Question about food scale and measuring cup.

AmoreCouture

I know food scales are more accurate, but if a box says 1 cup, do I go by what the food scale says or the cup? Because there is a big difference in the amount of food of 8oz on the scale and 8oz in the cup. I get a good bit more food according to the scale. I don't want to eat too much.

I just want to make sure I'm not over-eating! I normally go by grams, but it doesn't have the grams beside it as prepared.

AlexUSAF

Well, I think eating less is the better option. It's easy to cheat yourself

AmoreCouture

If I went by the scale, I definitely would not eat the full 8 ounces anyway, but I was just wanting to know which one I should go by.

milehighcritic

1 oz = 28.35 gms = 1 fl. oz = 29.57 ml = 1/8 cup = 6 tsp. = 2 tbsp.
1 tbsp = 3 tsp.

http://www.recipedelights.com/measurements.htm

HelenTheKitchen

A cup is 8oz liquid, I don't believe that is the same for 8oz of a solid i.e. cereal or berries. If there is no specific weight on the label I would go with measuring it with a cup.

taletreader

I know food scales are more accurate, but if a box says 1 cup, do I go by what the food scale says or the cup? Because there is a big difference in the amount of food of 8oz on the scale and 8oz in the cup.

Careful, for most foods 8 oz is not the same as a cup. Ounces is weight, and if you have some light fluffy food then a cup of it will weigh a lot less than 8 oz.

If you *only* have the volume (by the cup, tsp, tbsp) measurement, go by that.

If, however, you're talking about foods that say something like "1 portion = 1/2 cup = 1.5 oz" and you find that 1/2 cup actually weighs more than 1.5 oz, then go by weight. It's common that food (like oatmeal) settle during transport and storage, so say the carton was full when it left the factory, but after a week on the road the volume has descended a little.

taletreader

1 oz = 28.35 gms = 1 fl. oz = 29.57 ml = 1/8 cup = 6 tsp. = 2 tbsp.
1 tbsp = 3 tsp.

http://www.recipedelights.com/measurements.htm

For *water* or stuff with a similar specific weight. NOT for say pasta or corn flakes or broccoli or rice or peas!

a_stronger_steph

Abolish the ounce!

tolygal

I know food scales are more accurate, but if a box says 1 cup, do I go by what the food scale says or the cup? Because there is a big difference in the amount of food of 8oz on the scale and 8oz in the cup. I get a good bit more food according to the scale. I don't want to eat too much.

I just want to make sure I'm not over-eating! I normally go by grams, but it doesn't have the grams beside it as prepared.

I have found that usually when a serving size is given as 1 cup (non-liquids), it also gives the measurement in grams. If you want to be perfectly accurate, use a scale that measures in grams. Think of pouring rice crispies into a 1 cup measuring tool. Now pound that cup on the counter and it will probably settle and you would have more space to pour in more crispies. So, are they saying 1 cup packed or one cup unpacked..... If you measure out the grams, you'll know for sure. If that fails, I'd take the cup non-packed because I'd rather be under than over.

And remember - 1 Cup is only equal to 8 oz when speaking of liquids (I think). 1 Cup of rice crispies does not weight 8 oz. Don't confuse the two. You'd be hearing a whole lot of snap crackle and pop by the time you ate up 8 oz of rice crispies :-)

wolfchild59

There are 8 LIQUID ounces in a cup of liquid. This does not hold true for weight or volume dry measuring. You are talking about weight and a dry measuement of food so ignore the idea of 8oz of cereal entirely. Most cereals are around a 30-33g serving size, which is just around 1oz.

So, you will either use a 1 cup dry measuring cup. Or, weigh out the grams that the serving size says on the side of the box (minus the weight of the bowl you're pouring it into).

I like to use this example to help the difference in volume vs weight measuring - if you have a recipe that calls for 1 cup of mini marshmallows, you will use about 1/5 of the bag. If you were to try to convert that dry cup volume measure to weight ounces and weigh out 8 ounces of mini marshmallows, you would end up using just under 4/5 of the bag.

rmhand

the cup is a measure of volume. oz and grams are by mass. try to go with what the label says and measure it in that way.