tare - put on veggies & record weight)

    2. Sometimes if I want to just dig into something like a big container of yogurt, I put the container of yogurt on the scale - record the weight, have some spoonfuls... then put the container back on the scale and subtract the new weight from the old weight.

    It's pretty easy once you get into it. I weigh almost everything now.
  • Frumpy2Fit
    Frumpy2Fit Posts: 137 Member
    Bump
  • kaseyAnne425
    kaseyAnne425 Posts: 230
    I have the Biggest Loser food scale from Bed Bath and Beyond.. I love it, I weight everything that needs to be weighed by WEIGHT, liquid measurements I do with a measuring cup
  • myfrogs11
    myfrogs11 Posts: 53 Member
    I just got one yesterday because I know I have no idea how much meat and rice/pasta I'm eating in a serving. The veggies I don't worry so much about. I don't know what 2 oz of sausage looks like, I had no idea.

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