WHAT EXACTLY IS A CUP?!

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  • webbeyes
    webbeyes Posts: 105 Member
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    As already noted, it's a measure of volume: 1 Cup = 250ml = 8 fluid ounces = 250cc.

    It is usually best used when measuring liquid (water, juice, milk) or fine-dry ingredients (flour, oats). In a recipe, they often refer to "1 cup of *mashed* bananas", but I would hate to eat a banana that way. You can get away with using a cup to measure peas, finely-chopped carrots or strawberries, etc.

    There are four ways of measuring foods such as bananas and apples if your intent is to eat them "normally".

    First: measure by weight instead of by volume.
    Second: measure by approximate size (i.e. medium apple)
    Third: chop into as fine of pieces as you're willing, put them into a measuring cup, and estimate
    Fourth (and most scientific): by water displacement.

    - take a 1 liter / 4 cup measuring container
    - fill to the 750ml or 3 cup level with clean water
    - gradually add pieces/slices of the food to be eaten until the water level reaches the 1L / 4c level.
    - you have now measured *exactly* one cup of the food.

    Of course, this only works with foods you don't mind getting wet:
    - carrots
    - celery
    - apple slices

    It won't work for foods that absorb water, such as bread and cooked rice.

    In cafeterias, I have actually seen people carry a plastic measuring cup to actually measure their serving of rice, potatoes, etc!
  • BeckyMBisMe
    BeckyMBisMe Posts: 215 Member
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    I have found that the weight of a food item is a more accurate method for tracking. A food scale that measures in 1 gram increments is the most accurate.
    If you are baking or preparing your food from "scratch" then you would use a "nesting" cup or spoon set for dry ingredients such as flour, sugar and the like. If you are measuring liquids you need the other kind of measuring cup. Usually clear glass or plastic with increments marked on the sides.
    I wouldn't bother using either of the later for bananas. Unless you're mashing the banana for banana nut bread. Yummy!:tongue:
  • Kayzia_M
    Kayzia_M Posts: 97 Member
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    As already noted, it's a measure of volume: 1 Cup = 250ml = 8 fluid ounces = 250cc.

    It is usually best used when measuring liquid (water, juice, milk) or fine-dry ingredients (flour, oats). In a recipe, they often refer to "1 cup of *mashed* bananas", but I would hate to eat a banana that way. You can get away with using a cup to measure peas, finely-chopped carrots or strawberries, etc.

    There are four ways of measuring foods such as bananas and apples if your intent is to eat them "normally".

    First: measure by weight instead of by volume.
    Second: measure by approximate size (i.e. medium apple)
    Third: chop into as fine of pieces as you're willing, put them into a measuring cup, and estimate
    Fourth (and most scientific): by water displacement.

    - take a 1 liter / 4 cup measuring container
    - fill to the 750ml or 3/4 cup level with clean water
    - gradually add pieces/slices of the food to be eaten until the water level reaches the 1L / 4c level.
    - you have now measured *exactly* one cup of the food.

    Of course, this only works with foods you don't mind getting wet:
    - carrots
    - celery
    - apple slices

    It won't work for foods that absorb water, such as bread and cooked rice.

    In cafeterias, I have actually seen people carry a plastic measuring cup to actually measure their serving of rice, potatoes, etc!

    I Think I will do that, carry a rice cooker cup (which is 3/4 of a "standard" cup) it will make things easier till I can start taking packed lunches. thanks
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
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    In the US...a cup is a standard 8 fluid ounce measuring unit. Everywhere else...about 250 ml.
  • marsellient
    marsellient Posts: 591 Member
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    OP you might find this website helpful: http://www.metric-conversions.org
  • piersonj
    piersonj Posts: 62 Member
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    Don't know whete OP is from but we don't use cups in the UK. Weighing is always better for solids.

    Ok, maybe a silly question but if you don't use dry measure cups and spoons how do you measure dry ingredients while following a recipe. My scale would not register the equivalent of a 1/4 teaspoon of anything. How are recipes written?
  • ThriceBlessed
    ThriceBlessed Posts: 499 Member
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    A cup is an Imperial measurement. (Non metric). It is equal to 8 fluid ounces, or to put it in metric terms, around 237 mL, or around 0.24 L.

    Be careful though, not to mix up fluid ounces with ounces in weight, they are completely different things... just as different as a gram is from cc.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    Use a measuring cup. One cup is one cup.

    outside the USA the cup is not a common unit, so most people don't have standard sized measuring cups. It took me a while to figure this out as well, i.e. what USA recipes were going on about with all these cups... in Britain recipes etc are in grams and/or ounces.

    so for a British person not familiar with the cup as a standarised unit of volume, a recipe or food database entry for "one cup" makes no sense at all, because to most brits a cup is something you drink out of and they come in all different shapes and sizes. a lot of us don't know that USA people have a standard sized "cup" as a unit of volume

    For comparison, brits react the same way to "cups" as Americans tend to with "stones" - as in they're not familiar with it as a unit of weight, only as lumps of rock of various size....
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    Don't know whete OP is from but we don't use cups in the UK. Weighing is always better for solids.

