Friday, January 1, 2010

How To Choose Kitchen Scales With The Features That You Want

By Jeremy Pabloccis

Anyone who is serious about the cooking they do can tell you that kitchen scales are one of the best tools you can have in a kitchen. They can be so useful in a variety of different situations that once you have a set you may never be able to cook without them again. The key to finding such a useful tool is to pick ones that have the right features so that they are as versatile as possible. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you are shopping.

Many people start feeling the need to measure the weight of the ingredients they are using at some point in their cooking career. It may be because of certain recipes or it may be that you are buying meat in bulk and will need to know the weight before cooking a portion. It is at this point that your kitchen scales may become invaluable since you will be able to keep from over or under cooking meat you have portioned yourself.

The right features for you will depend heavily on what you will use your scales for. Also, you need to think about what your requirements are as far as storage or counter space. Some scales can be large and others can be quite compact. You may want to pay attention to how the scale measures. Some may measure in imperial and others in metric. You may want to try and find a scale which will measure in both systems

The weight range of the scale is an important feature that you have to look at. Some scales are intended to weigh heavier items such as cuts of meat. There are other kitchen scales which are designed to measure lighter items such as nuts and other dried goods. These are often quite desirable if you will be measuring portion sizes. Many calorie-reduced eating plans call for you to measure your food intake by weight and a good set of scales can help with this.

Are you someone who has problems looking at a conventional scale display? If so you need to think about a digital scale rather than a regular scale. It can be a huge time saver to simply wait for the end reading rather than try and count lines and numbers. It may save you money as well if you are not messing up recipes when you misread the amounts you are cooking. A large digital display can be incredibly helpful to many cooks. You want to make sure that you are happy with the way the numbers stand out as well.

Cleanliness is always important in a kitchen so you need to look for kitchen scales that can be cleaned easily. You may want to look for features such as a removable basket that food can be put into or a splash guard. An external housing that can be wiped down easily is important. The last thing you want is a grime encrusted scale that can never get totally clean. It can make you ill and is also unpleasant to look at or touch.

If you are interested in total accuracy you need to look for a scale that allows you to zero it after something has been placed on top of the scale. Often, this is used to negate the weight of the container which holds the food being weighed. This can significantly affect the results of a recipe so it is worth looking into when you go to pick out your kitchen scales.

Kitchen scales are available in many different stores and on many websites. This is because of how popular they continue to be year after year. If you are interested in purchasing a set, you may want to look around and price out several of the models that you like best. Then, once you know the particular model you are interested in you can begin to find it on different websites and online auctions. You may be amazed at how much you can save off the retail cost of any kitchen scales.

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