Which serving size do I follow...cups or grams?
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soccerkon26
Posts: 596 Member
I was measuring some shredded cheese that says one serving is 1/4 cup (28grams). I filled up the 1/4 cup and it was only about 15 grams!
Are the serving sizes more accurate with cups or grams, ml, oz, etc?
Are the serving sizes more accurate with cups or grams, ml, oz, etc?
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Replies
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I use my food scale for better accuracy.0
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grams weighed at 1G will be your most accurate measurement.0
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Always weigh your dry/solid foods.0
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Your scale will be more accurate. That was a happy discovery for me. (:0
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This is something I've wondered about too. People on here usually say weigh it, it's more accurate. And that's true for weight. But what did the people who figured the calories on the package do? Did they use volume or weight? Because that's going to most affect accuracy of the calories.0
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Weighing your food is superior, so grams, unless you favour convenience and cups as more fitting your needs. That method is less accurate.0
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »This is something I've wondered about too. People on here usually say weigh it, it's more accurate. And that's true for weight. But what did the people who figured the calories on the package do? Did they use volume or weight? Because that's going to most affect accuracy of the calories.
Especially with shredded cheese, it usually says on the front of the package something along the lines of 1 lb/16 oz cheese. It won't say 4 cups cheese.
I had the same cheese discovery when I started weighing my food, it was a happy day since I was using less cheese than I was logging. Yay for more cheese! However, I also discovered I was way underestimating other things like some of the rolls I use for sandwiches. One roll almost always weighs more than what it says on the package. I have these ciabatta rolls I like that says 1 roll/85 grams. When I weigh the rolls they're actually anywhere between 100-120 grams. Huge difference right there.0 -
sgthaggard wrote: »Always weigh your dry/solid foods.
This and liquids can be measured.0 -
WickedPineapple wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »This is something I've wondered about too. People on here usually say weigh it, it's more accurate. And that's true for weight. But what did the people who figured the calories on the package do? Did they use volume or weight? Because that's going to most affect accuracy of the calories.
Especially with shredded cheese, it usually says on the front of the package something along the lines of 1 lb/16 oz cheese. It won't say 4 cups cheese.
Yes, but that is packaging. Does that necessarily mean that when they were having the calories measured that they went by weight? Weight makes more sense, but we're talking about the food industry.0 -
Indeed... solids are to be measured by weight, while liquids are to be measured by volume.
Think back to high school chemistry.. due to its nature, a liquid will occupy 100% of the space it fills, so weighing by volume will give you a consistent and accurate reading.
Due to the nature of solids, there are gaps in the spaces it creates making accurate measurement by volume impossible, so the only way to get an accurate and consistent reading is to weigh it.0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »This is something I've wondered about too. People on here usually say weigh it, it's more accurate. And that's true for weight. But what did the people who figured the calories on the package do? Did they use volume or weight? Because that's going to most affect accuracy of the calories.
The people who did the testing would have weighed it. They are required to follow scientific standards.
They're using regulated testing standards, and since mass is a scientific standard of measure that is the most easily obtainable specifically for solids, that would be used. Scales can easily be calibrated using a verified known mass (once a year, they can have someone come in with an approved cylinder with a mass of 1 kg, plop that on the scale and hit the "calibrate" button - that's what we did at the materials testing lab I worked at). Of course, your own home scale won't be monitored like that... but any amount it's off is likely negligible, and if it isn't you'll notice (OMG, this piece of cheese looks huge! Why does my scale still say it's only 10g?).
