The FastDay Forum

[Moogie]

I've been emailing with an American who is new to this lifestyle and it has raised the following query in my mind. Cups as a form of measure... Do Americans not generally have our use scales in the kitchen? I was planning on including some kind of cups conversion tool in the new recipes system which is in development, but now it occurs to me that cups may not be a wise idea for someone on 5:2 due to the inherent inaccuracy of measuring some ingredients by volume, particularly the sort of things we cook with. A cup of chopped onion for example or a cup of chopped carrot etc. The amount in the cup will depend on how finely its been chopped and therefore so will the calories in the portion. OK with some ingredients it won't make much difference but with the number of calories being so important I would think investing in a set of scales would be a good move for all 5:2ers.

Might sound like a silly question but if everything is done in cups, is that also how meat is measured? Seems a bit odd, a cup of meat! Liquids on the other hand make perfect sense of course.

Would be interested to hear from any American members about how they do their measuring so I can make an informed decision about what needs to be included in the recipes system. Thanks

Cups is more complicated than it appears. I have American cook books & measuring jugs so it's easier for me. But you can have packed cups...

Always thought 8oz to a cup...but I'm going to see if that's right.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_(unit)

[Moogie]

I think the weight will depend on the contents. I've got a set if measuring cups here, but almost bed time so won't be experimenting right now

No doubt there's some kind of online conversion tool or a a script I can adapt to give an approximate conversion.

There's an iPhone app called cookulater, it converts cups to its equivalent in tablespoons etc.. It might be useful?

While you're considering cups you may want to be aware that Canadian cups and American cups are not the same! Moogie, you're right in saying that the weight depends on what you are measuring

I needed to convert an American recipe for our WI and had to measure each item in cups and then weigh the contents of each one - in both metric and Imperial! Mind you - it was worth it because we came first in the competition that year with our Apple Stack cake!

I am from Colorado and I have measuring cups that are metal/plastic for dry ingredients ( sugar, flour etc) that can be packed down and glass measuring cups for wet ingredients like (oil, honey etc ) that have a spout to pour. Hope that helps Meat is by weight.

In Canada we use metric but most people have measuring cups which show both Imperial and Metric.
A 'cup' is 8 oz or 250 ml of liquid or sugar/flour etc.
Smaller amounts are measured in Tablespoons or teaspoons.
For something like meat or butter, it is measured by weight (a lb of ground beef is 16 oz or approx .5 kg).
Other items like vegetables in a recipe would be either by the item (one medium chopped onion) or cups (1/2 cup chopped onion). Obviously this is never 100% accurate, depending on the size of the vegetable.
I would hazard a guess that not 'too many' people have kitchen scales.

Waving from California...

28 grams (scale weight) equals 1 american ounce

1 cup (8 oz. American) fluids (coffee, water, juice, soda, etc.) equals 240 ml

Meats are measured generally using scale weights. If you go to the store and buy a pound of meat (448 grams) it is 16 ounces in our US stores. You'll never see the gram weight.

I hope this helps a little.

And just to confuse the issue, I'm noticing on my cans (tins) of veggies, the nutritional label measures in cups, but the entire can weight is measured in grams/ml on the front of the label.

No wonder we're all confused!

Please stay away from cups, there isn't one definition of a cup or a fluid oz or a pint before we even get to the different densities.

A cup of fluid or free flowing powder might make some sense, if there was only one definition of a cup, but a cup of carrots ? No thanks, let's keep the sanity.

[Moogie]

So if you use weight for meat, how do you know the weight you're putting into a recipe? If it doesn't call for the entire pound (or whatever weight you bought), how do you know how much to use? I guess with something like mince is not too difficult to divide up by eye but for things like chicken breasts you'd really need to weigh them.

I think I'll suggest that anyone doing 5:2 who wants to cook their own meals should buy some scales!

I think I'll suggest that anyone doing 5:2 who wants to cook their own meals should buy some scales!

+1

Either that or have a separate section for "American Recipes" where incomprehensible units and foods we've never heard of won't be distractions.

The first thing I did was go to a kitchen shop and buy a set of digital scales, got a great set for $20 and the work really well!

[carorees]

Cups are speedier for flour, sugar, rice etc but of course not diet friendly! I use cups for recipes like pancake batter or bread where the exact proportions aren't important. They use deciliters in Sweden for flour etc!

[Moogie]

I use cups for pancakes too - cup of flour, cup of milk and 2 eggs