Food Scales

20More
20More Posts: 45
edited October 5 in Health and Weight Loss
Do anyof you use a food scale? I bought one to control food prtions and calories. I would love to hear advice from any of you that use one. How do you use yours and what other benefits can I get from it?

Replies

  • Figuringoutme
    Figuringoutme Posts: 330
    bump
  • curiositycat
    curiositycat Posts: 111 Member
    LOVE mine! I use it constantly. It has really taught me what portion sizes of different foods look like, so even when I'm not at home I have a pretty good idea of how much I'm eating. I think mine was only about $7 at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.
  • eddie8131
    eddie8131 Posts: 600 Member
    I totally love mine. It is the Salter 1015 scale. Here is link on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Salter-Stainless-Accents-Electronic-7-Pound/dp/B000JNXRBC/ref=cm_cmu_pg_t Digital, stainless steel with either black on white on the front.

    I like that I can put a bowl on it, zero it out, then put the item I am weighing in the bowl. I use it every day.
  • dalgal26
    dalgal26 Posts: 781 Member
    I bought one from weight watchers a few year back. It still works great. I weigh all of my meat portions. Also, cheese.

    Most everything else: I use a measuring cup.
  • lauristewart
    lauristewart Posts: 379 Member
    Mine is an Escali scale. I LOVE it!!! It has a book with food codes on it. You weigh the food, for example, a banana. Then you put the banana's code in the scale and it tells you how many calories, fat, protein, carbs, fiber that is in the banana!! I love it for whole foods, like potatoes, and other fruits and veggies. You can obviously get different sizes of these types of foods and their calories differ so much!! I love knowing the exact calorie count that is in each food. You can google Escali and order it online. Mine was about $80 but worth every penny!!
  • Alpha12
    Alpha12 Posts: 251 Member
    I use one all the time. Well, most of the time. It's digital, looks sleek and modern, records in grams and ounces (and pounds). I recently bought it at Walmart for about 14.99. The best food scale I ever had!
  • olivia3263
    olivia3263 Posts: 263 Member
    I just got one and I absolutely LOVE it! I got this app "Nutrition Complete" for my iphone and it has all the nutrition data from the USDA per gram for every food. I've spent the last week creating my own food list of fruits, veggies, grains, meats, fish and poultry that I use often and inputted the correct data from this app (it's the same as the info on this website: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

    my foods come up when you search for foods - they all have an "OT" before them and say USDA (for example: OT: sweet potatoes, raw - USDA) Feel free to use them - they're accurate. I find it particularly useful when I make salads, because I just put the bowl on the scale, zero it out, add a veggie, calculate it and track it, then zero it out again and add the next veggie.

    Before the scale, I found it easier to enjoy pre-packaged foods because I knew exactly how many calories they were. Now I can enjoy the foods I really like to eat - clean foods like produce, cheese, meat and fish, etc because I have an accurate way to measure them. I LOVE IT!!!
  • midwifekelley2350
    midwifekelley2350 Posts: 337 Member
    i have my moms old weight watcher one (it must be 35 years old!) and i use it all the time. we also have a nice one that my husband uses when he processes the vension but i don't use that one...too big and fancy :wink:
  • auntie_missy
    auntie_missy Posts: 113 Member
    I use one all the time. Well, most of the time. It's digital, looks sleek and modern, records in grams and ounces (and pounds). I recently bought it at Walmart for about 14.99. The best food scale I ever had!
    Pretty sure I have the same one, and I love it except that it seems like I go through batteries fairly often. I've experimented and have found it helps keep me accurate. For instance, I poured what I thought was a bowl of cereal for myself. Then I used a measuring cup to measure out a serving of cereal. Then I used the scale to measure out a bowl of cereal. Guess who is really bad at eyeballing a serving size and unwittingly uses "heaping" measuring cups and tablespoonfuls?
    I love to try new recipes, so I've recorded the weights of some of my pans and large bowls. That way when I make (for instance) soup, I can weight the whole pan, subtract the pan weight and divide by however many servings I think it should be to figure out my serving size.
  • havalinaaa
    havalinaaa Posts: 333 Member
    I got a scale a few weeks ago and I'm loving it so far. I was really close on some portions, but so far off on others (mainly rice and pasta). I love using it to make my breakfasts, add one ingredient to my bowl at a time and tare in between, so easy and no multiple measuring tools required! Like if I'm having plain yogurt with berries and honey, I can but the bowl on the scale, tare, add yogurt to proper weight, tare, add berries to proper weight, tare, and then add honey to proper weight.. Used to take a measuring cup, a measuring spoon, and guess work. Now it's exact and there's no extra clean up!

