Not American recipes, where's the best English ones??

I love MFP and the great recipes that pop up in the Blog. The only problem is, they're all 1/2 cup of this and 3 cups of that - ie American recipes. All great and lovely, and they do look very tasty, but a pain for us people in the UK who only put proper builders tea in cups!! I know there are hundreds of healthy recipe sites on the interweb, but has anyone got any great go-to sites for healthy eating recipes in the UK? With proper ingredients lists etc.

Ta in advance for any help given!!
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Replies

  • fr33sia12
    fr33sia12 Posts: 1,258 Member
    edited August 2016
    Yes, unfortunately even some UK recipes list ingredients in cups for the Americans. Here's a converter you can use:

    http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/531168/cups-to-grams-converter

    I get a few recipes here:

    http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/category/healthy
    http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipes/?o_is=TopNav_1_Recipe
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
    edited August 2016
    Just curious, but don't measuring cups have milliliters on them as well or is that not the UK measuring system? Sorry, I have never needed to cook with anything other than cups and I'm ignorant of other cooking methods outside the US.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Dunno if UK measuring cups have cups on them as well as ml. You'd think that would be sensible and easy.

    I was assuming OP meant the tendency of US recipes to measure solids in cups, like vegetables, flour, rice, whatever. Personally, when I cook (baking requires more precision, of course), I use recipes as an inspiration and never actually measure out anything in cups. Never have, never will. So this is one American who ignores the cup measurements except to get a sense of relative amounts.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    cee134 wrote: »
    Just curious, but don't measuring cups have milliliters on them as well or is that not the UK measuring system? Sorry, I have never needed to cook with anything other than cups and I'm ignorant of other cooking methods outside the US.

    we use ml's only for liquid.

    there are no "cup" measurements that I've seen for dry ingredients.
  • fr33sia12
    fr33sia12 Posts: 1,258 Member
    cee134 wrote: »
    Just curious, but don't measuring cups have milliliters on them as well or is that not the UK measuring system? Sorry, I have never needed to cook with anything other than cups and I'm ignorant of other cooking methods outside the US.

    We don't even have the "cups" in the UK unless we especially want to buy them, we always use kitchen scales to measure solids in grams or a measuring jug to measure liquids (though I use my scales to weigh liquids too as it has mls)
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
    You're going to get different weight for each item. Here this may help.
    cups-to-weight conversion table
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
    edited August 2016
    You could also buy some measuring cups online, they are pretty cheap and then you wouldn't have to even think about it.

    Note: Cups are just an estimate and there are no "official" sizes, just generally agreed on sizes.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
    edited August 2016
    Oh yeah.... For example google "1 cup flour to grams" and you will always know how much it basically weighs. Also this may help, a cup is about the size of your fist.
  • smotheredincheese
    smotheredincheese Posts: 559 Member
    It used to really confuse me when people would post on here when they were just starting out, and everyone would tell them they need to buy kitchen scales. Everyone in the UK has kitchen scales so I found it really weird that so many Americans didn't!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    It used to really confuse me when people would post on here when they were just starting out, and everyone would tell them they need to buy kitchen scales. Everyone in the UK has kitchen scales so I found it really weird that so many Americans didn't!

    I did because I used to bake. I didn't know they were so common in the UK, though.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited August 2016
    fr33sia12 wrote: »
    cee134 wrote: »
    Just curious, but don't measuring cups have milliliters on them as well or is that not the UK measuring system? Sorry, I have never needed to cook with anything other than cups and I'm ignorant of other cooking methods outside the US.

    We don't even have the "cups" in the UK unless we especially want to buy them, we always use kitchen scales to measure solids in grams or a measuring jug to measure liquids (though I use my scales to weigh liquids too as it has mls)

    I looked up measuring jug and got this: cwv3wi1g8mr7.jpg

    If that's right, it's what we use for liquids too, but we call it a measuring cup and it has both ml and cups/pints (as shown on this one). Note: this must be a UK one, since we may not use liters, but we spell the word correctly!

    (Just teasing.)
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    fr33sia12 wrote: »
    cee134 wrote: »
    Just curious, but don't measuring cups have milliliters on them as well or is that not the UK measuring system? Sorry, I have never needed to cook with anything other than cups and I'm ignorant of other cooking methods outside the US.

    We don't even have the "cups" in the UK unless we especially want to buy them, we always use kitchen scales to measure solids in grams or a measuring jug to measure liquids (though I use my scales to weigh liquids too as it has mls)

    I looked up measuring jug and got this: cwv3wi1g8mr7.jpg

    If that's right, it's what we use for liquids too, but we call it a measuring cup and it has both ml and cups/pints (as shown on this one).

    I've never seen these here.

    modern-measuring-cups.jpg
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited August 2016
    Yeah, those are what I assumed OP was talking about (see my first post above).

    I'm American, but I don't normally use those. For baking I weigh, for cooking I wing it, which is the fun of cooking.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
    rainbowbow wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    fr33sia12 wrote: »
    cee134 wrote: »
    Just curious, but don't measuring cups have milliliters on them as well or is that not the UK measuring system? Sorry, I have never needed to cook with anything other than cups and I'm ignorant of other cooking methods outside the US.

