Educate Your Eye
March 27, 2018 2:12 PM   Subscribe

Learn how to eyeball 1 pound of carrots, onions, apples, grapes, broccoli, and other produce.

Tangentially, here's the USDA's ranking of vegetables by average US retail price per pound, accompanied by rankings per raw and cooked edible cup equivalent.
posted by Iridic (38 comments total) 28 users marked this as a favorite
 
Some of it seems very helpful, but I wish they weren't going so hard for the Pin-worthy photo that they lost sight of the idea. That grape photo is basically useless!
posted by graventy at 2:34 PM on March 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


Yeah, the photos where it cuts off some of the produce - are we supposed to fill the rest of it in with our mind's eye? Or is what's in the photo 1 lb? Such a cool idea, but such maddenly vague execution.
posted by lunasol at 2:56 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Cool, but:
One pound of carrots is about 5 medium-size carrots, no wider than an inch, and about 6 inches long.
and the photo shows 6 large carrots?
posted by carter at 3:08 PM on March 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


If you learn how much 1lb feels, you won't need to memorise how dozens of different volumes look, surely?
posted by pipeski at 3:10 PM on March 27, 2018 [15 favorites]


I just cook and have an idea of how many carrots I need. It's not related to weight, but to the amount of other vegetables I'm using.

/carrot plating ...
posted by carter at 3:15 PM on March 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


It seems to me that any American who buys produce and has the slightest inclination to pay attention should have no need for this. But it must be a big help for the Blue Apron crowd when they venture out on their own, and anything that helps Americans buy and eat more vegetables and less pre-packaged garbage is a good thing.

The other day I found a prepackaged plastic tray of vegetables from the grocery store in the refrigerator at work. It was wide and flat, and sold with a giant, colorful “$5” label on it. It must have seemed like a great deal to the non-produce buyer. It made me glad to know that one of my coworkers is trying to eat healthy food, but it made me sad to know that I work with someone who doesn’t know that for the same five dollars they could have picked out organic produce of the same varieties (celery, carrots, broccoli and cherry tomatoes) at the same grocery store, and gotten twice as much.
posted by mammoth at 3:17 PM on March 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


If you learn how much 1lb feels, you won't need to memorise how dozens of different volumes look, surely?

Pint’s a pound the world around. All you have to do is practice lifting a pint. 🍻
posted by uncleozzy at 3:17 PM on March 27, 2018 [24 favorites]


It's been more than 15 years since I've had to pay careful attention to the number of pounds of produce (or, really, any other grocery item) that I've bought. It may not mean anything to other people, but that's an important realization for me. It's useful to remember the days when I weighed bananas and put some back after checking my wallet.

On the other hand, if your tomatoes cost less than summer squash. . . then you and I have a very different definition of a tomato.

If invited to pick nits, failing to include the time and fuel required to cook dried beans seems like a real problem. Cost per pound isn't really a useful metric when one item requires a can opener and the next item requires two hours at the stove. There's a big difference between dried lentils and dried pinto beans.
posted by eotvos at 3:26 PM on March 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


A 500ml plastic bottle of water is close enough to a pound for grocery shopping. Use it to compare how the weight feels.
posted by Index Librorum Prohibitorum at 3:28 PM on March 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


Oh, America, "one pound". That's more or less a half kilo for the rest of you in the real world.

One of my best kitchen gadget purchases was this scale. Makes baking a whole different enterprise.
posted by Nelson at 3:45 PM on March 27, 2018 [6 favorites]


Pint’s a pound the world around.

Only if it’s water. And only if it’s a US pint. An Imperial pint weighs about 1.25 lbs.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:52 PM on March 27, 2018 [5 favorites]


Oh, America, "one pound". That's more or less a half kilo for the rest of you in the real world.


Yes indeed. And every time I go back to the states I’m flabbergasted by the giant produce in the average supermarket. I looked at the onion visual aid and those are some honking big onions.
posted by romakimmy at 4:02 PM on March 27, 2018 [4 favorites]


I just came in to say, I'm really good at estimating a pound of produce. I'm even better at estimating two pounds. I've never had a chance to brag about this before. Wasn't there a thread on obscure talents a long time back? I wish I could go back and add this now. I might even head out to the supermarket to practice up.
posted by ga$money at 4:12 PM on March 27, 2018 [9 favorites]


It’s— but— there’s...a— scale at the store...
posted by Huffy Puffy at 4:24 PM on March 27, 2018 [14 favorites]


