Food Scale -- To Buy or Not To Buy?

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  • cindyw1eye
    cindyw1eye Posts: 24 Member
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    I bought a food scale over 4 years ago (I'm surprised the batteries aren't dead), it literally sat on the top of my fridge until about 2 weeks ago when I really started to get serious about MFP. Now I find myself weighting EVERYTHING, including fruit, I dont' round up I use the scale. It's such a habit now that I won't eat anything until I know how much it weighs or I can scan a barcode. Best $10 investment I every bought, to me it's priceless!
  • rmhand
    rmhand Posts: 1,067 Member
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    I love my scale. Use it all the time.
  • momma3sweetgirls
    momma3sweetgirls Posts: 743 Member
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    One of my best investments! I have an inexpensive OXO digital scale I bought at KMart. It's so easy to over/underestimate without a scale. I use mine at least 2 times a day.
  • PlunderBunneh
    PlunderBunneh Posts: 1,705 Member
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    20 bucks at my local walmart, and worth every penny. Don't cheap out and get the spring one, do the nice digital one that you can zero a plate out on.
  • trhjrh06
    trhjrh06 Posts: 2,272 Member
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    BUY! I use mine all the time. And I got mine at walmart for under $20.
  • tinam76
    tinam76 Posts: 59 Member
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    i do so love mine!
  • LishieFruit89
    LishieFruit89 Posts: 1,956 Member
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    wow. i was going to suggest NOT buying one. i cook and bake alot and can almost measure and pour ingredients to an exact amount, so i guess that's why i would say don't. but, if you're looking to streamline everything and ensure that your intake is under control, then definitely buy one. my guess is that a mid-range priced one would be best. you might test it against some items that are premeasured.

    I bake a lot too but a cup of flour, depending how you pack it can weigh from 4 ounces to like 7 ounces...

    A cup of flour should be 4.5 ounces btw

    I <3 mine.

    A small gala apple is a sucky description of food. (I was going to use a banana as an example but I couldn't word it where it didn't sound sexual). Describing the food by it's size isn't accurate. When I made dinner for my family, I made, what I consider to be a small, salad. They all said it was huge. Ounces and grams (moreso grams) are the way to go!
  • bjfrezell
    bjfrezell Posts: 241
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    Buy it and use it. It was one of the best pieces of advice i received on MFP. I can tell you from using it that I was either over estimatnig or underestimating before. Now, I weigh everything. And it has helped me stay on track!
  • lunchgirlie
    lunchgirlie Posts: 114 Member
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    I use mine all the time every day. I would say get one if you're really intent on making sure your portion sizes are accurate. I'm super serious about that stuff, myself.
  • dorothytd
    dorothytd Posts: 1,138 Member
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    Buy! I love mine, and it has been a great and fun tool to each my kids about portions of snack foods, ceral, etc. No OCD with it yet... I have an EatSmart one from Amazon - works very well.
  • Tink_889
    Tink_889 Posts: 244 Member
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    I think I'd be a bit lost without my food scale to be honest. I find it really helpful.
  • wftiger
    wftiger Posts: 1,283 Member
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    No way I would be at almost 100 lbs down if not for the scale keeping me honest. I weigh everything that is not a liquid. You would not even believe how much it will make a difference to your loss.
  • maryjay51
    maryjay51 Posts: 742
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    alot of folks need a scale but i never used one.i lost 80lbs but just used common sense with portions of meat..everything else ive measured i have the money to buy a scale but never thought to. if i buy a lb of ground turkey for instance, i break it into four sections and have approx 4oz each serving.
  • dawnrenee567
    dawnrenee567 Posts: 292 Member
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    It's been fabulous for me when getting my lunches ready for the week. Weighed, measured, packaged. I just grab my containers and go. Best $15 ever (bed bath and beyond with a coupon)
  • mfp_1
    mfp_1 Posts: 516 Member
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    Each kitchen should have a scale. It's a great tool. You don't have to use it for everything, use it when you want.

    * Get one with a flat top - allows you to put your dinner plate on it.
    * Increments of 1 gram (most have this)
    * Capacity up to 3 kg (most have this) or 5 kg (nice to have).

    It's simpler to add&weigh ingredients than to fiddle with cups.
  • Melampus
    Melampus Posts: 95 Member
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    There was another thread on one of the forums here about different ways of measuring and it came to light that where I live, in the UK, recipes are normally measured by weight whereas in the USA it is more common to use volume (cups, spoons etc). In the days when a scale was actually a balance on which you had to try the weight of your ingredient against a set of known weights I can see how the American system would be quicker and easier but in these days of digital scales I would say the reverse is true.

    I bought a fairly cheap digital scale that includes the following features:

    1. A flat glass plate onto which to place the thing to be weighed. With this not only can you place some ingredients directly on it you can also place any other empty container on it before turning on the scale and it will set its zero point with that container there so you then add your ingredient and see only the weight of the ingredient.

    2. A "tare" function. This means with some kind of container and some contents already on the scale you can reset the reading to zero and then add more stuff seeing only the weight of the extra stuff you have added. As an example of where this would be useful you can put an empty plate on, start adding foods and note the weight of the first food, hit tare, add the second food and note the weight of that etc.

    3. The ability to give a negative reading. This is not so obvious but here's an example of how you use it. You want to add 200g dry weight of pasta to a pan of boiling water. You put the tin (or other container) of pasta on the scale and turn it on (or use tare) so the reading is zero. You then take handfuls of pasta out of the tin and put into the water until the scale reads -200 meaning the tin of pasta is 200g lighter than when you started meaning you must have 200g pasta in the water. No need to make any intermediate container dirty.
  • she_who
    she_who Posts: 10 Member
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    Yes, absolutely!
    Don't cheap out and get the spring one, do the nice digital one that you can zero a plate out on.

    I totally agree with this. Also make sure you can measure in either oz or grams. I use mine daily for everything from measuring peanut butter to creatine powder.
  • htmlgirl
    htmlgirl Posts: 314 Member
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    Definitely buy! I have a digital one, I'm not sure how much it was, but I think it was only around $20. It's much easier to get an accurate count of calories consumed when you measure it out in weight. I recommend this as well as a HRM.
  • scorpio516
    scorpio516 Posts: 955 Member
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    They are so much more useful than just in the kitchen too. If you've got similar hobbies vs. me ;)

    I had a $40 Satler one. Nice. Broke within 2 weeks. Replaced it for the same model. Broke within 3 weeks. Got a $30 OXO/Soft Grips one (the one with the remote readout). Has worked great for 2 months so far.

    A necessity for baking. ALL baking recipes should be by mass, like someone pointed out, a packed cup of flour weighs a whole lot more than a loose cup, so there is differing amounts. Measuring ingredients for stove top cooking is much more loose and free. For baking you are dealing with chemistry - balancing acids and bases with leaving agents.

    Anyway, I also use my scale for weighing bicycle parts, camping gear, and even running shoes :D

    DSCN0171.JPG

    Argh, giant picture, but you get the idea, weighing a bit of camping insulation I made.
  • michele093
    michele093 Posts: 8
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    yes yes yes yes yes yes !!!!! I bought mine online at walmart. It weighs up to 6 pounds and really helps me accurately log my portions. I love it ! only 18$

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