I would say as long as you get a scale that will tare and can toggle between grams and ounces, you will be set. The scale I have is a Kitrics Nutrition Label Scale, which can tell you how many calories, fat, fiber, etc. are in the weighed portion, but I never use this feature.
Mammasita-That looks like a good scale for a good price (the one from Target). I had looked at Wal Mart, and the one I really thought looked the best was around $30-$40 dollars. I thought that was way too much. Not sure I would get my money's worth. I may look at Target, I just assumed Wal Mart would be cheaper.
I have the biggest loser scale that I purchased at Rite Aid. It was only 20 dollars and it weighs grams and ounces. Its where the dieting pills are. I have really loved this scale, use it everyday.
I really like the OXO Good Grips digital scale. I picked mine up at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Here's what a like about it:
It has an off switch. My first food scale did not (it just turned off automatically after 3 minutes or so) and the batteries went dead pretty quick. Battery life is much longer with this model.
Weighs in grams or oz/lbs--this is critical.
Very easy to clean. The display just wipes off, no cracks or crevasses for food to get stuck in. And the platform that the bowl sits on can be removed for cleaning.
The display pulls out from the base, making it a lot easier to read when I have large plates or bowls on the platform.
Nice wide platform for bowls, etc. to sit on. I never have problems with stuff tipping over.
It has a tare function, but this is pretty standard, I've never seen a digital scale that doesn't have one.
Very sensitive, even at very low weights. My last scale (a Salter), had a hard time measuring amounts less than 10g. It seems trivial, but when you are trying to measure out half a tbsp of honey or some tiny amount like that, it can be important.
The only thing I don't like about it is that it has an auto-off feature that sometimes kicks in too soon and it will turn off while I'm in the middle of cutting and weighing stuff. There is a way to turn it back on so that it remembers what the last weight was, but I haven't quite figured out the trick so I can't do it consistently. Sometimes I can get it to work and sometimes I can't. I guess I need to read the manual. But the other features more than make up for this drawback.
Last edited by BlueToBlue; 03-23-2010 at 03:06 AM.
Thank you so much for the responses! I haven't decided on just one yet, but I am assured that I don't need anything "fancy". I was really concerned that I would get a basic scale and decide later that I really should have bought one with "x" feature.
I dunno if anybody else watches America's Test Kitchen and/or reads Cook's Illustrated, but this was their test kitchen winner for a number of years and still their best buy winner if you don't want to pull out the dough for the OXO Good Grips scale.
It's a basic scale, easy to clean, it is pretty, it's smaller and lighter than it looks in the pictures so it's not too hard to put away, it does have a tare function, it weighs in either grams or oz/lbs., good balance (no worries about stuff falling off). It's not as wide as the OXO, but that's fine for me.
I just wanted to follow up and say that I bought a scale! Not only that I used it as a non-food incentive to get out of the house when I was feeling awful.
I had to go to my University to get some files I couldn't download off campus. I really didn't want to get out of the house since I was feeling dreadful, but I really needed the files to finish a project. I considered telling my prof that I was ill (which I was) and couldn't finish the project. But I had waited until the last day to get it done anyway, so I really needed to get it done.
I was trying to think of some reward for that extra push to get out of the house. (I really don't normally need an incentive to leave but I was feeling so dreadful) Of course the first thing I thought of was FOOD and I had almost talked myself into getting something dreadful with the excuse that I wasn't feeling good. But I stopped myself and came up with a healthier alternative! I remembered that a couple of you had recommended a scale from Target and there was one along the way so it seemed like the perfect solution.
Incidentally, I THOUGHT I was buying the Escali scale that mammasita and Suzanne recommended but I just looked at it and it is different! I got another scale for 29.99 that had the same basic features.
It seems to be working great so far! I'm really pleased with it. Thank you all for your suggestions. Not only did they convince me that I could get a simple scale and be happy with it, but they also helped me to stay on the straight and narrow!
Good food scale?
