Can I really have ALL of that salad dressing?

Breepa123
Breepa123 Posts: 66 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'll admit I have been eyeballing portions for a while now, which is probably why I am back on MFP after regaining almost all the weight I lost before. Anyway, this week I finally started weighing all of my food on a digital food scale. Last night I put my plate on top of the scale and zeroed it out, added 85 grams of salad greens, then zeroed it out again to add dressing. The bottle of salad dressing said the serving size was 2 tablespoons, or 30 grams. So I just poured it onto the plate until the scale read 30 grams. It was a HUGE amount of dressing! Dont' get me wrong, I love salad dressing and was thrilled that I could have that much because I have been estimating 2 tablespoons to be much, much less than the amount I had last night. But in the cold light of day today, I'm worried that maybe I did it wrong. Does a digital food scale accurately measure something liquidy like salad dressing? Or is it most accurate with solid food? Should I just break out the measuring spoons for dressing from now on? Sorry for asking the dumbest questions ever, but I've read so much on these forums about people eating more than they think they are and if I am falling into that category by using the food scale incorrectly, I'd rather find out now!
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Replies

  • nytrifisoul
    nytrifisoul Posts: 499 Member
    Must been a small salad because when i weigh out dressing one serving barely coats the lettuce.
  • Anelda
    Anelda Posts: 99 Member
    If the serving size on the bottle reads 30g and not 30 mL, then you are fine, you did it right. :)
  • ellybeann
    ellybeann Posts: 122 Member
    Id put 2tbsp on the scale and see if they match up, and if not Id use the lesser of the 2
  • MayaSPapaya
    MayaSPapaya Posts: 735 Member
    Must been a small salad because when i weigh out dressing one serving barely coats the lettuce.

    This. I've gotten used to the serving size, so I now see it as a fine amount, but never have I thought, "Wow I get to eat ALL of this??". I probably started out by thinking, that's it?
    I measure condiments with measuring spoons (I have one that is a size of two tablespoons so I use that), but your scale was probably right. I think you were just severely underestimating how much you could have.
  • Breepa123
    Breepa123 Posts: 66 Member
    Must been a small salad because when i weigh out dressing one serving barely coats the lettuce.

    This. I've gotten used to the serving size, so I now see it as a fine amount, but never have I thought, "Wow I get to eat ALL of this??". I probably started out by thinking, that's it?
    I measure condiments with measuring spoons (I have one that is a size of two tablespoons so I use that), but your scale was probably right. I think you were just severely underestimating how much you could have.


    I guess I was definitely underestimating! I used to put a tiny dollop on the side of the plate and dip my fork in it before each bite. I'll be eating a lot more salad now that I know I can have more dressing (I LOVE salad dressing)!

    Thanks all! :happy:
  • sloth3toes
    sloth3toes Posts: 2,212 Member
    If the serving size on the bottle reads 30g and not 30 mL, then you are fine, you did it right. :)

    A quick Google indicates that 30ml = 2 Tbsp. Sure it's not 30ml on the bottle?
  • Breepa123
    Breepa123 Posts: 66 Member
    If the serving size on the bottle reads 30g and not 30 mL, then you are fine, you did it right. :)

    A quick Google indicates that 30ml = 2 Tbsp. Sure it's not 30ml on the bottle?

    Good point. I could have sworn the bottle said "2 tbsp (30g)" for the serving size. I'm going to double check that when I get home and maybe whip out the measuring spoons as well.
  • mheebner
    mheebner Posts: 285 Member
    I just looked at my bottle of Western dressing, which may be the highest calorie dressing ever in the history of salad dressings, and it is indeed 2 Tbsp = 30 mL
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Yeah I agree, typically I need half a serving even for a big salad!
  • Sobus76
    Sobus76 Posts: 242 Member
    The Hidden Valley Ranch Light dressing i use says 30g or 2 tbsp, and you're right it is a lot more then i expected when i use the scale to weigh it.
  • nytrifisoul
    nytrifisoul Posts: 499 Member
    Either im putting way too much lettuce and veggies on my salad plate then all of you, or im using some real heavy dressing.
  • Breepa123
    Breepa123 Posts: 66 Member
    I use Ken's Light Thousand Island, and I just remembered I have a bottle here at work too, so I ran to the fridge to check. It definitely says the serving size is 2 tbsp (30g) and does not have a mL measurement.

    I did find a conversion chart online that says 2 tablespoons is equivalent to 28.3 grams for dry measurements and 30 mL for liquid measurements.

    I'm just going going to use measuring spoons and see how it comes out. I had always heard that a food scale is more accurate than measuring cups, but I suppose to could depend on the type of thing you are measuring. :ohwell:
  • Breepa123
    Breepa123 Posts: 66 Member
    Either im putting way too much lettuce and veggies on my salad plate then all of you, or im using some real heavy dressing.

    Shoot, I'm using dinner plates for these salads. :smile:
  • applepie161987
    applepie161987 Posts: 29
    This is why I weigh everything! I love using the scale, I find its the most accurate. Do it for chips also.
  • Amitysk
    Amitysk Posts: 705 Member
    The Hidden Valley Ranch Light dressing i use says 30g or 2 tbsp, and you're right it is a lot more then i expected when i use the scale to weigh it.

