I'm debating spend some cash on a nice digital food scale, but before I do, I'm wondering how many people weigh there food and how many meausre (ie measuring cups and such)? Is there a difference? Which is better?
I'm probably no help because I do both. Like tonight we're having steak so I'll weigh how many ounces I'm having. If I have brown rice w/it, I'll use my measuring cup. But now that I think of it, I guess my scale is a necessity. I mean I couldn't shove that steak into a cup to figure out how much I had. And I'm horrible at eye balling so the scale does keep me pretty honest.
Measuring, can be more subjective. I will tell this story yet again. I had my husband measure out a half cup of pancake mix, and I weighed it according to the package. His, which did look like half a cup, and its what I would have counted as half a cup before I started weighing. His would have been 30 more calories.
I used to measure, but some things you can't really measure (like meat). So I got a scale, and I found myself weighing everything. It's easier and I don't have to wash my measuring cup like twice a day or more
I tend to weigh more than I measure. For me it's just easier in the end. It's also wonderful for baking to get repeatable recipes once I've found something I like. ie. the current breakfast food is a waffle with 7g oat flour, 7g white flour, 3g protein powder... well, you get the point. It's just easier to get it the same way each time. I do, however, measure the syrup (which was homemade, and the ingredients originally weighed).
I measure grains, flours and sauces that list the calories in cups or tsp or TBS and personally I prefer to measure. I weigh things like meat and fish the day I buy them and portion them individually labelling weight and calorie value. My food scale is not THAT nice though: it's a cheap Walmart one. Maybe I'd use it more if it was the nice digital kind.
Last edited by toastedsmoke; 08-05-2009 at 06:24 PM.
I love weighing (on a digital scale with both ounces and grams, with a zeroing feature) because of the savings in dirty utensils and dishes. Increased accuracy is a bonus.
I just got started again and for me weighing is easier, less dirty dishes, and I can just weigh everything in the containers that I plan to take to work. I work in a kitchen, and I no longer allow myself to eat the food there.
I do both. I use the method that the measurement calls for. Like, if I need 1/2 cup rice, I'll measure 1/2 cup rice. If I need 2 oz cheese, I'll weigh 2 oz cheese. If a recipe like chili makes 4 servings, I'll weigh the entire amount and divide it by 4 and weigh out my portion...just depends.
I figure that my dishwasher (aka DH) can handle the extra measuring implement or two...
I do both depending on what it is but, get the scale. It makes life so much easier. That way you can measure amounts using the preferred method for the substance in question.
Weigh or measure
