How to figure out grams in a cup of solids?

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  • Ruckus85
    Ruckus85 Posts: 23 Member
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    I have a cheap-o food scale that measures both. When I first started I measured everything in cups too, someone recommended me to a food scale, turned out I was jipping myself sometimes. I find that most veggies at 2cups weighs in around 300grams. I try to weigh everything raw. And of course it depends on what type of solid food you are weighing.
  • SunnyDuckling
    SunnyDuckling Posts: 204 Member
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    In fact, this is why bakers, including hobby bread makers like me, weigh their ingredients. You can experiment yourself to see the problem. If you scoop level cups of flour of flour, the weight of each is likely to vary widely.

    We bread bakers also tend to use a "baker's percentage" to make bread to make life really easy. The weight of all the other ingredients are stated as percentages of the total flour. For example, I make a bread that is 600g of Italian 00 flour (100%), 9 gr yeast (1.5 %), 12g salt (2%) and 450g water (75%).

    1 gram water = 1 milliliter water but that's not true for other ingredients, especially dry ingredients.

    For the non-metric among us, including me, I found the switch to thinking in grams for cooking great and simple because all the different measurements work in tens. Must easier arithmetic.

    1000g = 1 kilogram
    1000ml = 1 liter
    1000 mm = 100 centimeters = 1 meter
    There are 1000 meters in a kilometer

    Compare that to
    16 ounce = 1 pound
    8 ounces = 1 cup
    16 ounces = 1 pint
    32 ounces - 1 quart
    3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon
    2 tablespoons = 1 ounce
    36 inches = 3 feet = 1 yard
    There are 5,280 feet in a mile ...

    And to be exact about it, dry ounces are different from wet ounces. So, in actuality a dry pint container would hold 1.1636 pints of water. For most of us, that's close enough for cooking purposes but not for large batch commercial bakers.

    Metric is MUCH easier!!

    Yep! Metric is beautiful! Can't wait until y'all catch up. :laugh: I'm so glad that I don't have to work the imperial system.

    Don't forget, we even do temperature in nice numbers too. Freezing = 0*C, Boiling = 100*C. Pleasant days ~25*C
  • kshierk
    kshierk Posts: 5 Member
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    The hard one is the entries for loose items, like banana for instance, if it happened to be in cups only. But keep looking, you'll find the grams one.
    [/quote]

    That is what I was talking about, the hard ones. I know my example was the easy one, I was just trying to show how just measuring wasn't correct.
  • kshierk
    kshierk Posts: 5 Member
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    In the database put in the food and grams. For example, "strawberries grams" or "banana grams" or find the USDA nutrition information and enter it into your food in grams. If something says one ounce, that is 28 grams. Weight your food until it says 28 grams, or if you want less or more, you can use the "1 gram" option and enter that many servings.

    Thank you! I didn't know you could specify like that. I will try that.
  • kshierk
    kshierk Posts: 5 Member
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    I think I wasn't explaining myself properly I was talking about weighing food (solid) that I don't have a nutrition label for like grapes. If the database says 1c of grapes is a serving how would I find what that is in grams. Yes I know 8oz of a liquid is equal to 1c but 8oz of grapes is not equal to 1c.

    Thank you all for your feedback! :smile:
  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
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    This link might help you with weighing and logging :)

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide?hl=logging+step+guide
  • rebeccaisafish
    rebeccaisafish Posts: 87 Member
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    This has been explained. Simply don't select the one that uses cups. For any given fruit/vegetable there are at least 10 different database entries. Choose one that is by weight, not by cups.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    This has been explained. Simply don't select the one that uses cups. For any given fruit/vegetable there are at least 10 different database entries. Choose one that is by weight, not by cups.
    ^^^This.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    I am confused and need some help here. I have read on here many times to always weigh any solids that you are going to eat, & not to measure with cups because those are very inaccurate. I know that if it is pre-packaged food it usually breaks down what the weight in grams a serving is as well as saying 2/3 cups etc. But when you are eating something that isn't pre-packaged & you are trying to use the database on here I notice a lot of them are in cup measurements but don't list the grams. How would I weigh them on my scale if I don't know what the grams are? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

    find an entry with grams...pretty much everything in the database has an entry with either grams or ounces. The easiest way to do this is just put "USDA" after whatever it is you are searching for....i.e. "Broccoli USDA"
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    nutritiondata.com has cups as an option and tells you the grams that match.

    http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1920/2 - 1 cup of grapes is listed as 151 grams
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    In the database put in the food and grams. For example, "strawberries grams" or "banana grams" or find the USDA nutrition information and enter it into your food in grams. If something says one ounce, that is 28 grams. Weight your food until it says 28 grams, or if you want less or more, you can use the "1 gram" option and enter that many servings.

    Thank you! I didn't know you could specify like that. I will try that.
    You're welcome.

    I often enter my own items into the database if I can't find grams.

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