    I'm afraid it's probably a typo on the bottle. I can't imagine grams for salad dressing would be correct. According to the Hidden Valley website it's 30mL or 2 TBSP.
  • mheebner
    mheebner Posts: 285 Member
    well I'll be damned....my Western bottle has mL, but we have a bottle of Ranch and a Chipotle dressing and BOTH are in grams, 30 g to be precise
  • roxylola
    roxylola Posts: 540 Member
    For liquid ml and g is the same thing - I do a lot of baking so I can be pretty ocd about measurements when weighing but the 2 are fine to swap about
  • ksuh999
    ksuh999 Posts: 543 Member
    Most full-fat salad dressings are mostly oil. Most oils have a specific gravity of .90, vinegar's is 1, buttermilk is around 1.06, so you can do the calculations from there if you're really anal. Point being 30ml = 30grams is friggin' close enough.
  • Breepa123
    Breepa123 Posts: 66 Member
    For liquid ml and g is the same thing - I do a lot of baking so I can be pretty ocd about measurements when weighing but the 2 are fine to swap about

    Oh yay, that is fantastic!!!! Thanks!

    *edit: and thanks ksuh! I'm not much anal as unsure about how units of measurement correspond with each other, so I wasn't sure if the difference between the ml and grams was significant. Now I know.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    For liquid ml and g is the same thing

    Exactly. And this is why the metric system is so much more awesome. But it's actually for water isn't it? Is salad dressing heavier or lighter than water?
  • echofm1
    echofm1 Posts: 471 Member
    I thought the same thing! I've never really coated my salad in dressing. I just use it for a touch of extra flavor, really. I've found that 1 TBSP is more than enough for me, and that's definitely exciting when almost everything else has been more of a "that's all I get?" issue.
  • ItsCasey
    ItsCasey Posts: 4,021 Member
    My salad dressing also says 2 Tbsp = 30 g. Even though I've had a food scale for years, I never used it to weigh salad dressing until recently. I have never put a ton of dressing on my salads, so I was pretty sure I was not eating more than 1 serving. But one day I got curious and decided to see how close I was on my eyeballing. I stopped pouring when I got to 15 g, or half a serving, because even that was more than I normally put on my salads. Clearly some people prefer their salads more heavily dressed than others.
  • Breepa123
    Breepa123 Posts: 66 Member
    This has all made me want to become more savvy with the metric system and how it relates to imperial. I learned all that shizz in elementary school but have forgotten it since I never really used it.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    This has all made me want to become more savvy with the metric system and how it relates to imperial. I learned all that shizz in elementary school but have forgotten it since I never really used it.

    And water boils at 100 degrees C and freezes at 0. Doesn't that make perfect since? So much better than 212 and 32. Where the hell did those numbers come from?
  • sbatz111
    sbatz111 Posts: 35
    For liquids that are water based, 1mL = 1g. If your dressing has oil in it, it will be different. I use a fat free Italian, no oil. For that dressing, 30mL is 30g, or pretty close.

    The metric system is pretty simple. 1 cubic centimeter = 1mL = 1g for watery liquids. Heavier dressings with fat, oil, or lots of dissolved solids will be heavier.

    Good luck, and congrats on the scale! It took me a long time to break down and get one, but it helped immensely.
  • Breepa123
    Breepa123 Posts: 66 Member
    This has all made me want to become more savvy with the metric system and how it relates to imperial. I learned all that shizz in elementary school but have forgotten it since I never really used it.

    And water boils at 100 degrees C and freezes at 0. Doesn't that make perfect since? So much better than 212 and 32. Where the hell did those numbers come from?

    I could get on board with those nice round numbers. I'm not so good with math haha. But I've also heard the metric system makes it easier to be precise. Centiliters, milliliters, etc instead of 1/20 of a cup and whatnot. I'm not anal but I do want to be accurate....
  • ksuh999
    ksuh999 Posts: 543 Member
    96 F = human body temperature because hey why not.
    32 F = water with ice.
    0F = water, ice + ammonium chloride. Because we use that all the time.
  • roxylola
    roxylola Posts: 540 Member
    It's funny, when I bake I weigh in grams but if I read a recipe I look at the lb oz amounts - we don't use cups that just looks like a cake waiting to go wrong. I seem better able to visualise the lb oz and how a 6oz of flour cake will look when I come to bake it than a 150g one will.

    In the same way I ask for meat in lb oz not grams

    That said I worked in a high end chocolate shop for some time and I know exactly howm any grams make up a quarter lb so I have no excuse really.

    So I visualise in imperial - distances heights weights the lot but I weigh and measure in metric lol
  • SNLover87
    SNLover87 Posts: 101 Member
    I had the same experience when I got my food scale. It turns out I was overestimating the amount I was allowed, so that was a great surprise :)
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
    For liquid ml and g is the same thing - I do a lot of baking so I can be pretty ocd about measurements when weighing but the 2 are fine to swap about

    Well, technically, it's for water that mL and g are the same. Whatever else is in the liquid could make it more or less dense, so a mL could be more or less than a g.

    However, for dressing, it's probably pretty close :wink: A fun experiment might be to weigh out 2 TBS of water and then 2TBS of different dressings and see how much they match :laugh:

    FWIW, fat is less dense that water (ever hear that fat floats?) so a dressing with a lot of fat might actually be slightly lighter than one with more non-fat. Not calorie-wise, but mass. :noway:

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