how much is a cup

karensp

Hi there,

How much is a cup of water??? Is it apint or half?? or a tea cup??

Also how much is a cup in measurements of food?? is it a tea cup???

pmjsmom

A cup of water is 8 ounces--half a pint.

A cup in a recipe is also 8 ounces but you need to use a liquid measure (usually has a pour spout) for liquids and a dry measuring cup (just round all around the top) for things like flour and sugar, etc. Hope this helps!

karensp

Thankyou...

But is a cup of food 1/2 pint of food???

dothompson

Thankyou...

But is a cup of food 1/2 pint of food???

Yes, exactly.

tony123

its a measuring cup.

youngs

my hubby and I was just having this conversation yesterday, cause a person i work with was telling me that i was measuring wrong..I was using 8oz of water as a cup( she said that was correct) but I also just use the same measuring cup for my food per 8oz as a cup..she said that is wrong..so do I need to start using my food scale and just measuring 8oz and use that as the cup of food..boy this get confusing:huh:

paddlemom

You need to use the liquid measure (with the pour spout) to measure liquid volumes whether it is expressed in cups eg. 1/2 cup or ounces eg. 8 oz. Actually is should be epressed as 8 fl. oz. (fluid ounces), but as a society we have shortened this description - this is a measure of volume that is based the weight of that much water. - most of the liquids we consume are similar in weight so it doesn't matter. So when we talk about equivalents to pints/quarts/ ( or litres, ml for us Canucks :bigsmile: ) we are only talking about liquid measures 1 pint = 16 fl oz; 1 quart = 32 fl oz. ; 250 ml = 1/4 litre ( but does NOT equal 1 cup - though close enough to ballpark for calorie counting)

For dry foods, on the other hand, the weight can vary tremendously for the same volume....think 1 cup of Cheerios vs 1 cup of rice. For cooking by recipe, especially baking, it is important that you use a dry measure (those nesting cups with handles) to measure your ingredients for a recipe, levelling off right at the top edge. For the purposes of measuring how much food we are eating, using the liquid measuring cup, if thats all you have, is close enough - but measure to the line, NOT to the top of the cup!!

As well, for dry foods, weighing is more accurate than measuring. For dry foods, a reference to weight, eg 8 oz has nothing to do with the size of the cup - it is purely a measure of weight on a scale. again by example, 8 oz of Cheerios is WAY more in volume than 8 oz of rice. ( this is why 8 oz IS NOT the same as 8 fl.oz).

If you notice on your nutrition labelling, they will often give a weight and a volume measurement on dry ingredients, for your convenience - that means for THAT PARTICULAR FOOD, if you measure out, say a 1/3 cup, it will equal 2 oz.

Short answer...to be completely accurate, use a measuring cup for your liquids and a scale for your non liquids. Hope that helps!

dothompson

my hubby and I was just having this conversation yesterday, cause a person i work with was telling me that i was measuring wrong..I was using 8oz of water as a cup( she said that was correct) but I also just use the same measuring cup for my food per 8oz as a cup..she said that is wrong..so do I need to start using my food scale and just measuring 8oz and use that as the cup of food..boy this get confusing:huh:

In the U.S. we rarely use the term half-pint, we use cup instead. If it's wet or dry ingredients it's basically the same. We typically have different measuring cups for dry and wet ingredients, but it's very close and should work out fine if you just use a half pint measure.