question for British people

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  • pangy1958
    pangy1958 Posts: 151 Member
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    My gran always said size of a walnut, i think it was 2oz
  • Zomoniac
    Zomoniac Posts: 1,169 Member
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    Obligatory:

    tumblr_lw8o0yvmHk1qcc8ul.jpg
  • LondonEliza
    LondonEliza Posts: 456 Member
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    Digital scales - one of my lifestyle changes most helpful tools (well that and the really heavy ones I lift :)
  • ackeebee
    ackeebee Posts: 1,042 Member
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    yes, a food scale is essential if you are counting calories. i have a weight watchers digital one which my dear sis gave me almost 2 years ago. i also have measuring cups and spoons.
  • LittleMissDover
    LittleMissDover Posts: 820 Member
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    Obligatory:

    tumblr_lw8o0yvmHk1qcc8ul.jpg

    lol, the date thing drives me crazy!
  • Showmm
    Showmm Posts: 406 Member
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    I am Canadian and live in the UK. Weighing things on a scale is much easier. If I'm having breakfast cereal, I put the bowl on the scale, measure out my portion and it's done. If I used a measuring cup, I'd have one more thing to clean up. I only use cup measurements on MFP when I'm estimating something that's already been portioned out for me like vegetables side dishes at a dinner party.
  • mazdauk
    mazdauk Posts: 1,380 Member
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    Can't live without scales! otherwise my cereal bowl is twice as full as it should be, and my pasta would be astronomical. Also cakes and biscuits (cookies) don't really work if not properly measured. I do have measuring cups for use with my US recipe books but mostly use a conversion chart to weigh stuff.
  • sheofthesea
    sheofthesea Posts: 123 Member
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    To be fair, zomoniac, British use quite a few of the measurements listed as American on this chart. We've lived all over the world, and I was shocked when we moved to the UK to discover how many imperial measurements are used here. I assumed we'd use kilometers, but no... And I'm just as likely to encounter a pound as a kilogram. (Conversation overheard at the market recently: "I'd like a pound of cherries." "Pound money or pound weight?"

    I use whatever unit of measurement is used in the recipe. Just as it isn't challenging to use either Celsius or Farenheit, there really is no bother in using kilos or cups or pinches or good handfuls.

    As for cups, a measuring cup is not a tea cup or a coffee mug or child's bottle. While I understand being new to cups as a measurement, the idea that it wouldn't be a uniform measurement makes no sense to me.

    Most good US cooks, particularly bakers, use scales instead of cups. However, cups are easier for some jobs, and that is how most US recipes made. It seems like more work to me to pull out a scale to measure my breakfast cereal.

    And what the heck is up with a stone? Still haven't gotten that one into my brain yet.
    Obligatory:

    tumblr_lw8o0yvmHk1qcc8ul.jpg
  • Deipneus
    Deipneus Posts: 1,862 Member
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    To be fair, zomoniac, British use quite a few of the measurements listed as American on this chart.
    We Americans are crazy enough to use it but the Brits INVENTED it!
  • funhouse77
    funhouse77 Posts: 179 Member
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    I would actually die without my kitchen scales. I weight EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING!!!! I have been known to bring them TO THE DINNER TABLE if we having a self service kind of dinner. (My family are used to me now lol) Digital ones are a must. They don't have to expensive, but certainly digital. Mine are from Tesco, £12, and they are great.
  • grapefruitannie
    grapefruitannie Posts: 122 Member
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    I'm Scottish and have digital kitchen scales that measure in grams or ounces. I never use recipes that use cups as a measurement, all my recipe books use grams. I've some older recipes that were my mother's, they use ounces, which is why I got the scales I did.

    English here and the same. I've never been into a kitchen that didn't have scales, many people have several (i still have my nan's balance scales with weights as well as proper digital ones), although i have been to plenty who don't have measuring cups or spoons as we just don't use them!

    I do all my baking in oz cos i was taught by my mum, who was taught by hers.... but most cooking i do 9n g because modern recipe books are written thst way. I don't think i've ever cooked in cups - on the occasional time i,ve used a US recipe ive translated it into g

    I'm british and i have a scale that measures grams and ounces, i couldn't be without mine as i can reset it to zero and load straight to plate its brill best bit of equipment i have brought so far.

