You mean I get to eat MORE ice cream?!

Shayztar · June 2012

I now weigh almost everything instead of believing the packaging. This started when I weighed a salmon that should have weighed 196 gms but instead weighed 149. Um. Not gonna add 25% more calories for no reason, TYVM.

But the ice cream thing has BLOWN my MIND.

Ice cream package says 500 ml package. Serving size is 125 ml or 1/2 cup. All of my measuring cups were in the dishwasher, so I pull out my scale, switch to ml mode, and start loading a bowl. When I got to 125 ml, I had dumped over half the container. WTF?

I tested to make sure my scale was working properly using a glass of water. It was. That's when it hit me. Ice cream is not as dense as water. I weighed the ENTIRE package, and it only came to 315 ml, including the false weight of the container.

Here's what me and DH deduced. The packaging holds 500 ml of liquid. BUT, ice cream has lots of air in it to make it delicious and creamy. When food is broken down to test for calories, is it not burned? When the ice cream guys sent a sample for testing, I doubt it was sent in fluffy frozen manner. The scientists tested melted ice cream, which is indeed a liquid.

Does that mean when I eat tub ice cream I get to eat what I weigh on my scale?

mind still = blown

Thoughts?

victoria4321 · June 2012

Its different with liquid measures. If its in ml then you should probably go with a measuring cup. If the icecream weight was given in grams then you can weigh it

Water is 1 gram per ml thats why the water worked.

littlelaurie14 · June 2012

Bump... I'm curious O.o

Robin_Bin · June 2012

So you think the ice cream manufacturers put a higher amount of calories on the package than it really contains?

I don't think so.

jenevans00 · June 2012

mL is a volume measurement of a liquid. It can't be weighed on a scale. Maybe you measured in kg which is a weight measurement.

neurochamp · June 2012

Its different with liquid measures. If its in ml then you should probably go with a measuring cup. If the icecream weight was given in grams then you can weigh it

This. Milliliters (ml) is a unit of volume, not weight, so you can't weigh out a set number of ml of something (unless it's pure water and 1ml = 1 gram, by definition). So if a portion size is given in grams or pounds/ounces, you can weigh it, but if it's given in ml or fluid ounces, you need to use a measuring cup to get the correct amount.

victoria4321 · June 2012

I haven't taken chem in years so I could be rusty. Density is measured in grams/ml. The density of water is 1g/ml so if you multiply the density of the water by the volume, you'll find the mass. That's why the scale was the same. With ice cream, it's less dense than water so lets guesstimate that the density of your ice cream is 0.75g/ml since its full of air. While the serving size is 125ml by volume, if you want to find it by grams, guessing that the density is .75g/ml you'll have to multiply 0.75 times 125 which will give you just under 93 grams.

Something like that I think! I'm not sure how you can find out ice cream density. Maybe you can call the ice cream makers.

Shayztar · June 2012

:sad:

Stupid scale lied! One of the selling features was that it weighs ml too. jerks. If I gain 50 lbs from my ice cream last night I'm suing.

Shayztar · June 2012

I haven't taken chem in years so I could be rusty. Density is measured in grams/ml. The density of water is 1g/ml so if you multiply the density of the water by the volume, you'll find the mass. That's why the scale was the same. With ice cream, it's less dense than water so lets guesstimate that the density of your ice cream is 0.75g/ml since its full of air. While the serving size is 125ml by volume, if you want to find it by grams, guessing that the density is .75g/ml you'll have to multiply 0.75 times 125 which will give you just under 93 grams.

Something like that I think! I'm not sure how you can find out ice cream density. Maybe you can call the ice cream makers.

In all seriousness, can I trust it for measuring my wine then? Cause I plunk my glass on, zero out and set to ml and fill to 250. Then I log 8 oz glass.

victoria4321 · June 2012

I haven't taken chem in years so I could be rusty. Density is measured in grams/ml. The density of water is 1g/ml so if you multiply the density of the water by the volume, you'll find the mass. That's why the scale was the same. With ice cream, it's less dense than water so lets guesstimate that the density of your ice cream is 0.75g/ml since its full of air. While the serving size is 125ml by volume, if you want to find it by grams, guessing that the density is .75g/ml you'll have to multiply 0.75 times 125 which will give you just under 93 grams.

Something like that I think! I'm not sure how you can find out ice cream density. Maybe you can call the ice cream makers.

In all seriousness, can I trust it for measuring my wine then? Cause I plunk my glass on, zero out and set to ml and fill to 250. Then I log 8 oz glass.

Yeah wine is mostly water so you're fine.

CoderGal · June 2012

what scale are you using? *confuse*

Shayztar · June 2012

Yeah wine is mostly water so you're fine.

Thanks!

Shayztar · June 2012

what scale are you using? *confuse*

Some $25 digital thing from Walmart? Nothing fancy. But it should say "Weighs in ml too! but only water, you fool. Stop weighing ice cream."

victoria4321 · June 2012

Yeah wine is mostly water so you're fine.

Thanks!

