Anyone use a kitchen scale to weigh food before eating?

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Replies

  • farway
    farway Posts: 1,257 Member
    I do, weigh the lot, including 1 apple / orange etc, they vary so much

    Yes even lettuce & cucumber, it all adds up

    As others said, it will be an eye opener, and sometimes tha calories for the weight / volume are just not worth it to me. 100 grammes of dry rice is so small I would rather just have an apple for instance

    PS mine were from Lidl, and has a zero function so you can add food like lettuce to plate, zero, add some more, say cucumber and so on
  • Librariangetsfit
    Librariangetsfit Posts: 71 Member
    I weigh most things, some things I do not like spinach or mini cucumbers. But protein, fats and carbs I measure for sure.
  • SprinkledWithEmotion
    SprinkledWithEmotion Posts: 67 Member
    I do. I find weighing to be the most accurate.
  • pholbert
    pholbert Posts: 575 Member
    Yes I use it all the time.I bought the Biggest Loser scale too at walmart fo about $20. It weighs ounces or grams. If you want to weigh multiple items you just put the plate on the scale and then zero it out by pushing the button. Then weigh an item zero it and then put the next item on.Just zero it between items. Love It!
  • ksizzle911
    ksizzle911 Posts: 130 Member
    Religiously. Every day. For almost all foods, except when I'm using measuring cups.
  • 2wawas
    2wawas Posts: 44 Member
    Absolutely - -I don't go anywhere without it! Well -- almost anywhere. Even after 1 1/2 yrs of measuring food, I'm pretty good at eyeballing my food but I still use my scale to keep me in line!
  • hikr00
    hikr00 Posts: 38 Member
    Absolutely!! I weigh everything that I eat at home.

    I have this scale http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=17290339. Cost me 30.00 at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I like that the display piece pulls out so if you put a large plate on it to measure you can still see the display (my old one the plate would overshadow the display).
  • jennieth
    jennieth Posts: 105
    Every single meal. I even have a mini scale to take on the go!
  • Me too I weigh everything
  • becky6m
    becky6m Posts: 108 Member
    I love my scale. It was a HUGE shock how much I was overestimating on my meats. Even using my kitchen measuring tools was still inaccurate. I have the biggest loser digital kitchen scale. I got it at bed bath and beyond for like 20 bucks. It also has an option so you can measure different ingredients in the same bowl. Love it. Wouldn't go back.
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
    Yes. I got it because I had no idea how to log things like cheese otherwise. Mine is called "Escali" and cost me about $30, I think.
  • YES!!!!!
  • shutterbug282
    shutterbug282 Posts: 588 Member
    Yeah I use a food scale for pretty much everything. :) I think the one at home is a general digital scale. :)
  • NerdyTXChick
    NerdyTXChick Posts: 155 Member
    I too have the Biggest Loser one, and I love it! At $20-25 online through Walmart, it was the cheapest one I could find with the best reviews. I agree that it makes a world of difference. How else would you know what 4 ounces of chicken looks like?
  • n_rockey
    n_rockey Posts: 52 Member
    Yes! I have one with a platform that I put my plate on and hit the tare button. Then as I load up my plate I log the quantities of everything by weight. My biggest shocker was actually fruit. What one person considers a "medium" piece of fruit may not be the same as what I consider a "medium" piece of fruit, but 28 gr (1 oz) is always 28 gr.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
    I use an inexpensive kitchen scale I bought on Ebay for about $5.00 including shipping. It's quite accurate and I use it every day. It's a habit I got into when I was going to weigh watchers. I also have a set of measuring spoons and cups and a 1 cup liquid measure.
  • singer201
    singer201 Posts: 563 Member
    I weigh almost everything that isn't liquid. I can just about guess how much the slice of avocado, cube of cheese, or portion of meat weighs now. Mine is a vintage spring scale (Pelouze, 2 lb capacity with 1/4 ounce divisions) designed for weighing ice cream servings--very simple and very accurate, .