For example... take brown sugar. If the testers used volume to measure, they wouldn't know how much they actually had. The cup they would use to measure the substance would have to be sized appropriately based on the substance's density. So even though the lab would probably only own one size of measuring cup, they wouldn't be able to know how much brown sugar they actually have. If they packed in the brown sugar, they would need a smaller cup than a cup holding loose brown sugar in order for the actual amount to be the same - this can be easily avoided by weighing it instead. Using cups as measure would be even more complicated if you were testing more substances than just brown sugar! And the people who work in these labs are from a science background - they know of the problems with using volume instead of mass. So the scientific testing standards are created to give all labs one standard method of testing to prevent biases when testing.0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »WickedPineapple wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »This is something I've wondered about too. People on here usually say weigh it, it's more accurate. And that's true for weight. But what did the people who figured the calories on the package do? Did they use volume or weight? Because that's going to most affect accuracy of the calories.
Especially with shredded cheese, it usually says on the front of the package something along the lines of 1 lb/16 oz cheese. It won't say 4 cups cheese.
Yes, but that is packaging. Does that necessarily mean that when they were having the calories measured that they went by weight? Weight makes more sense, but we're talking about the food industry.
I get what you're saying, but I just don't believe that a factory would have workers sitting there with measuring cups...lol it makes more sense that a machine would have a weight calculation so as to know how much to package.0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »WickedPineapple wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »This is something I've wondered about too. People on here usually say weigh it, it's more accurate. And that's true for weight. But what did the people who figured the calories on the package do? Did they use volume or weight? Because that's going to most affect accuracy of the calories.
Especially with shredded cheese, it usually says on the front of the package something along the lines of 1 lb/16 oz cheese. It won't say 4 cups cheese.
Yes, but that is packaging. Does that necessarily mean that when they were having the calories measured that they went by weight? Weight makes more sense, but we're talking about the food industry.
I guess it is measured by gram.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-food-manufacturers/0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »WickedPineapple wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »This is something I've wondered about too. People on here usually say weigh it, it's more accurate. And that's true for weight. But what did the people who figured the calories on the package do? Did they use volume or weight? Because that's going to most affect accuracy of the calories.
Especially with shredded cheese, it usually says on the front of the package something along the lines of 1 lb/16 oz cheese. It won't say 4 cups cheese.
Yes, but that is packaging. Does that necessarily mean that when they were having the calories measured that they went by weight? Weight makes more sense, but we're talking about the food industry.
I get what you're saying, but I just don't believe that a factory would have workers sitting there with measuring cups...lol it makes more sense that a machine would have a weight calculation so as to know how much to package.
They don't have workers sitting there measuring it. They send samples to labs to find out the nutritional info and receive a report back. Then when they package it, the machines they use are calibrated and designed to pump out the same amount each time. They may even weigh it before shipping it. That being said, there's some degree of inaccuracy (some companies don't want to be sued for giving less product than they say they are, so they'll put an extra 5% in the package to allow for inaccuracies in their machines. That's where the importance of your scale comes in. Have you noticed sometimes you'll empty a box of say dried noodles onto your scale and it will say there's 210 g while the package says there should only be 200 g? That's on purpose - so that the company mitigates it's risk. It's often cheaper to give out a little bit of free product than it is to get some kind of class action lawsuit against you).0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »WickedPineapple wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »This is something I've wondered about too. People on here usually say weigh it, it's more accurate. And that's true for weight. But what did the people who figured the calories on the package do? Did they use volume or weight? Because that's going to most affect accuracy of the calories.
Especially with shredded cheese, it usually says on the front of the package something along the lines of 1 lb/16 oz cheese. It won't say 4 cups cheese.
Yes, but that is packaging. Does that necessarily mean that when they were having the calories measured that they went by weight? Weight makes more sense, but we're talking about the food industry.
I get what you're saying, but I just don't believe that a factory would have workers sitting there with measuring cups...lol it makes more sense that a machine would have a weight calculation so as to know how much to package.
Of course. The post is about packaging though.0 -
sgthaggard wrote: »Always weigh your dry/solid foods.
This and liquids can be measured.
... but should be weighed as well.0 -
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I weigh on a food scale in ounces, right or wrong I like it0
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Grams for solids, ML for liquids. You won't go wrong with that.0
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