    Always wondered about cups! thought how can that be accurate my cup may be bigger than yours ( Derr) didn't realise there were actual measureing cups (doh) can you tell im new to measuring lol x
  • clperrett
    clperrett Posts: 33
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    I have electronic kitchen sclaes - I think they might be made in the US though, they measure in grams, ounces and cups :) also has a different measurement for UK fluids and US fluids. Water weighs differently over the pond I believe ;)

    I couldn't bake without my scales!!
  • postrockandcats
    postrockandcats Posts: 1,145 Member
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    Use a kitchen scale if you want to be acurate .

    This!

    I'm American and use a scale for baking.
  • anne2605
    anne2605 Posts: 482 Member
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    Digital scales. Grams or ounces doesn't matter.

    My friend brought me back a set of American measuring cups from one of her trips there. The first time I started using MFP, I thought "great" I'll use them (after 2 years in the drawer). I measured out a cup of breakfast muesli and popped it in my bowl. I thought "wow, that's generous". I did this for 9 days and then realised I was eating way more muesli per day than I should have been (is it 250g per cup)? I should have been eating 50g :noway:
  • Zomoniac
    Zomoniac Posts: 1,169 Member
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    To be fair, zomoniac, British use quite a few of the measurements listed as American on this chart.
    We Americans are crazy enough to use it but the Brits INVENTED it!

    I think the Romans, Greeks and Egyptians set most of the groundwork, actually.
  • Zomoniac
    Zomoniac Posts: 1,169 Member
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    To be fair, zomoniac, British use quite a few of the measurements listed as American on this chart. We've lived all over the world, and I was shocked when we moved to the UK to discover how many imperial measurements are used here. I assumed we'd use kilometers, but no... And I'm just as likely to encounter a pound as a kilogram. (Conversation overheard at the market recently: "I'd like a pound of cherries." "Pound money or pound weight?"

    Oh I know, and I hate it. It is slowly but surely being phased out, but traditional market stall vendors (as you experienced), butchers and grocers use imperial. In supermarkets all food is exclusively in metric. Most people only know their height and weight in imperial. I only use metric because it makes sense. Most people have no idea what I'm on about though.
    And what the heck is up with a stone? Still haven't gotten that one into my brain yet.

    A stone is 14 lbs, as far as I'm aware we're the only country in the universe that uses it.
  • cityjaneLondon
    cityjaneLondon Posts: 12,351 Member
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    Oh yes, I always use my scales. I have two sorts, one mechanical which is great if you just want to weigh some pasta, bread or rice and the other digital for baking as I can zero it for adding ingredients to a bowl. I vary as to whether I use grams or pounds and ounces as I am 63 and was brought up on oz and lbs. Depends on the day, but I definitely think in Imperial. I also use a set of spoons. I bought some cups to use with American recipes, but I don't think I've ever got them out of the drawer.
    When I was younger and was starting on my dieting life all the calorie books were written in Imperial so that's how I learnt the values. I still know all the calories for everything, but only in oz.
    But I do weigh everything. It's so easy to cut a slice of bread and be at least 100 calories out!
  • CEHayes73
    CEHayes73 Posts: 221 Member
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    Scales all the way otherwise how could I weigh 20g cheese? Not in a cup surely?

    I'm in Canada, we're metric, and I have no idea how many miles I travel - kilometers, I understand - but for cooking I learned from my mom who was brought up using imperial measure. I don't have a kitchen scale, I use cups, etc. For cheese, if I was using it grated, I would measure in a cup. If not, I know 1 inch by 1 inch by 3 inches is one serving of cheese (I think 30g).
  • khall86790
    khall86790 Posts: 1,100 Member
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    For grams it is best to use kitchen scales. However, after a little while of doing this I have started to be able to guess by eye particularly if it's foods I cook with on a regular basis.
    E.g. 1 tbsp = 5grams (random figures, not accurate to anything in particular)
  • Zomoniac
    Zomoniac Posts: 1,169 Member
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    Scales all the way otherwise how could I weigh 20g cheese? Not in a cup surely?

    I'm in Canada, we're metric, and I have no idea how many miles I travel - kilometers, I understand - but for cooking I learned from my mom who was brought up using imperial measure. I don't have a kitchen scale, I use cups, etc. For cheese, if I was using it grated, I would measure in a cup. If not, I know 1 inch by 1 inch by 3 inches is one serving of cheese (I think 30g).

    You want confusing travel, try living in the UK, where all fuel is sold by the litre, and all fuel consumption is measured in miles to the gallon. Trying to work out the cost of the journey you just did in your head is quite the feat of number juggling.

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