The $14 Kitchen Gadget That’ll Make You a Much Better Cook and Baker

I do not judge what others do in the kitchen. Cook whatever you like with the tools and techniques that work best for you! But I do have one thing that I will always be very firm on: I think everyone needs a digital scale in their kitchen.

Any digital scale will do. Mine is an Ozeri food scale, which I purchased in early 2015 and have been using on a daily basis ever since. This lightweight, basically flat scale (it takes up no room!) is a workhorse: I’m sure I must have changed the batteries at some point, but I honestly can’t remember. It just turns on with the press of a button, dutifully weighs my ingredients, and waits quietly in the drawer for its next task.

Now, I know that some of you will talk about how “easy” it is to scoop flour from a bag, but you know what’s even easier? Skipping the middleman measuring vessel and pouring your flour directly into your mixing bowl to weigh the exact amount you need! There’s no deliberation over whether the cup is actually full or not, no wondering if you’ve packed the brown sugar tightly enough, no fussing with oddball measurements like 2/3 cup of butter (what even is that?) or using multiple utensils to achieve 1.75 cups.

Kitchn has written about weighing versus scooping a lot before and I stand by it! I won’t double-up on my persuasion by making this article propaganda for the metric system — but metric really is far more logical and it’s my personal belief that all recipes should include weighted measurements! And a digital scale will absolutely improve the ease and accuracy of your cooking and baking life. You can use it to portion out meatballs, cookies, dough, cake batter, and more

Fun little side story: My husband and I even use ours to weigh burritos when we order two of the same thing. He gets the heavier one, and it’s fun to run our own little at-home consistency check.

You can get any digital scale and I’ll be happy. (Here’s a suggestion for another one that Kitchn editors love!) You’ll be happy, too, promise. I just really stand by mine because it’s so inexpensive, accurate, and easy to use. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go celebrate my win over identifying the 650-gram burrito.

Do you have a kitchen scale? Tell us about it in the comments below!