cup measurement?

busygirl1
busygirl1 Posts: 217
edited September 27 in Food and Nutrition
Hi all,

Sorry if this sounds a bit stupid but:

What does the 'cup' measurement equate to?? Cups can be all different sizes so I was wondering if it equated to a specific measurement like a tsp = 5 ml. I am from the UK and you don't really see it used as a measurement so I assume its used in America?? Lots of stuff on the database is in 'cups' so it would be helpful to know!

Thanks for your help x x

Replies

  • heididormanen
    heididormanen Posts: 76
    1 cup(US) = 236.588 ml

    Not sure if that helps.. but I tried :)
  • MoooveOverFluffy
    MoooveOverFluffy Posts: 398 Member
    Hi there! I just pulled this off the web: One US cup = 236.588238 milliliters


    A cup is a standard unit of measure here in U.S. ;0)
  • MoooveOverFluffy
    MoooveOverFluffy Posts: 398 Member
    also, 48 US teaspoons= 1 US cup
  • busygirl1
    busygirl1 Posts: 217
    thats great, so 1 cup = 236ml, what does this mean when it is used to measure solids not liquids? Does it have a gram equivalent? e/g you see on the database 1 cup mushrooms/ lettuce etc???

    Thanks again!
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    thats great, so 1 cup = 236ml, what does this mean when it is used to measure solids not liquids? Does it have a gram equivalent? e/g you see on the database 1 cup mushrooms/ lettuce etc???

    Thanks again!

    Careful - a cup is a volume measurement, while grams are weight. A cup of lettuce and a cup of rice will weigh very different amounts.

    Maybe this thread will help: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/198623-measurements-weights-101
  • whiskey9890
    whiskey9890 Posts: 652 Member
    a cup doesn't have an equivilant in grams i'm afraid as cups are a measure of volume and grams of weight, for example a cup of dried pasta will weigh a lot less than a cup of flour but they take up the same amount of space, a lot of supermarkets sell sets of measuring cups that you could use at a reasonable price
  • Manda1987
    Manda1987 Posts: 207
    In Canada, a cup is 250 mL. I didn't realize that cups were different in the U.S.! I'm going to have to be vigilant about that now...
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    In Canada, a cup is 250 mL. I didn't realize that cups were different in the U.S.! I'm going to have to be vigilant about that now...

    More info than you ever wanted to know about the "cup": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cup_(unit)
  • marci355
    marci355 Posts: 292
    In the US, a cup is 8 ounces. Other have chimed in on other equivalents, so I thought I would add the ounces.
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    In the US, a cup is 8 ounces. Other have chimed in on other equivalents, so I thought I would add the ounces.

    Just to avoid any confusion - that's 8 fluid ounces (volume), not weight ounces... (so tricky! why they had to use ounces for both weight and volume, I'll never understand... :laugh: )
  • tinovr
    tinovr Posts: 38 Member
    so now you know the exact conversions... but how does that help..

    often times we have to add our foods here "by the cup" or some fraction thereof. A kitchen scale is useless, as it measures weight, not volume.

    for me, I estimate 1 cup to be a bit smaller than my clenched fist. Since I'm a 6' man with fairly large hands, I'd say that "a cup" is roughly the size of an average person's clenched fist.

    makes is somewhat easy to look at a plate with a pile of something on it, be it rice, beans, etc, and say, "that's about a cup" with some sort of confidence.
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    often times we have to add our foods here "by the cup" or some fraction thereof. A kitchen scale is useless, as it measures weight, not volume.

    A kitchen scale is in no way useless - actually, it's much more accurate to weigh your food rather than measure it by volume. Most meats have serving sizes that are weight, not volume, and most foods that have labels have serving sizes in both weight and volume. Anything that's larger, chunky or inconsistent is much better measured with weight and not volume.

    I weigh most of my foods. For a standard dinner, for example, it only takes me a minute to measure out my 4 oz of steak, to weigh my baked potato and to measure out 100g of broccoli (or however much I want to eat that night).

