Spinach

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chelllsea124
chelllsea124 Posts: 336 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I attempted to weigh raw spinach the other day. It didn't even notice that I was weighing it, imagine that. Major duh moment.

My question is, what is the easiest way to measure and log raw spinach? This might seem like a no brainer, but any inout will help.

Thanks in advance. :)

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    I usually just toss a bowl on the scale, put in my spinach, and log the weight.

    When you say "it didn't notice I was weighing it," do you mean that no weight registered? Did you have it set to grams?
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
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    The easiest way to weigh it is probably putting a bowl on the scale, taring to zero, and then tossing in the spinach.

    Raw spinach weighs very little by volume and is mostly water. A full cup of spinach is only 7 calories. Any of our measurements are likely to be off by a couple calories so I "eyeball" spinach by the cup I have in my mind's eye. Sometimes I set a cup measure next to it when I'm feeling less confident about my idea of a cup. We also buy spinach in pre-washed bags. The weight on the bag can help, as well, to estimate how much I'm using.
  • chelllsea124
    chelllsea124 Posts: 336 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I usually just toss a bowl on the scale, put in my spinach, and log the weight.

    When you say "it didn't notice I was weighing it," do you mean that no weight registered? Did you have it set to grams?

    No weight was registered, correct. Weight is set to grams.
  • chelllsea124
    chelllsea124 Posts: 336 Member
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    HeidiCooksSupper wrote: »
    The easiest way to weigh it is probably putting a bowl on the scale, taring to zero, and then tossing in the spinach.

    Raw spinach weighs very little by volume and is mostly water. A full cup of spinach is only 7 calories. Any of our measurements are likely to be off by a couple calories so I "eyeball" spinach by the cup I have in my mind's eye. Sometimes I set a cup measure next to it when I'm feeling less confident about my idea of a cup. We also buy spinach in pre-washed bags. The weight on the bag can help, as well, to estimate how much I'm using.

    Thank you, this is very helpful!
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    chelseahatch24 wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I usually just toss a bowl on the scale, put in my spinach, and log the weight.

    When you say "it didn't notice I was weighing it," do you mean that no weight registered? Did you have it set to grams?

    No weight was registered, correct. Weight is set to grams.

    You probably just weren't using "enough" -- as pointed out above, it's very lightweight. When this happens to me, I just estimate (and in these situations, it's never going to be enough to throw off your calories significantly).
  • chelllsea124
    chelllsea124 Posts: 336 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    chelseahatch24 wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I usually just toss a bowl on the scale, put in my spinach, and log the weight.

    When you say "it didn't notice I was weighing it," do you mean that no weight registered? Did you have it set to grams?

    No weight was registered, correct. Weight is set to grams.

    You probably just weren't using "enough" -- as pointed out above, it's very lightweight. When this happens to me, I just estimate (and in these situations, it's never going to be enough to throw off your calories significantly).

    Good to know. Thank you so much for your help. Must have been an operator error! :p
  • cangler
    cangler Posts: 104 Member
    edited June 2017
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    i eat baby spinach often, and just weigh it in grams, probably 85-100 grams worth at a time. mmm, so good cooked with eggs!
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    Honestly, leafy greens I just log one or two servings depending on whether I'm eating "some" or "a lot". It's a difference of less than 10 calories, so I don't sweat it.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    I use the put bowl on the scale, toss it in, method. I've been known to use "a cup" or "two cups" if it's easier, although normally when near a scale it's easier to weight for me.
  • chelllsea124
    chelllsea124 Posts: 336 Member
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    I used a paper plate at lunch and successfully weighed out my spinach. I could only find the fluid ounces option on MFP. Hopefully that and reg ounces are the same? I'm an idiot, y'all....
  • wizzybeth
    wizzybeth Posts: 3,573 Member
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    I can't understand the fluid ounces on some of these entries in the database. LOL. I always look for "USDA 100G" along with the item, so if I'm looking up spinach I'd search "raw spinach usda 100g" so I know I will probably find the appropriate entry.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    wizzybeth wrote: »
    I can't understand the fluid ounces on some of these entries in the database. LOL. I always look for "USDA 100G" along with the item, so if I'm looking up spinach I'd search "raw spinach usda 100g" so I know I will probably find the appropriate entry.

    Yeah, deeply weird. I use the 100 g options too.

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