    We don't even have the "cups" in the UK unless we especially want to buy them, we always use kitchen scales to measure solids in grams or a measuring jug to measure liquids (though I use my scales to weigh liquids too as it has mls)

    I looked up measuring jug and got this: cwv3wi1g8mr7.jpg

    If that's right, it's what we use for liquids too, but we call it a measuring cup and it has both ml and cups/pints (as shown on this one).

    I've never seen these here.

    modern-measuring-cups.jpg

    I wish we didn't see them here in the US. Now that I have a kitchen scale, I don't understand why anyone would bother with them. Not only are they inaccurate, but the kitchen scale means so many less dishes.

    agreed. Although, as an american who moved to europe let me tell you it took some getting used to.


    I remember even scratching my head at what a "DL" was for liquid measurements.

    I honestly wish the US just did away with this archaic system, it's made my life over here hell. Don't even get me started on the temperature.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    Out of curiosity, how many of the UK people posting here weigh in kilos instead of stones? I've seen UK folks complain about the archaic American cups measurement system, but these same people are tracking their weight in stones. It makes me giggle.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    zyxst wrote: »
    Out of curiosity, how many of the UK people posting here weigh in kilos instead of stones? I've seen UK folks complain about the archaic American cups measurement system, but these same people are tracking their weight in stones. It makes me giggle.

    Guilty here, I weigh myself in stone and lbs and weigh food in kilos.
  • fr33sia12
    fr33sia12 Posts: 1,258 Member
    zyxst wrote: »
    Out of curiosity, how many of the UK people posting here weigh in kilos instead of stones? I've seen UK folks complain about the archaic American cups measurement system, but these same people are tracking their weight in stones. It makes me giggle.

    As far as I know in the UK we've always weighed ourselves in stones & pounds.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited August 2016
    fr33sia12 wrote: »
    zyxst wrote: »
    Out of curiosity, how many of the UK people posting here weigh in kilos instead of stones? I've seen UK folks complain about the archaic American cups measurement system, but these same people are tracking their weight in stones. It makes me giggle.

    As far as I know in the UK we've always weighed ourselves in stones & pounds.

    That's the point. Archaic, just like our fondness for feet and yards and cups and pints.*

    I still see no benefits of using cups for solids, though. ;-)

    *Not suggesting people in the UK don't like a pint or two.
  • fr33sia12
    fr33sia12 Posts: 1,258 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    fr33sia12 wrote: »
    zyxst wrote: »
    Out of curiosity, how many of the UK people posting here weigh in kilos instead of stones? I've seen UK folks complain about the archaic American cups measurement system, but these same people are tracking their weight in stones. It makes me giggle.

    As far as I know in the UK we've always weighed ourselves in stones & pounds.

    That's the point. Archaic, just like our fondness for feet and yards and cups and pints.*

    I still see no benefits of using cups for solids, though. ;-)

    *Not suggesting people in the UK don't like a pint or two.

    If it aint broke don't fix it. I don't see why we should change our way of using stones and pounds, grams, feet or everything else, just because Americans do it differently.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    fr33sia12 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    fr33sia12 wrote: »
    zyxst wrote: »
    Out of curiosity, how many of the UK people posting here weigh in kilos instead of stones? I've seen UK folks complain about the archaic American cups measurement system, but these same people are tracking their weight in stones. It makes me giggle.

    As far as I know in the UK we've always weighed ourselves in stones & pounds.

    That's the point. Archaic, just like our fondness for feet and yards and cups and pints.*

    I still see no benefits of using cups for solids, though. ;-)

    *Not suggesting people in the UK don't like a pint or two.

    If it aint broke don't fix it. I don't see why we should change our way of using stones and pounds, grams, feet or everything else, just because Americans do it differently.

    We got the measuring system from you.
  • Sloth2016
    Sloth2016 Posts: 838 Member
    zyxst wrote: »
    fr33sia12 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    fr33sia12 wrote: »
    zyxst wrote: »
    Out of curiosity, how many of the UK people posting here weigh in kilos instead of stones? I've seen UK folks complain about the archaic American cups measurement system, but these same people are tracking their weight in stones. It makes me giggle.

    As far as I know in the UK we've always weighed ourselves in stones & pounds.

    That's the point. Archaic, just like our fondness for feet and yards and cups and pints.*

    I still see no benefits of using cups for solids, though. ;-)

    *Not suggesting people in the UK don't like a pint or two.

    If it aint broke don't fix it. I don't see why we should change our way of using stones and pounds, grams, feet or everything else, just because Americans do it differently.

    We got the measuring system from you.

    George III's revenge.
  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
    cee134 wrote: »
    You could also buy some measuring cups online, they are pretty cheap and then you wouldn't have to even think about it.

    Note: Cups are just an estimate and there are no "official" sizes, just generally agreed on sizes.