    Also great for when I'm making a larger recipe and don't really know the amounts, I can write down all the weights and then enter them into MFP's recipe builder and have an accurate count on home cooked meals.
  • lrd2010
    lrd2010 Posts: 161 Member
    I use it *all* the time! I was eating so much cereal :D

    30g doesn't actually take up as much space as I was filling in that bowl of mine :D

    But yeah, it's made life so much easier, especially using the recipe tool on here!! It's a fantastic tool.
  • michelec64
    michelec64 Posts: 120 Member
    I use a food scale and it's been a great help in figuring out the proper serving sizes. I also use the mini-measuring cups in 1/4 cup, 1/2 cup sizes, etc. The scale I use is a cheapie Taylor scale I got at the grocery store for $5. It proved to be so useful that I got a second one that I keep in my desk at work.
  • mfp_1
    mfp_1 Posts: 516 Member
    I can weight the whole pan, subtract the pan weight

    Digital scales usually do that for you, it's called 'tare'. Don't yours?
  • 1953Judith
    1953Judith Posts: 325 Member
    I love my food scale. It is about ten years old and has been in active use for the last two (coincdence that it is the period where I have lost the most weight easily?). I use it a lot especially for weighing meat and cheese. My husband and I buy meat in bulk. I like to freeze it in 8 ounce portions. I like to weigh cheese to see what an ounce looks like before I go to parties. People always seem to eat cheese and I don't want to eat more than an ounce randomly. I seem to use it daily for something.
  • missikay1970
    missikay1970 Posts: 588 Member
    thanks for this post. i just asked my husband for one for xmas gift. :smile:
  • Carrie1963
    Carrie1963 Posts: 3
    I use a food scale to measure ounces and grams for receipts. I find it to give me a more accurate view for my calorie control.
  • fit443
    fit443 Posts: 93 Member
    Now I know what to add to my christmas list! Thanks for the feedback.
  • TubbsMcGee
    TubbsMcGee Posts: 1,058 Member
    I'm OBSESSED with my food scale. At first I bought a no-name one. It did the trick and had a tare function, but I didn't think it was that accurate.

    Ended up switching it out for a fancier Starfrit model. It has a special feature that let's you calculate the calories,sodium,protien,fats,carbs,cholesterol and fiber of 999 programmed foods (plus you can program your own into it) if you're not near MFP and can't look up items.

    I'm in love with it and use it for everything. And yes I do mean EVERYTHING!

    Fantastic tool for helping me get into the habit of eating healthier :D
  • mfp_1
    mfp_1 Posts: 516 Member
    Some people asked me for my opinions on food scales. Here's what I prefer:

    * Digital

    * Flat surface. I don't see the point of buying one with a bowl. I have plenty of bowls already and I don't want to put everything in the bowls that scale manufacturers supply.

    * Large digits

    * Must have capability to do grams. Even if you've never used grams before, you'd be surprised at how useful the function is once you have it.

    * Precision down to 1 g

    * Maximum weight at least 3 kg. Many do up to 5 kg

    * A 'tare' function so you can set it to zero with an empty bowl sitting on it. I think they all do this anyway.

    * Check that you're happy with the battery type it provides. Some have AA or AAA batteries. Some have button batteries. These are all fine but you need to be able to replace them at short notice from a local shop. Your personal devil will make them run out just when you need them most.

    I won't recommend any because there are lots of good value ones but these look fine to me:
    http://www.amazon.co.uk/LUPO-Precision-Digital-Kitchen-Scales/dp/B004HTCYDG/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1321901785&sr=8-20
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