Food Scale? Yay or Nay?

[boilerchick]

Another vote for the food scale! I love mine and use it daily. It was around $20 at Target. I actually find it easier to measure certain things with it than using measuring cups and far more accurate, of course. For example when I make taco salad for myself, I put the lettuce on plate (don't measure that), then I set the plate on the scale and zero it. Then I put the meat on the plate until I have 3 oz, zero it, sprinkle cheese on until 1 oz, zero it, and sprinkle on crushed tortilla chips to 1/2 oz. No measuring utensils to clean. Completely accurate. Super fast and easy. I probably weigh cheese most often with it but I weigh the following things: apple slices, orange slices, meats, chips, soups, etc.

 

[cakebaker]

Yes - love mine

I have an inexpensive one that I've had for years - it comes in very handy. I think they are a "must-have" for portion control

 

[chefkate]

I have a food scale, a Salter like the one Janis linked to in her post, and I LOVE it for all of the reasons stated above. I measure everything... heck, I even weighed my clothes once before a physical exam so I could tell my doc how many pounds to subtract from the reading she got on the office scale. *true story*

lol! sounds like something i would do!

and jonezie, another vote for the scale! i love mine!

 

[trixie108]

Ok I have a dumb question. When a recipe calls for, say 6 ounces of chicken, is that raw or cooked? I'm really interested in getting a scale now!!

 

[RapidBreath]

Wow...thanks for all the great responses! It's definitely swayed me more to the yay than nay side. But one more question: In my calorie counting book, the only thing that seems to be measured in ounces is meat/protein. Everything else seems to be measured in cups. Which is why I thought I could get away with just measuring with measuring cup. But you think this is more accurate? The scale I want to get is digital with ounce/gram measurements.

Thanks again and looking forward to hearing more...

Jonezie

I would definitely say its more accurate. You can go on Fitday or Spark to get the nutrition facts for most foods.

 

[exer_cited]

I say YAY!

I have had my scale for longer than I can remember and I use it just about every day.

I know myself well enough to know that if I don't use it, I will certainly eat too much of whatever it is that needs to be weighed!!!

 

[kathryn]

Ok I have a dumb question. When a recipe calls for, say 6 ounces of chicken, is that raw or cooked? I'm really interested in getting a scale now!!

If it's in the list of ingredients, unless it specifies 'broiled'/'baked' or some other form of cooked, I'd assume it's raw.

 

[jonahnah]

I have a digital one and use it religiously several times a day. Mine is an older Salter digital one that does both grams & ounces. I use it for just about everything. I love the 'zero out' feature!!

Measuring cups are too inaccurate. For example, 1/2 cup uncooked oatmeal (the recommended single serving) is actually about 1/3 cup if you weigh it. So, if you just used a measured portion, your calories would actually be 16% higher than you thought. That's why it's so easy to have 10-15 lbs creep on even if you're careful to measure everything you eat.