The Benefits of Measuring.. at least for me

Weighing on a food scale is even better, IMO. Yeah, it's more accurate, but mostly it's quicker/easier. With something like a spread in a tub/jar, I just put the tub on the scale, zero/tare the scale, dip out the amount with my preferred utensil, and read the negative number on the scale. That's the amount I took out.

It's really quick and easy, and doesn't require washing extra measuring thingies. I do a similar process with something like a hunk of cheese. Salads or sandwiches can be built on a plate right on the scale, zeroing with the plate on it, then adding an ingredient, noting the added amount then re-zeroing after each ingredient.

I like to use grams because they're more fine-grained than ounces/tenths, so a little more precise. In the US, most foods' labels include the gram value for the serving size, too.

Winning4EJ wrote: »

I need to look into a new scale

A reasonable digital scale should be able to be had for around $20 or less. Amazon is an option, but even places like Walmart may have them, if you're in the US.

Winning4EJ wrote: »

kshama2001 wrote: »

claireychn074 wrote: »

I had the same realisation with peanut butter!

Me too!



@Winning4EJ - when you say "measure," do you mean by using a food scale? If not, I highly recommend it! See Ann's post above.

No used an actual measuring spoon and leveled it off.

Ahh yes defo get a scale. To use the peanut butter example, a tablespoon is listed as 15g. But when I use a tablespoon to scoop my peanut butter (thick stuff with chunks of nuts) it actually comes out as weighing 30-45g. So that’s 2-3 times the weight I thought and a significant calorific difference. That would be enough to wipe out a calorie deficit for some people. I got my scales from Amazon, cheap and cheerful but incredibly useful.

(Edited for my annoying typos)

history_grrrl wrote: »

I’m finding this same problem with bread (package says one roll = 50 grams, but scale says 70), frozen vegetables, etc. I really struggled the other day to find accurate info for canned kidney beans; the database entries were wildly variable and inaccurate, even for gram weight. I’m mainly relying on my scale now. I scoured these boards for suggestions and got this one, which was pretty cheap and works well: Ozeri Pro Digital Kitchen Food Scale.

Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both USER-created entries and ADMIN-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. A green check mark for USER-created entries just means enough people have upvoted the entry - it is not necessarily correct.

To find ADMIN entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP. All ADMIN entries from the USDA will have weights as an option BUT there is a glitch whereby sometimes 1g is the option but the values are actually for 100g. This is pretty easy to spot though, as when added the calories are 100x more than is reasonable.

https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

Use the “SR Legacy” tab - that's what MFP used to pull in entries.

• For drained kidney beans: "Beans, kidney, red, mature seeds, canned, drained solids"
• For frozen veggies not yet cooked entries will look like this: "Peas, green, frozen, unprepared"
• Cooked: "Peas, green, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt"

Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was USER entered.

For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP. (Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume what you get is correct. Note: scanning is mostly only available with Premium these days.)

yirara wrote: »

Quite often, those USDA entries aren't too bad, and many contain good info, grams, fibre, the lot. Was looking for a simple banana today and could not remember the syntax and only otherwise got stuff with cups, medium sized banana, etc.
However, some are really rubbish.

Just as a point of info, the USDA entries kshama is talking about will usually have cups as the default quantity, even when cups is a really extra-dumb way to measure. (Stuff like watermelon, hard-boiled eggs, etc.) But the drop-down for servings will have volumes, weights, sometimes counts or inch sized: Different types of measurements. That's one of the indicators that you have one of the original-load USDA entries.

Fruit entries are usually fruit-name (plural) plus "raw". The "Bananas, raw" entry (default quantity 4.2 ounces!) looks like the one. It has sizes of bananas, cups of bananas (sliced or mashed), various metric and imperial volume measures and weight measures.