Be careful doing this with oils and possibly alcohols too. The best bet when measuring liquids is to use a measuring cup unless you have the measurements by weight. Same if they give you something in ounces too. A liquid ounce is not equal to an ounce by weight. The only time its really equal is with water or something that's almost all water like juice.

victoria4321 · June 2012

what scale are you using? *confuse*

Some $25 digital thing from Walmart? Nothing fancy. But it should say "Weighs in ml too! but only water, you fool. Stop weighing ice cream."

LOL some recipes give the ml measurements as weights for some reason that's the only time its useful. The recipe will specify if something is by weight though. It could be useful for baking maybe

mfp_1 · June 2012

Several scale makers claim to measure liquids. All they do is change the display 'g' for 'ml'. You don't need a special scale to do that. Just read grams and call them ml.

For cream and many common liquids, the error's within 5%.
For ice cream, the error is within 10%. Yogurt is slightly less error than ice cream.
For honey and syrup, the error extends to 40% but you'd probably want weight measures for that anyway.

Yes it's a trick, but it's often no worse than the error in measuring volume. Plus you get a digital read-out at any amount. With volume measures you have to compare the heap of ice cream with a line or the top of the cup. With volume measures you don't get a read-out for any amount, you only have fixed amounts (which can lead you to over-serve).

There are websites that tell you the density of foods. Some foods quote both weight and volume on the pack.

Sean_The_IT_Guy · June 2012

Cheaper ice cream is usually about half air, by volume. Measure by volume if thats how the nutrition information is given.

mfp_1 · June 2012

2_Murphy wrote:
>Cheaper ice cream is usually about half air, by volume

Interesting. Variable air content is another reason why nutrition facts should be by weight not volume.

Ben and Jerry ice cream is about 0.8 g/ml:
http://www.benjerry.com/scoop-shops/menu/scoop-shop-nutritional.pdf

Walmart Great Value Vanilla Bean Ice Cream is about 0.6 g/ml:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/20525251#Nutrition+Facts

Thus weighing ice cream in grams and calling it ml has an error of 20 to 40% in a good direction for weight loss. You'll be giving yourself a slightly smaller serving.

victoria4321 · June 2012

Yeah I weigh my icecream in grams. You get the most grams per serving with the really creamy ones like haagan dazs. I actually buy cheaper ones on purpose because its less dense.

mfp_1 · June 2012

Haagen Dazs vanilla ice cream is about 0.9 g/ml:

http://www.haagen-dazs.com/ingredients/ingredient.aspx?id=104&name=vanilla&seg=ice+cream

saxmaniac · June 2012

I'm glad the label on the ice cream here is in GRAMS, not ml.

VermaSahil · May 2014

Honestly, who would scale ice cream in ml. Two completely different things. The best way is to take the ice cream and use a measuring cup and pat it down completely.

Unknown · May 2014

This content has been removed.

Keepcalmanddontblink · May 2014

:sad:

Stupid scale lied! One of the selling features was that it weighs ml too. jerks. If I gain 50 lbs from my ice cream last night I'm suing.

Get a good lawyer.

Then buy us all ice cream.

Yes. I like this plan. Also when you send me my ice cream, my favorite is Talenti Salted Caramel. :flowerforyou:

stevencloser · May 2014

I now weigh almost everything instead of believing the packaging. This started when I weighed a salmon that should have weighed 196 gms but instead weighed 149. Um. Not gonna add 25% more calories for no reason, TYVM.

But the ice cream thing has BLOWN my MIND.

Ice cream package says 500 ml package. Serving size is 125 ml or 1/2 cup. All of my measuring cups were in the dishwasher, so I pull out my scale, switch to ml mode, and start loading a bowl. When I got to 125 ml, I had dumped over half the container. WTF?

I tested to make sure my scale was working properly using a glass of water. It was. That's when it hit me. Ice cream is not as dense as water. I weighed the ENTIRE package, and it only came to 315 ml, including the false weight of the container.

Here's what me and DH deduced. The packaging holds 500 ml of liquid. BUT, ice cream has lots of air in it to make it delicious and creamy. When food is broken down to test for calories, is it not burned? When the ice cream guys sent a sample for testing, I doubt it was sent in fluffy frozen manner. The scientists tested melted ice cream, which is indeed a liquid.

Does that mean when I eat tub ice cream I get to eat what I weigh on my scale?

mind still = blown

Thoughts?

ml is a measurement of volume, not weight. So something that's less dense weighs less at the same volume. It's still 500 ml.
Aw people already said it, whoops.

tk2222 · May 2014

With ice cream, I actually try to use weight - say, 100 gram, which, yes, will occupy more space than 100 gram of water.

Rolande55 · May 2014

Switch to frozen yogurt. Less fat and still extremely yummy! Especially the chocolate that tastes just like a fudgecicle. The brand I SOMETIMES buy ( I steer clear of those temptations) is Chapmans.

Francl27 · May 2014

This is why I only buy ice cream that has serving size in grams (and I realize it's an old thread).

calir83 · October 2020

Or you could just get the servings sizes per package multiply it by the serving size in grams to give you the frozen weight in grams of the whole package and then divide that by the container volume of x mls to arrive at your density level. So you can then measure in both melted and unmelted. Just saying.