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

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  • SunnyDuckling
    SunnyDuckling Posts: 204 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?

    I thought that Americans drove on the right side of the road :wink: To be fair, most countries drive on the right hand side of the road. Australia, UK & Japan are the (biggest/most populated) countries that don't.

    I love the metric system. It's all I've even known and it's GREAT!
  • MrsSWW
    MrsSWW Posts: 1,590 Member
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    Weigh solids in grams and liquids in ml.
    Liquids should be measured in pints; half pints if you're a laydeee. :drinker:
  • slk_5555
    slk_5555 Posts: 177 Member
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    I weigh everything on the scales as I think its more accurate than by the cup. I can usually find most ingredients in the database already in terms of weight rather than cups, its just a case of looking. If I don't find what I want in the data base I enter it myself, using the Nutritional info on the packet. Also I weigh everything before I cook it - so I use raw and/or dry weight nutritional info.
  • GreenIceFloes
    GreenIceFloes Posts: 1,491 Member
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    I only log in grams. No ounces and cups and whatever, I'm not used to it, so why complicate things. A cup is pretty much the most vague way to measure anything in my opinion, specially if you don't know if it is supposed to be a metric cup, or an imperial cup, or US legal cup, or Japanese cup, or the fifty other definitions and measurements assigned to a cup.
    Which is why, if you don't find pre-existing data that is accurate and correct, it's always better to create your own foods.
  • Zoe_lifts
    Zoe_lifts Posts: 120 Member
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    Overall the cup measuring system is simply stupid.

    HAHAHAHA. I'm all for the metric system.

    Yes, me too. Yay for metric :D
  • SuMcP
    SuMcP Posts: 244 Member
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    The only way to log accurately is to weigh your portions and do the maths. Sorry, there is no "easy" way, but it's not that difficult either :laugh:
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    I'm so glad MFP forced me to finally start learning and using metrics. I don't even really use cups anymore, except to use them as scoops to move the product to and from the scale. Everything gets weighed out in grams for accuracy. Measuring with cups seems more like guesstimating to me now.
  • Ariadne83
    Ariadne83 Posts: 36 Member
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    Agreed, I am in the UK and not a fan of 'cups' either. It never feels like a good measuring system as there is too much margin for error. We have an old set of measuring cups so when I can't find an item in grams, I estimate how much of the cup an item would fill but mostly I tend to look for things measured in grams and add those for accuracy. It's the same with recipes - I've discarded countless tasty looking recipes online when I see all the measurements are in cups!
  • Quasita
    Quasita Posts: 1,530 Member
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    According to my calculations, based on estimations found on nutritional websites, 350ml of "singapore noodles" made traditionally is around 503.2 calories.

    The preparation of it can vary widely, so you really have to be specific to what YOU are using, and not necessarily what has been logged by someone else on the MFP database.

    I live in the US and I guess I don't really understand how measuring in cups is difficult. All a cup is is 8 ounces. Eight ounces equals 237ml. MFP doesn't require you to use cups though. You can change you settings to metric, and it'll do all the information in metric.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Yeah a cup is less than 250 ml. I'm sure you could find the right answer with google though.

    And yes for solids you need a scale anyway. Most labels in the US give the nutrition info in grams too (although why they even put it in volume is beyond me), but most people enter the info with only the volume on MFP for some unknown reason.
  • ashenriver
    ashenriver Posts: 498 Member
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    I always thought 8oz was a cup

    8 fl oz is a cup. A cup meaning a unit of measurement. In Canada 1 cup is = 250ml, slightly less in the US.

    It is a measuring cup, not a drinking cup. Though some tea/coffee mugs are 1 cup.

    To the OP, you have two choices. Start cooking and weighing your foods while paying attention to nutrition labels. Or start helping your girlfriend cook and weigh your foods while paying attention to nutrition labels.

    Weigh solids, measure liquids.

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