what's the definition of "cup" , how to calculate or use as reference

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pubbaa
pubbaa Posts: 7 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi! guys,

this seem like a silly question, but here it goes

different regions use different sizes when it comes to defining the volume of a cup.
what is the widely used volume represented in a cup.
specifically how much volume is used for as reference in nutritional charts..say on MFP site

thanks in advance.
:smile: -)

Replies

  • smallerthanyesterday95
    smallerthanyesterday95 Posts: 7 Member
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    Not really sure. But I find weighing things out with a food scale to be much more accurate
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
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    Speaking metrically, a cup is 240mls. In the US, it's 8 fluid ounces. In UK, it's 10.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    Use ounces for better logging. :)
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,239 Member
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    Use grams.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,585 Member
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    estherdragonbat wrote: »

    Speaking metrically, a cup is 240mls. In the US, it's 8 fluid ounces. In UK, it's 10.

    TO, and no consider how many strawberries fit into 8 fluid ounces. Do you stack them lightly? Mash them? Use big or small ones? They all have different weights and hence different amounts of calories. But they still fit into 1 US cup.
  • Chef_Barbell
    Chef_Barbell Posts: 6,644 Member
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    yirara wrote: »
    estherdragonbat wrote: »

    Speaking metrically, a cup is 240mls. In the US, it's 8 fluid ounces. In UK, it's 10.

    TO, and no consider how many strawberries fit into 8 fluid ounces. Do you stack them lightly? Mash them? Use big or small ones? They all have different weights and hence different amounts of calories. But they still fit into 1 US cup.

    You're supposed to weigh solids for this reason. 🤷🏼‍♀️
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
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    Cups should be used for liquids only and when you do use them make sure they are proper measuring cups. In Australia 1 cup is 250 mls but this would all be confirmed on the back on the nutrition label anyway.
  • Panini911
    Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
    edited December 2018
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    with any solid (including powders) use weight (grams). even for serious baking you should weigh not use cups/measuring spoons.

    liquids i'd refer back to the country and label. Many products here (Canada) are in ML. so that would be my reference. It doesn't matter what they want do in other countries for my own logging.

    Another option for liquids is to consider how many servings in a full container and calculate total calories then measure how many servings you are using. this is what i ended up doing with those light ice cream. there are 340 calories in a container and I ate it over two days (or three) so i split total calories by the number of days i ate it.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
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    A US cup would be 8 fluid oz or about 237 ml. This is for liquids.
    In the US there are special standard measuring cups for dry ingredients as well as tablespoons, teaspoons. Almost all recipes use these measurement devices instead of weight so while it is nice to say in cooking you should weigh everything if you are actually using US cookbooks or recipes weights are not given most of the time. So you might buy these measurement devices if you are cooking using these sorts of recipes.
    https://youtu.be/qzr82EuiJu0

    Packaged food labels in the US will give weights of food though instead of just measurements.
    There are entries for meats, cheese, fruits, vegetables, etc in the MFP database by weight. You would be better off weighing solid foods and finding entries with weights to log.
  • Kalex1975
    Kalex1975 Posts: 427 Member
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    Lounmoun wrote: »
    A US cup would be 8 fluid oz or about 237 ml. This is for liquids.
    Almost all recipes use these measurement devices instead of weight so while it is nice to say in cooking you should weigh everything if you are actually using US cookbooks or recipes weights are not given most of the time. So you might buy these measurement devices if you are cooking using these sorts of recipes.

    This has been a frustration of mine. Why can't us Americans move to the better method of weighing (and using the metric system)?

    I did a quick search and saw a helpful conversion chart from King Arthur Flour. They say 1 cup of all-purpose unbleached flour is 120 grams. The chart has a lot of other ingredients as well. However, I doubt many recipe writers abide by this.


  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,907 Member
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    yirara wrote: »
    estherdragonbat wrote: »

    Speaking metrically, a cup is 240mls. In the US, it's 8 fluid ounces. In UK, it's 10.

    TO, and no consider how many strawberries fit into 8 fluid ounces. Do you stack them lightly? Mash them? Use big or small ones? They all have different weights and hence different amounts of calories. But they still fit into 1 US cup.

    One note: There are a bunch of MFP database entries, often green-checked ones, that start out with 1C as the default quantity. (Some of them are even really dumb ones like hardboiled eggs!) If you see that, click on the serving-size dropdown. Very often, these turn out to be some of the very best entries in the database, with many different serving options.

    For example, look up "Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average". The default is "1.0 cup cherry tomatoes". Hit the drop-down, and you see this, and you can scroll on to literally 20 different quantities, from tomato inch sizes to slices to weights in metric and imperial.

    6p9a5gbsznd1.png

    Try the serving size drop-downs.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,007 Member
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    Kalex1975 wrote: »
    Lounmoun wrote: »
    A US cup would be 8 fluid oz or about 237 ml. This is for liquids.
    Almost all recipes use these measurement devices instead of weight so while it is nice to say in cooking you should weigh everything if you are actually using US cookbooks or recipes weights are not given most of the time. So you might buy these measurement devices if you are cooking using these sorts of recipes.

    This has been a frustration of mine. Why can't us Americans move to the better method of weighing (and using the metric system)?

    I did a quick search and saw a helpful conversion chart from King Arthur Flour. They say 1 cup of all-purpose unbleached flour is 120 grams. The chart has a lot of other ingredients as well. However, I doubt many recipe writers abide by this.

    I have https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart.html bookmarked :)
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,007 Member
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    yirara wrote: »
    estherdragonbat wrote: »

    Speaking metrically, a cup is 240mls. In the US, it's 8 fluid ounces. In UK, it's 10.

    TO, and no consider how many strawberries fit into 8 fluid ounces. Do you stack them lightly? Mash them? Use big or small ones? They all have different weights and hence different amounts of calories. But they still fit into 1 US cup.

    It was such a relief when I got a digital food scale and didn't have to deal with the "how tightly do I pack the cup?" question anymore!

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