    Costco has a nice digital scale on sale right now. http://www.frugalhotspot.com/2012/12/kamenstein-digital-kitchen-scale-15-99/
  • psych0kitty
    psych0kitty Posts: 313
    Yeah I have one by Taylor that I think is from Target. It's SO HELPFUL.

    Here's a tip: you can put a container of something on the scale, then hit TARE, then remove stuff from the container and it will give you a negative number so you know exactly how much you've taken out. I find it super helpful for things like licking the peanut butter knife. Because whatever is on the knife is included in the weight you removed from the jar.
  • natalie412
    natalie412 Posts: 1,039 Member
    Yep, keeps me honest. I don't weigh everything, but I still do sometimes just to make sure I am estimating properly.

    I use this one and love it: Cuisinart KS-55 Weight Mate Digital Kitchen Scale. About $33 on Amazon.
  • JUDDDing
    JUDDDing Posts: 1,367 Member
    I bought this one.

    http://www.amazon.com/Ozeri-Professional-Digital-Kitchen-Tempered/dp/B006N0OIIG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1362940685&sr=8-2

    It works well, decent price, looks nice and is easy to clean (flat glass surface).
  • melonclarinet
    melonclarinet Posts: 163 Member
    Yup, weigh most things. It can be truly eye opening. I have the Biggest Loser Scale. Honestly, I don't think the brand matters; I would just look for a few features- big enough surface to actually put things on and still be able to see what the reading is, the ability to zero it out (helps when I put a bowl down and then add the product to the bowl), and the ability to switch between grams and ounces.
  • JessicaRobin67
    JessicaRobin67 Posts: 275 Member
    I do... I can't just eye ball it.
  • whitedove4
    whitedove4 Posts: 5 Member
    Yes, I have and use a food scale. Without it, I wouldn't know if my portions were accurate, this is especially true for meat and snack foods. If a portion size says 4oz. I have no idea how much that is and certainly don't want to guess so I think a food scale is essential. Mine isn't digital. It's just one I picked up at Wal-Mart. I've tested it against food labels and it's spot on perfect in it's measurements.
  • mhorn2142
    mhorn2142 Posts: 319 Member
    I use it daily. I have gotten better at just knowing by sight now which comes in handy at other peoples houses. But I will dish it up and then weigh it to see how close I am.

    I always wonder about how people weigh meat, before cooking or after??

    BTW mine is digital and weighs in oz/lbs, gm, fl oz, and mls. I bought it for 20 ish bucks at our HEB grocery store.
  • I got some scales from amazon, i'm sure they we're pretty inexpensive but they're amazing. I can't believe how wrong I was about my portion sizes! Especially pasta and rice- I must have been eating almost 200g before I started weighing things!
  • MonM80
    MonM80 Posts: 2 Member
    I have one and love it for portion control!
  • EmmaKarney
    EmmaKarney Posts: 690 Member
    Yeah I have one by Taylor that I think is from Target. It's SO HELPFUL.

    Here's a tip: you can put a container of something on the scale, then hit TARE, then remove stuff from the container and it will give you a negative number so you know exactly how much you've taken out. I find it super helpful for things like licking the peanut butter knife. Because whatever is on the knife is included in the weight you removed from the jar.

    Such a great tip!
  • MonM80
    MonM80 Posts: 2 Member
    I usually weigh it after cooking since that's what you'll actually be consuming.
  • ClementineGeorg
    ClementineGeorg Posts: 505 Member
    Is anyone here not using a scale? :))

    I find it difficult to truly track calories without scale, it's my number one tool.
    I weight all ingredients before cooking (the cooked weight is a bad measurement, how much is cooked and how is too much of a variance), food after cooking (I don't just aproximate serving size), etc.

    I think any kitchen scale would be good... I have a unknown brand and is ok. It won't last that long in the kitchen environment, but it's ok.
    What I look in a scale is to have the `zero` feature. That way I don't have to substract the weight of containers and I get weight ingredients one by one as I add them.
    Also, I am carefull on the maximum weight they can bare. I need at least 5 kg (big pots of food for the whole week must be weighted also in my world :)) ).
  • Celeigh12
    Celeigh12 Posts: 763 Member
    Absolutely everything!