food weight vs volume

jaimemariel

Food weight vs volume is something I've alwasy struggled to understand. I weigh all of my food for proper logging. So lets say I'm eating black beans. Am I measuring 4 oz by weight or volume for the most accurate logging?

Thanks in advance.

glassyo

Measure solid foods by weight. Measure liquids by volume.

Jd1360

That question got a little science-y for me, but I always do it by weight. Though, you make a good point and now I question my methods. -.- I think unless it is liquid-liquid, it's by weight.

glassyo

The whole measure solids by weight thing really hits home when you're looking at a cereal serving size. I remember measuring a serving of oatmeal by measuring cup and then by scale and the measuring cup was almost twice the weight of the scale. Serving size by measuring cup usually depends on how it all falls in the cup or how tightly the serving is packed. Which is why weight is more accurate for solid foods.

b0t23

yeah I do solid foods by weight and liquids by colume.

I have a little digital kitchen scale and measuring cups

kbw414

If a recipe called for 1/4 cup of black beans, I would go by volume.
If the recipe called for 4 oz of black beans, I would go by weight.

The label should imply which unit of measurement to use.

becoming_a_new_me

I do both. My digital scale and measuring cups are my best friends. For measuring cups, ensure you have dry and wet ones because believe it or not, they measure differently

jaimemariel

Okay, thanks everyone. Seems simple enough, except...

Here is another example of my current frustration: Right now I'm eating almonds. The package says a serving is 1/4 cup, or 30 grams. If a cup is my unit of measurment I'm assuming that is a volume unit. I know that 30 grams is roughly one ounce is roughly 24 almonds. No way does 24 almonds fit into a 1/4 cup measurment! Gah!

glassyo

Okay, thanks everyone. Seems simple enough, except...

Here is another example of my current frustration: Right now I'm eating almonds. The package says a serving is 1/4 cup, or 30 grams. If a cup is my unit of measurment I'm assuming that is a volume unit. I know that 30 grams is roughly one ounce is roughly 24 almonds. No way does 24 almonds fit into a 1/4 cup measurment! Gah!

Nonononono. When we talk about volume, we're talking about liquids fitting in the measuring cup which is made to measure liquids. Solid foods (almonds) should be weighed. Disregard when a solid food has a volume type measurement. If it has a weight per serving, WEIGH IT. It's much more accurate and it'll keep you sane.

jaimemariel

Okay, thanks everyone. Seems simple enough, except...

Here is another example of my current frustration: Right now I'm eating almonds. The package says a serving is 1/4 cup, or 30 grams. If a cup is my unit of measurment I'm assuming that is a volume unit. I know that 30 grams is roughly one ounce is roughly 24 almonds. No way does 24 almonds fit into a 1/4 cup measurment! Gah!

Nonononono. When we talk about volume, we're talking about liquids fitting in the measuring cup which is made to measure liquids. Solid foods (almonds) should be weighed. Disregard when a solid food has a volume type measurement. If it has a weight per serving, WEIGH IT. It's much more accurate and it'll keep you sane.

Thanks I appreciate the explanation! It just confuses me that the unit ON THE PACKAGE is by volume when it makes sense to measure by weight!

darklord48

The one I notice the biggest difference with is ice cream. Since most ice creams are as much as 50% air, that is a lot of compression that can be done when measuring that 1/2 cup.

llkilgore

Serving size by measuring cup usually depends on how it all falls in the cup or how tightly the serving is packed. Which is why weight is more accurate for solid foods.

Another issue with English volume measurements is that the potential for a large rounding error is much higher than with metric weights. They're rounded off to some "standard" increment - a quarter or third of a cup, or whatever. More precision is possible when you're rounding off to the nearest gram.

You can often verify which unit of measure to use at http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ . A standard serving of the brand of quinoa I buy, for example, is 43 grams or 1/3 of a cup, dry. The USDA site says 43 grams of generic uncooked quinoa has 158 calories and 1/3 cup has 209 calories. My package of quinoa says there are 160 calories per serving, so I always log it by weight.

dls06

Measure solid foods by weight. Measure liquids by volume.

This.

jaimemariel

Serving size by measuring cup usually depends on how it all falls in the cup or how tightly the serving is packed. Which is why weight is more accurate for solid foods.

Another issue with English volume measurements is that the potential for a large rounding error is much higher than with metric weights. They're rounded off to some "standard" increment - a quarter or third of a cup, or whatever. More precision is possible when you're rounding off to the nearest gram.

You can often verify which unit of measure to use at http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ . A standard serving of the brand of quinoa I buy, for example, is 43 grams or 1/3 of a cup, dry. The USDA site says 43 grams of generic uncooked quinoa has 158 calories and 1/3 cup has 209 calories. My package of quinoa says there are 160 calories per serving, so I always log it by weight.

This is so frustrating! Packages should have correct labeling! Thanks for the website; I hadn't seen that before.