So what's the point of this? Even the smallest produce stores still have a scale or two in the aisles to check, if you need to get, say, 20 pounds of potatoes, 5 pounds of onions, and 2 pounds of bulk chocolate for your Easter latke recipe.
posted by morspin at 4:26 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


It’s— but— there’s...a— scale at the store...
posted by Huffy Puffy


My local grocery has 2 pounds on the scale one end of the produce section weighing 1.5 on the other, and you'll pay for 4 when they accurately measure it at the cashier give or take. It also doesn't seem consistent, so 4 pounds isn't 8, I guess I could measure and memorize the scales quirks, but usually I just guesstimate and put a few potatoes(or whatever) back if I'm way off.
posted by Carillon at 4:29 PM on March 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


The other day I found a prepackaged plastic tray of vegetables from the grocery store in the refrigerator at work. It was wide and flat, and sold with a giant, colorful “$5” label on it. It must have seemed like a great deal to the non-produce buyer. It made me glad to know that one of my coworkers is trying to eat healthy food, but it made me sad to know that I work with someone who doesn’t know that for the same five dollars they could have picked out organic produce of the same varieties (celery, carrots, broccoli and cherry tomatoes) at the same grocery store, and gotten twice as much.

Yes, but in their defense, they would also have had to have washed, peeled, cut up, and figured out how to pack that produce for their bag lunch. Which isn't difficult, all things being equal - but if you are busy and harried, you would definitely entertain the idea of paying a few dollars extra to save yourself the bother.

Or maybe they forgot their lunch at home and this was all they could get. You never know.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:55 PM on March 27, 2018 [10 favorites]


> Pint’s a pound the world around My Mom taught me that, too. Useful. Also, it's easy to visualize a pound of butter, which is a dense pound (unlike, say, a lb. of grapes).
posted by theora55 at 4:59 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Often wondered: what's a pound of cure look like?
posted by hal9k at 5:24 PM on March 27, 2018 [3 favorites]


It seems to me that any American who buys produce and has the slightest inclination to pay attention should have no need for this.
I am an American who buys produce. I dunno where you would rank my inclination to pay attention, but from a young age my mother taught us how to select the appropriate produce (telling ripeness, freshness, etc.), and I often do the mental arithmetic even on packaged foods in order to determine how much I'm really paying per unit. (This is how I learned that five different flavors of the same product might be sneakily packaged so that the ones with more expensive ingredients have less product in the same size container.)

But no, I have no idea how much a pound is. Frankly, I find it difficult to envision a cup, a pound, or even a foot; even a minute often ends up taking much longer (or shorter) than I imagine on the fly.
posted by inconstant at 5:34 PM on March 27, 2018


In the "ranking of vegetables by average US retail price per pound" graph, one price stands out sharply against my experience. Green beans is always under $1.5 per pound in Texas and in Massachusetts, nowhere near $3.
posted by of strange foe at 6:56 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


>>Or maybe they forgot their lunch at home and this was all they could get. You never know.

Or, maybe they hosted a party over the weekend and no one came. OR lots of people came and and brought food including the veg tray which was much less popular than the coworker's fancy hand-trimmed crudite with green goddess dressing.

Or they told their SO, "hey could you pick up some veggies for my lunch" and that's what the SO picked up and they had a SERIOUS TALK immediately after, about veggies and shopping for them.
posted by bunderful at 7:29 PM on March 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


I've never really paid attention to poundage unless I'm buying for a recipe that calls for pounds of something, which is rare. I just pick out however many things I think I can buy, store and eat before they go bad or I get bored of them.

Of course, I'm often wrong and no one should ever casually stick a bare hand into my crisper drawer.
posted by bunderful at 7:32 PM on March 27, 2018


Yeah, I don't really cook proper spreads myself either -- and on the rare occasions where I make something that might be considered a proper meal by, say, Most People, I'm not cooking from a recipe either. I know (usually) how much I'm going to be eating or cooking, but that's always in terms of things like "two or three jarlidfuls of rice", "two bunches of xiaobaicai", "an apple", "a third of the bag of cherries"... etc.
posted by inconstant at 7:53 PM on March 27, 2018


This is how I learned that five different flavors of the same product might be sneakily packaged so that the ones with more expensive ingredients have less product in the same size container.

Sorry, can you explain this? Are you talking about diluting expensive stuff with cheaper ingredients (i.e. bulking up the mango juice with apple juice) or something else?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:13 PM on March 27, 2018


My local grocery has 2 pounds on the scale one end of the produce section weighing 1.5 on the other, and you'll pay for 4 when they accurately measure it at the cashier give or take. It also doesn't seem consistent, so 4 pounds isn't 8, I guess I could measure and memorize the scales quirks, but usually I just guesstimate and put a few potatoes(or whatever) back if I'm way off.

