Serving Spoons Made to Teach Portion Sizes

I’ve had my eye out for some new kitchen utensils for a couple of months. I knew I wanted non-metal and heat resistant, but other than that, I’ve just been looking for something to jump out at me. Then I stumbled across Jokari’s Healthy Steps line in Target.

We bought the three-piece serving set and a ladle. The serving set is pictured at the top of this post. It includes a spatula for proteins, a slotted spoon for vegetables, and a regular spoon for starches. The spatula is roughly the size of a 3 oz. portion of meat, or about the size of a deck of cards, which is the comparison often given for people trying to guess at how much they’re eating. The slotted spoon is a half serving of vegetables, and the regular spoon is one serving of a starch. The ladle has three serving measurement lines–one for gravy, one for sauces (like pasta sauce), and one for soup.

We chose just these pieces since they were the ones we most needed to replace. But if the measurement feature appeals to you, the line has more items as well:

• Pasta basket
• Sugar shaker
• Butter spoon/knife

I like to eyeball measurements, but I also like to be accurate. So sometimes when I’m cooking or baking, I’ll eyeball an ingredient, then measure it to see how close I’ve come. As a result, I’m pretty good at estimating amounts and recognizing portion sizes. My husband, who has declared 2011 to be the year he finally gets some weight off, does not have this skill. I think the Healthy Steps spoons will help him recognize that servings of rice are not measured in platefuls. They also offer measurement in a form that’s a little easier to grasp for my daughter, who loves to help in the kitchen but isn’t quite ready for fractions. And they’re dishwasher-safe and rated to 400°, two other factors that are important in our kitchen.

As I mentioned, we found them at our local Target, but if you’d like to get them online, most of the pieces are eligible for Amazon’s 4-for-3 promotion, where you buy three houseware items and get the fourth free.