Spoons and cups measure volume, not weight, so the same scoop can hold quite different amounts of food. Pick a food, change how heaped your spoon is and see how many calories the difference adds up to.
A kitchen scale helps most with dense foods like oil, nut butters, rice and oats. Here is when it is worth having, when it isn't, and what to look for.
A kitchen scale is a small, cheap tool that answers one question: how much food is this, really? Most of us eyeball portions with spoons, cups and handfuls. That works well for some foods and badly for others. Try it below.
A scale matters most for foods that are dense in energy and easy to scoop: oils, nut butters, dry rice, pasta and oats.
A spoon or cup measures volume, not weight. Two scoops of the same size can weigh quite different amounts depending on how packed the food is, how heaped the spoon is and how fine or coarse the food is. A baking site notes that how you fill a cup of flour can change it by up to 3 to 4 tablespoons.
Research on portion guessing points the same way. In one study of 67 adults estimating 42 weighed foods, only about 3 in 10 cup-and-spoon estimates of regular-shaped foods and liquids landed within 25% of the true weight, and spreads were often off. Irregular foods such as meat and fish were commonly overestimated.
It helps most with foods where a small error is a lot of energy. One tablespoon of oil is around 120 kcal, so a heaped one can add dozens of kcal on its own. It matters less for vegetables, fruit and anything you eat until you are comfortably full, where a few grams hardly change the picture.
Weighing and counting food is not for everyone. If you have or have had an eating disorder, it can do more harm than good, so talk to a doctor or dietitian before you start. The same goes if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, take medication (especially for diabetes or blood pressure) or have a medical condition. This guide is general information, not medical advice.
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A low-cost digital scale with plenty of capacity for a bowl and fine enough steps for cooking. A good way to try weighing food for a couple of weeks before deciding whether you want a better one.
1 g steps are all everyday cooking needs, and the large capacity copes with a heavy mixing bowl. A stainless top is easy to wipe clean.
Weighs just as well as the cheaper scales; the extra cost is mostly design. Worth it only if the scale will live on your counter and you want it to look good.
