I'm from the UK - a 'cup' means nothing to me

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  • nessagrace22
    nessagrace22 Posts: 430 Member
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    I'm from the UK too and the only thing I measure in cups is my water intake as that's easy to convert. I've never understood why you'd measure anything other than liquid in cups! When searching for food usually there's more than one option listed so grab some scales and hopefully you can find something logged in grams or ounces.
  • JasonKnight85
    JasonKnight85 Posts: 67 Member
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    My advice, would be to invest in a cheap digital food scale (I've seen them as cheap as $10.00 USD) if you don't already have one. Measure all solid ingredients (noodles, rice, etc.) in grams/ounces, whatever system you're used to.

    Measuring cups (think volume) should really only be used for liquid ingredients(water, milk) i.e. milliliters, fluid ounces, etc.

    You'll never get an even remotely accurate calorie count estimating the way you're doing it.
  • josparkle
    josparkle Posts: 141 Member
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    How the hell do I guestimate noodles though in cups? I'll even upload a picture if anyone can help.

    Go look at the packet - ask your girlfriend how much she used from the packet, and work out how much of that total you ate. I'm sure she'll help you figure it all out in future.
  • jennifries227
    jennifries227 Posts: 113 Member
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    I'm an American and I find 'cups' and 'teaspoons' to be ridiculous measuring devices, too. Especially since I've never had a cup or teaspoon that held the amount of a measuring cup or measuring teaspoon.

    I highly recommend getting a food scale and finding the items in the database that are measured in grams (they're there!) or even ounces. Weighing is much more accurate and less of a headache when it comes to things like noodles and grapes.
  • Rachifloon
    Rachifloon Posts: 129 Member
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    Cups should be kept for tea.

    Here here! :drinker:

    And yes, if I see a listing measured in "cups" I will ignore it, search for one that's in "grams", or simply just add it to the database myself. Cups are useless for chunks of solid food.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    weigh everything with scales, not cups. check out the packaging for the noodles, and use the recipe builder if you added other things to them, that way you can put in how many portions you had and it tells you the calories.
  • kinmad4it
    kinmad4it Posts: 185 Member
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    I ignore any food items in the data base that have been input using this ridiculous cup measuring rubbish. It's so vague and as most of us here are trying to account for every single calorie we eat it makes sense to be as precise as we possibly can. So using some wishy washy measuring unit as a cup defeats the whole purpose of why so many people use this site.
    Try and find the food you want in the database that has been input using grams or ounces, a cup of sweet potato?!!! What's the soddin point?
  • milla1985
    milla1985 Posts: 153 Member
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    THANK YOU! Someone else who is tearing their hair out about this! I also fail to see how certain foods can be measured in 'cups' . A cup of cooked chicken?! Nah, me neither.

    However, as numerous people have said above, for most foods it'll just be a case of going down the list and finding the same food but measured in grams/ml etc etc. Plus if you choose an entry from a UK supermarket, then that'll be more accurate.

    Best of luck!
  • SunnyDuckling
    SunnyDuckling Posts: 204 Member
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    I was thinking the exact same yesterday.... 8 glasses of water a day is advised, but how big is the cup. Not very specific!

    250ml

    Are you sure? Because I have a feeling somewhere that I've seen American cups (as in the cooking/baking type) are smaller than our standard 250ml. I think I have seen them listed as 240ml, or even 236.6ml (which, presumably one rounds to 240ml).

    P.S. Australian. Weighs everything in grams. Has no idea how you are meant to measure out a cup of cooked string beans...?!
  • RoboProd
    RoboProd Posts: 6
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    I have scales but as I say I don't cook, will have to have a look at packets and rough guess at weights.
  • AliceRabbit13
    AliceRabbit13 Posts: 138 Member
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    Use the scale and weigh everything...but if all else fails....

    www.onlineconversion.com

    :)
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I was thinking the exact same yesterday.... 8 glasses of water a day is advised, but how big is the cup. Not very specific!

    250ml

    Are you sure? Because I have a feeling somewhere that I've seen American cups (as in the cooking/baking type) are smaller than our standard 250ml. I think I have seen them listed as 240ml, or even 236.6ml (which, presumably one rounds to 240ml).

    P.S. Australian. Weighs everything in grams. Has no idea how you are meant to measure out a cup of cooked string beans...?!

    Yes 1cup=250ml=8 fl oz...we measure in cups in Canada too...they will have ml/oz/imperial measurments on them..

    350ml=1.4cups...

    and 8 cups of water is 8@8 fl oz not weighed oz fluid oz...you can't weigh liquids you need to measure them.

    And if you saw cups = anything but 250ml it's not a cup...it's less than a cup...

    Not sure how we are North americans are the only ones who use this measurment...

    Mind you I wish I could find recipes in weights over here but I haven't had much luck....
  • lisaabenjamin
    lisaabenjamin Posts: 665 Member
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    If you're in the UK and are using things from the MFP database that are measured in cups, you're more than likely using the wrong entries! Branded foods that are sold in different countries often have different ingredients and amounts of ingredients in them, or may be sold in different sized packages - e.g. a Mars bar over here might be smaller than an American mars bar, or have different ingredients in the chocolate etc. Always try to use the correct labels for the food you are actually eating - you can do this easily by using the phone app and scanning in your product labels with the barcode scanner.

    If you're in the UK, NOTHING you enter into your diary should be measured in cups - it just doesn't exist here! I would also argue that you shouldn't measure anything in teaspoons/tablespoons without using a weighing scale either. Weigh solids in grams and liquids in ml.
  • PowerKickChic
    PowerKickChic Posts: 108 Member
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    Here is a chart
    http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/convert/measurements.html

    I found the best way is just to weigh everything lol
  • mlk0812
    mlk0812 Posts: 19
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    I always thought 8oz was a cup
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,007 Member
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    WAITRESS: Chef, how big is that tool you have there?



    CHEF: About a cups worth.....how you doing.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    I always thought 8oz was a cup

    depends where you are, and what an oz is too.
  • Olectra
    Olectra Posts: 21 Member
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    Use the scale and weigh everything...but if all else fails....

    www.onlineconversion.com

    :)

    I LOVE this site, I use it for everything.

    I prefer to weigh everything in grams. 1oz=28 grams. I hate using cups especially for fruit, vegetables, cereal, etc. The metric system is WAY easier than the USA's system of nonsense.

    ps... I am an American ;)

    And why is it the we drive on the wrong side of the road as well?
  • umer76
    umer76 Posts: 1,272 Member
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    Cups come in all shapes and sizes!
  • licorice_tea
    licorice_tea Posts: 59 Member
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    Cups are notoriously inaccurate anyway, and to make matters worse, teaspoons and tablespoons are actually DIFFERENT VOLUME in the US vs. the UK, and there's no way to know which one the nutrition info is referring to in the database sometimes (US tablespoon is like 14 ml, UK is like 15, which you know when measuring oil these things add up...).

    Just pick up a cheap digital scale. Way better :)

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