How is this not regulated.

Like, I appreciate I'm in a thread that's talking about 1 pound of vegetables instead of, like, 300g of vegetables (although basically all my recipes that use vegetables don't go by weight, and if you buy a very big carrot you're going to have more carrot) but guys, seriously: stores shouldn't be allowed to have misleading scales. This shouldn't be a life skill.
posted by Merus at 8:27 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Sorry, can you explain this? Are you talking about diluting expensive stuff with cheaper ingredients (i.e. bulking up the mango juice with apple juice) or something else?

They use the same size container, but put less into the container.
posted by Merus at 8:28 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


"How is this not regulated."

I think the 'convenience' scales at grocers specifically will note that they aren't calibrated and they aren't responsible for it if its off. On the other hand, the digital scale at the checkout is/should be regulated by law, and there are generally state regulations around this. Scales at checkouts need to be certified. The 'cheap' pull scales that are manhandled by random customers will get off their calibration.
posted by el io at 9:01 PM on March 27, 2018 [2 favorites]


"My local grocery has 2 pounds on the scale one end of the produce section weighing 1.5 on the other, and you'll pay for 4 when they accurately measure it at the cashier give or take"

Jesus Christ, report this to your state Bureau of Weights and Measures (or Department of Agriculture, or whoever regulates your state grocery scales), it's a crime! This is like one of the oldest tasks of government, regulating commercial scales! There's usually even a sticker saying "call this 1-800 number if this scale sucks." They check it within literally two days in most cases.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:16 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Often wondered: what's a pound of cure look like?

About 1/150th of this.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:37 PM on March 27, 2018 [1 favorite]


Only if it’s water. And only if it’s a US pint. An Imperial pint weighs about 1.25 lbs.

And then there's the glass it comes in. Pub pint glasses can be hefty.
posted by Dysk at 12:24 AM on March 28, 2018


Only if it’s water. And only if it’s a US pint. An Imperial pint weighs about 1.25 lbs.

Closer to 1.20, because not only can't the US get the number of fluid ounces in a pint right, their fluid ounces are the wrong size as well.
posted by flabdablet at 1:04 AM on March 28, 2018


When I was very young, I worked at a grocery store and I loved my job. Customers weren't allowed to take stuff from the boxes, so they would ask for stuff, and very quickly I learnt to take the right amounts on eye-sight, because it would spare me some time. I can still do it without thinking, and I enjoy doing it at the stores today for no reason other than the nice little feeling of accomplishment, just the same as when I can draw a straight line, or "guess" a measurement from a photo. Skills and craft are fun to practice.
posted by mumimor at 1:56 AM on March 28, 2018 [3 favorites]


What really impresses me are the workers at my local fish counter who have such a good intuition for the density of fish flesh that they can lop a piece of salmon to my specifications to within hundredths of a pound on the first cut. I would have to massacre every filet in the case before getting it right.
posted by Westringia F. at 4:16 AM on March 28, 2018 [4 favorites]


There are few things more satisfying than pinching off a bit of dough that's exactly the right weight when you're baking a batch of rolls or pitas or whatever. Practically need a cigarette after you've done it five or six times in a row.
posted by uncleozzy at 4:35 AM on March 28, 2018 [4 favorites]


An Ounce of Prevention is worth 7 lbs 8 oz. of Adorable Cure.
posted by theora55 at 6:53 AM on March 28, 2018


It’s— but— there’s...a— scale at the store...
posted by Huffy Puffy


I've gotten pretty good at estimating a pound of grain or nuts at the local Bulk Barn which has one easily accessible scale that let's me confirm my estimate right away.

OTOH, the new Nations Fresh Foods in the neighbourhood, which has a whole lot of customers as short or shorter than me, puts their scales UP and IN over the produce tables and are simply impossible to reach without asking the closest basketball player.
posted by maudlin at 8:01 AM on March 28, 2018


What really impresses me are the workers at my local fish counter who have such a good intuition for the density of fish flesh that they can lop a piece of salmon to my specifications to within hundredths of a pound on the first cut. I would have to massacre every filet in the case before getting it right.

It's just repetition. I worked at as a butcher/fishmonger in college and you get so you just know what stuff weighs. Sometimes you make it a game to pass the time, i.e. how close can I get to the desired weight on the first try. Then, try to beat that record!
posted by RustyBrooks at 11:34 AM on March 28, 2018 [2 favorites]


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