    Ok, maybe a silly question but if you don't use dry measure cups and spoons how do you measure dry ingredients while following a recipe. My scale would not register the equivalent of a 1/4 teaspoon of anything. How are recipes written?

    in grams and/or ounces

    for small volumes, teaspoons or tablespoons, but large quantities of dry ingredients are listed in weight measurements, and everyone has a kitchen scale (not always a digital one though)
  • rockmama72
    rockmama72 Posts: 815 Member
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    Don't know whete OP is from but we don't use cups in the UK. Weighing is always better for solids.

    Ok, maybe a silly question but if you don't use dry measure cups and spoons how do you measure dry ingredients while following a recipe. My scale would not register the equivalent of a 1/4 teaspoon of anything. How are recipes written?

    Don't weigh things like spices, salt, baking powder, baking soda, etc. Use measuring spoons.
  • indianarunner76
    indianarunner76 Posts: 108 Member
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    Question. Should you measure cooked spaghetti with measuring cups? The box says 200 cals per cup. One day I used a big liquid measuring cup and whole box measured out at 6 cups. The box said 8 servings per box. Just curious. I love pastas and not sure if I'm accurately counting my pasta calories right. I have been counting 266 cals per cup. Its definitely not affecting my weekly losses.

    Thanks in advance
  • sloth3toes
    sloth3toes Posts: 2,212 Member
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    In. Because I'm Canadian, and I hate the metric system.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
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    In. Because I'm Canadian, and I hate the metric system.
    In. Because I'm Canadian, and know that the metric system is superior to the antiquated, arbitrary imperial (and worse) American system of measurements. Seriously USA, get with the rest of the world and adopt a better system.
  • _TastySnoBalls_
    _TastySnoBalls_ Posts: 1,298 Member
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    That's why for the exception of liquids, I prefer to weigh my food. Get yourself a digital food scale.
  • Ang108
    Ang108 Posts: 1,711 Member
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    Not a silly question. Sometimes I wonder myself. I mean, I know a cup is a cup (by US standards), but sometimes I wonder how you judge a cup. For example, 1 cup of broccoli. Do I have to pulverize it to make a cup?? Is this kinda what you mean?
    That is why measuring in a cup, unless it's for liquids is so inaccurate. It is much better to go by weight and use a scale; either in OZ or in grams.
  • bregalad5
    bregalad5 Posts: 3,965 Member
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    Use a measuring cup. One cup is one cup.

    Not all of us live in a country where they measure in cups :)

    Some people aren't able to get their heads around this (the red countries are the countries who officially don't use the metric system):

    fun-maps-38.jpg
  • Kevalicious99
    Kevalicious99 Posts: 1,131 Member
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    Exactly why you should weigh your food and not measure it .. cups are way too inaccurate.

    Good luck.
  • lynn1982
    lynn1982 Posts: 1,439 Member
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    Question. Should you measure cooked spaghetti with measuring cups? The box says 200 cals per cup. One day I used a big liquid measuring cup and whole box measured out at 6 cups. The box said 8 servings per box. Just curious. I love pastas and not sure if I'm accurately counting my pasta calories right. I have been counting 266 cals per cup. Its definitely not affecting my weekly losses.

    Thanks in advance

    I measure (dry) pasta by weight. It should say on the box whether the nutrition info is dry weight/volume. If you're looking to be as accurate as possible though, always measure by weight.


    side thought: it's amazing how many people did not read the entirety of the original posting. She was not asking about bananas and she said that she can't use a scale at work... hence her question. OP: my suggestion is to measure it out at home, see what that looks like on a plate, and then try to eye ball it at work (unless you can use measuring cups of some sort at work?).
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 9,970 Member
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    Make a fist. That's roughly the size of a cup of food. (Unless you have man hands! :)

    lol
    A cup is what holds my jimmies.
  • ThriceBlessed
    ThriceBlessed Posts: 499 Member
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    In. Because I'm Canadian, and I hate the metric system.

    I used to feel that way, until I started realizing how easy it was to use once you start getting familiar with it. Now I wonder why the US stubbornly holds on to a measurement system that has outlived its usefulness. With things like oz, a fluid oz does not equal an oz in weight. Not only that, a cup has 8 fluid oz, but a pound has 16 ounces in weight, there is no uniformity... A gallon is 4 quarts, or 8 pints, or 16 cups. While a cup has 8oz, and a gallon has 16 cups, a foot has 12 inches, and a yard has 3 feet. A mile is even worse, it is 1760 yards.

    There is no system... it all arbitrary, with the metric system on the other hand, everything goes up by powers of ten. It makes sense, and when you understand it, converting from one unit to another is really just a matter of moving a decimal point.

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