How to weigh something without a scale
Four ways to get a usable weight without a scale — a known comparison, a volume conversion, a count, or a photograph — and where each one breaks down.
Guides
Longer answers to the questions that come up around weighing things.
How to weigh food without a kitchen scale
Four ways to get a usable weight for an ingredient when there is no kitchen scale in the house, and how far off each one lands.
How accurate is weighing something by photo
What our own benchmark of the method found — where a photo estimate typically lands, why a size reference can help or hurt, and what the method is actually good for.
How to photograph an object for a good weight estimate
Light, background, angle and a size reference — the four things that decide whether a weight estimate from a photo lands anywhere near the truth.
Grams, ounces and pounds
The exact definitions behind gram-to-ounce conversion, a practical table, the ounce-versus-fluid-ounce mix-up, and why gram measurements beat cups.
Cups to grams for flour, sugar and rice
Gram figures for flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar and rice by the cup, and why the same cup of flour can weigh a fifth more depending on how it was filled.
Estimating a parcel's weight before the post office
How to add up a box, its packing material and its contents before shipping, and why some carriers charge by volume instead of scale weight.
Using a coin as a size reference in a photo
Coin masses and diameters are fixed by law, which makes a coin a solid ruler in a photo — but our own testing shows a reference object can help or backfire depending on the model.