Using A Kitchen Scale For Cooking And Portion Control
- At March 26, 2023
- By Daniel
- In Diet, Education, Health & Wellness, New Video
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A majority of overweight and obese people eat too many calories for their activity level. Contrary to popular belief, it only takes a few hundred, not thousand, extra calories to go from a healthy weight to obese.
Unlike most countries using the metric system, Americans use the imperial system of cups to weigh most recipe ingredients. The accuracy of measuring cups can vary more than the accuracy of affordable kitchen scales. A good quality scale is accurate to within 1 gram (1/28th oz). In addition to cups, Americans deal with vague descriptions like small, medium, or large bananas etc. Cups and sizes are used by the USDA and FDA for serving sizes. In some cases, serving sizes are specified in grams, but most Americans do not own a kitchen scale and cannot measure foods in grams.
Whether grams or ounces, when it comes to diets, excess calories becomes body fat. Is a meal serving of frozen potatoes the 85 grams (3 oz) on the nutrition label or more. Is a steak 4 oz (113 g) or more. In most cases, it is much more.
Using a kitchen scale, you can create perfectly portioned meals providing all or most essential nutrients. And, you are in control of your diet and ingredients not a faceless corporation.
In this video:
• Diet and portion control. 00:42
• Weight versus volume (cups). 2:23
• Selecting a kitchen scale. 4:45
• Using a kitchen scale for cooking. 8:45
• Using a kitchen scale for portion control. 10:45
Measuring Cup & Spoon Accuracy
Several viewers have commented about making a recipe with disappointing results.
Unlike most countries where dry ingredients are measured by weight in grams, US recipes use volume (cups). Commercial cooks and bakers rely on weight for accurate, consistent results. US home cooks are stuck with cups and spoons. The assumption is all measuring cups and spoons, regardless of price, are accurate. My research showed two apparently identical measuring cups where off by more than 10%.
This video shares how to check the accuracy of your measuring cups and spoon. To do so, you’ll need an accurate digital kitchen scale. There are many affordable kitchen scales accurate to within +/- 1 gram.
In this video:
• Why accurate measurements are important. 00:35
• Dry measuring cup accuracy. 1:12
• Wet measuring cup accuracy. 4:06
• Measuring spoon accuracy. 5:12
