Food scales?

[sunnyside]

I just bought a Mainstays Precision food scale. I'm wondering how accurate food scales are, or maybe how accurate packaged foods are.

Example:

A 3/4 oz wedge of laughing cow cheese weighs in exact.
A 6 oz can of tomato paste weighs in at 7 oz.

Anything bottled or canned is weighing high.

Is this normal for a food scale. Is mine accurate?

 

[princessbear]

Are you weighing the canned goods IN the can? In that case, you should take into account the weight of the can, I would think.

 

[MAYNARDSMOM]

Don't know that I can really answer your question but I can tell you that I have been using a food scale for about 2 yrs now. I find when an item usually canned....say canned beans. The can will say 1/2 cup - 130 g. Well 130 g comes out to be a whole lot more than 1/2 cup. So which way do I go? I don't want to short myself but I don't want to over estimate either.

Maybe a RD could chime in...any out there?

 

[SheWolf]

Dallys - No advice on the food scale, as I don't own one. But I just had to say...My aren't we getting serious about our eating? LOL! Actually I think it's great, I should probably doing the same but just can't be bothered. So my goal is to log everything now and see how that goes.

 

[cheval]

I always go by weight, not by the cup measurement. Things these days are packaged by weight, not by cups. I love my food scale.

April

 

[sunnyside]

Are you weighing the canned goods IN the can? In that case, you should take into account the weight of the can, I would think.

Yes, I'm weighing the unopened can.

I find when an item usually canned....say canned beans. The can will say 1/2 cup - 130 g. Well 130 g comes out to be a whole lot more than 1/2 cup. So which way do I go? I don't want to short myself but I don't want to over estimate either.

Yeah, I don't want to think I'm eating 3 0z. of chicken, when it's actually 4 or 5 oz.

Dallys - No advice on the food scale, as I don't own one. But I just had to say...My aren't we getting serious about our eating? LOL! Actually I think it's great, I should probably doing the same but just can't be bothered. So my goal is to log everything now and see how that goes.

Linda, I do have OCD tendencies. I mainly got the scale for meats and cheeses and things, as I'm just guessing at those. I have big hands so who knows if the palm of my hand is really a portion size.