    Cups aren't a random measurement... in Australia a cup (as used in recipes) is 250ml. This works perfectly well for things like flour, sugar, rice etc, I'm a pretty good cook and don't have any problem with recipes that have cup measurments.
    My understanding is that in the US a standard cup measure (for some odd reason, presumable a conversion from ounces) is 236ml, so if it's a recipe that needs precision (really only baking, I think, and even then I'm pretty loose with measurements, I do with what looks right to me) it would be worth paying attention to the source of the recipe.

    But of course, I know that people tend to like what they are used to... stones don't mean much to me, while I do remember weighing myself in stones when I was about 10 (almost 40 years ago) that's just not a measurement that is used in Australia now. OP, I'm sure that if you find a recipe you like the look of, you can just google it and and you will find a version online that fits your criteria.
  • Ws2016
    Ws2016 Posts: 432 Member
    Great UK recipes. Isn't that an oxymoron?
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited August 2016
    fr33sia12 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    fr33sia12 wrote: »
    zyxst wrote: »
    Out of curiosity, how many of the UK people posting here weigh in kilos instead of stones? I've seen UK folks complain about the archaic American cups measurement system, but these same people are tracking their weight in stones. It makes me giggle.

    As far as I know in the UK we've always weighed ourselves in stones & pounds.

    That's the point. Archaic, just like our fondness for feet and yards and cups and pints.*

    I still see no benefits of using cups for solids, though. ;-)

    *Not suggesting people in the UK don't like a pint or two.

    If it aint broke don't fix it. I don't see why we should change our way of using stones and pounds, grams, feet or everything else, just because Americans do it differently.

    How on earth could you possibly be reading me to say that you should. Are you trying to argue?

    We use all the older measurements (but for stones), for which we are often teased. (I am fond of all the old measurements but for oz, and cups for solids, because I am inconsistent.) The point that was made (not by me, but I thought it was funny in a non serious way), is that you do too, on some things, so let us have our feet and cups and pints (for liquids)!

    No one was criticizing you for using stones and lbs. I'm certainly not going to start weighing myself in kg. Blech.

    Weights (like the kind you lift) on the other hand can be in kg no problem.

    Anyway, it's not Americans who do it differently -- we are really talking about conversion to metric. It's pretty much everyone BUT Americans who do it differently.
  • Heartisalonelyhunter
    Heartisalonelyhunter Posts: 786 Member
    Nigella.com and http://www.bbcgoodfood.com

    But if you use a site like www.allrecipes.com you can change the units of measurement to whatever you prefer.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited August 2016
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    fr33sia12 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    fr33sia12 wrote: »
    zyxst wrote: »
    Out of curiosity, how many of the UK people posting here weigh in kilos instead of stones? I've seen UK folks complain about the archaic American cups measurement system, but these same people are tracking their weight in stones. It makes me giggle.

    As far as I know in the UK we've always weighed ourselves in stones & pounds.

    That's the point. Archaic, just like our fondness for feet and yards and cups and pints.*

    I still see no benefits of using cups for solids, though. ;-)

    *Not suggesting people in the UK don't like a pint or two.

    If it aint broke don't fix it. I don't see why we should change our way of using stones and pounds, grams, feet or everything else, just because Americans do it differently.

    How on earth could you possibly be reading me to say that you should. Are you trying to argue?

    We use all the older measurements (but for stones), for which we are often teased. (I am fond of all the old measurements but for oz, and cups for solids, because I am inconsistent.) The point that was made (not by me, but I thought it was funny in a non serious way), is that you do too, on some things, so let us have our feet and cups and pints (for liquids)!

    No one was criticizing you for using stones and lbs. I'm certainly not going to start weighing myself in kg. Blech.

    Weights (like the kind you lift) on the other hand can be in kg no problem.

    Anyway, it's not Americans who do it differently -- we are really talking about conversion to metric. It's pretty much everyone BUT Americans who do it differently.

    Just for the record, Brits use feet and pints and miles too (but our pints are bigger, blame those killjoy puritans for shaving 4oz off a pint of beer). I have never met a Brit who knows their weight in kg or their height in cm. I would have no idea.

    I knew you still used pints for beer, but thought you used liters (yes, litres, sigh) ;-) for everything else.

    Did not know/remember you hadn't yet switched to metric for lengths/distances yet. This discussion was making me think we were the only major holdout. The special relationship can be reborn! (Joking around, in case this is not obvious.)
  • BruinsGal_91
    BruinsGal_91 Posts: 1,400 Member
    zyxst wrote: »
    Out of curiosity, how many of the UK people posting here weigh in kilos instead of stones? I've seen UK folks complain about the archaic American cups measurement system, but these same people are tracking their weight in stones. It makes me giggle.

    Guilty here, I weigh myself in stone and lbs and weigh food in kilos.

    Me too. I weigh everything in the kitchen in grams and kilos, but I weigh myself in pounds (since moving to the US, I've given up on stones; it's just not a thing here). Oh, and I'm 5' 2" (can never remember what that is in cms).

    And I run 5k and 10k races, but my half marathons are 13.1 miles. And my beer comes in pints.