new kitchen toy
Some of you may remember that I’m used to making the dog food. I did stop for a few months at the end of the renovation because it just was too much to do in the RV. Very small space and very little room for storage. I started again when we moved in and it’s one reason I am loving this kitchen so much - all the space! I’ve got a huge pan for mixing, plenty of room to cook more than one thing at a time and a full size blender instead of my little Magic Bullet. The only thing I was still using was the tiny, plastic scale that a friend got at the dollar store in the US. It’s great, it’s small and light - both things that are very important when you live in an RV. Not so much when you live in a house - convenient, attractive and useful come to the top of the list then.
So, I’ve been looking at scales. The newer ones look convenient but kind of ugly. I don’t care whether it is a digital read out or not, I just want to portion out the dog food in more or less even amounts. I kept looking at the scales the vendors use in the market, really nice looking and, like my juicer, they appeal to me esthetically.
the scale
Meet my newest kitchen appliance. Cool huh? I love it. It works quite well. Last night was dog food night and I made 8 days worth for 3 big dogs in a couple hours. Weighing it and bagging it have never been so easy.
Making it is still a big mess, and with all this space I manage to mess up a lot more. I do want to say that I clean it up myself, I don’t leave it for Gaby. I do manage to usually do it on a night when she is coming the next day, so the floors get mopped.
This batch was barley, carrots, zucchini, a couple bunches of chard, a head of garlic, ground linaza and 3.5 kilos of ground beef. Yum.
prison loaf
Mimi left last night for Akumal and I’m about to leave now.
I love your new scale. Tell us more: where did you get it? capacity? cost? I have about 10 scales: 2 old post office (Triner), 3 digital, 2 plastic. One of the plastics is a minature of an old platform scale, and works quite well. I prefer balance types to spring types, just don’t trust the springs to maintain accuracy.
One year, about 40 years ago, I told my Mother I was going to Sears in Ventura to do some last minuted Christmas shopping. She said “I need something for your brother, so if you see something under $10 you think he would like, buy it.” At Sears, I found this great cast aluminum ladle spoon, with a heavy handle and a slider on it. It came with a little stand, you set the slider for the weight you want (Say 4 oz) then set the slider on the stand. Then you fill the ladle until it balances. Neat!
Christmas morning I was opening my presents, and as I opened the box and saw the ladle, I turned to my Mom and said “you got the wrong name on this.” She said “No, I just wanted to make sure I got something your would really like.”
Phil, It is a Josar brand and also says Hecho en Josar México on it. I’m not familiar with a town named Josar but no doubt there is one.
They come in many sizes and colors, and they weigh in kilos and grams. I needed one that weighed about 300 grams so this one goes up to 2 kilos with a small one kilo weight that can be hung on the end and the slider going to 1 kilo measured in grams. I can’t remember exactly how much I paid but it was around $500 pesos, a little more I think.
It seems pretty accurate, really more accurate than I need. I’m enjoying it.
Man I have been watching for a cool old scale too - glad we are far apart (seldom glad about that actually) then I would be more jealous. Congrats!
Your scale looks great but your story reminded me of when I was making dog food. My dog had a cancer in his mouth. My vet said he would be dead in about 3 mos. Texas A&M said he would be dead in 3 months. I took him home and sure enough he got worse and worse. One day he was so miserable that I thought it would not be long before I’d have to have him put down but I would make him something to eat to try to make him more comfortable. Rice, boiled eggs, ground meat and because I heard that brocoli was a cancer preventer a lot of shredded broccoli. The next week I made him some more and after about 2 weeks I realized he was feeling better. So I continued to make his food with either broccoli or carrots. He lived another 2 years and died at age 12.
I love that scale! Now I need to get the smaller version for Lynn - it does come in a smaller version, right? He has been wanting a kitchen scale for a while.
That’s a great story Billie, I try to include things I think (or have read) they need. They eat this mix - I call it prison loaf - 3 or 4 times a week and raw meat the other days. They also get beef bones 3 or 4 times a week. I do the best I can and at least I know what they are eating and that it is close to what they need. The questions I had about commercial dog food were really bothering me, so this is my answer.
Juan, I’m sure you can find these scales at the big mercado in Jalapa and probably even at a smaller one closer to you.
I bought it in a store across the street from the Lucas de Galvez mercado. Not the street with the portales, I’m having a bad memory moment as to the street. I’ll look for the shop again when I get back. I’m sure they are also sold inside the market. I saw a few in there but no place that had mainly scales. This was the smallest they had at this store, and they had a lot of scales. They went up to much, much larger but not smaller.
I have scale envy.