    Really, the only time I use volume is in baking (flour, sugar, etc.) and liquids.
  • tinovr
    tinovr Posts: 38 Member
    sorry.. let me clarify.. a kitchen scale is useless for measuring volume.

    I too have a kitchen scale, but it doesn't help me when I have to input X grams of food into MFP and the item's serving size is listed in cups.
  • mirandamatte
    mirandamatte Posts: 130 Member
    1 cup = 8 ozs
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    sorry.. let me clarify.. a kitchen scale is useless for measuring volume.

    I too have a kitchen scale, but it doesn't help me when I have to input X grams of food into MFP and the item's serving size is listed in cups.

    Ok, that makes more sense. Sorry I misunderstood! I much prefer my kitchen scale to volume measurements, so if I can't find an entry by weight that I'm looking for, I'll just enter my own. But then, I'm an accountant - so I like to be precise. :wink: :laugh: Not everyone is bothered by rough estimates like I am.
  • snockers3112
    snockers3112 Posts: 190 Member
    I think the database should have UK and US measurements in it to avoid confusion.
  • pchann
    pchann Posts: 84
    In the US, a cup is 8 ounces. Other have chimed in on other equivalents, so I thought I would add the ounces.

    Just to avoid any confusion - that's 8 fluid ounces (volume), not weight ounces... (so tricky! why they had to use ounces for both weight and volume, I'll never understand... :laugh: )

    Huh? Eight ounces of water is a cup of water. So if you use a one cup measurment you'll get eight ounces of water and visa versa.
  • busygirl1
    busygirl1 Posts: 217
    er OK, thats much more clear :huh: I guess I will stick to grams and do as the accountant does and add my own if its only in cups! I just assumed that since there were used so often they must be a standard measurement over there!

    Thanks for you help guys :drinker:
  • tinovr
    tinovr Posts: 38 Member
    no problem.. I'm a scientist, so sometimes I need to be precise, other times not... I figure the numbers here already have some amount of "error" in the estimation that I don't have to input to the nearest gram all the time...

    I can see how, as an accountant, you need to be precise with the $$$. :laugh:
  • kadye
    kadye Posts: 136 Member
    In the US, a cup is 8 ounces. Other have chimed in on other equivalents, so I thought I would add the ounces.

    Just to avoid any confusion - that's 8 fluid ounces (volume), not weight ounces... (so tricky! why they had to use ounces for both weight and volume, I'll never understand... :laugh: )

    Huh? Eight ounces of water is a cup of water. So if you use a one cup measurment you'll get eight ounces of water and visa versa.


    That's true, but if you use a one cup measurement for rice, you may not get 8oz of rice. That's why the OP said it's for fluid ounces, not weight ounces.
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    In the US, a cup is 8 ounces. Other have chimed in on other equivalents, so I thought I would add the ounces.

    Just to avoid any confusion - that's 8 fluid ounces (volume), not weight ounces... (so tricky! why they had to use ounces for both weight and volume, I'll never understand... :laugh: )

    Huh? Eight ounces of water is a cup of water. So if you use a one cup measurment you'll get eight ounces of water and visa versa.

    ounces is both a weight and a volume measurement, and the weight ounces and volume ounces (often labeled fluid ounces) cannot be used interchangably. Some people get them mixed up. 1 cup = 8 fluid ounces as you said. But 8 ounces of meat (weight measurement) is not the same volume as 8 fluid ounces of water.
  • reander
    reander Posts: 175 Member
    I usually weigh out my food, but when the battery rund out I revert to cups.

    I find this page pretty useful, as it has approximate weights for cups for quite a few different food types: http://www.veg-world.com/articles/cups.htm

    hope that helps :smile:
  • Painten
    Painten Posts: 499 Member
    Go to hanley or newcastle in poundland they have measuring spoons and there is a 1/2 cup and 1 cup measure with it.
  • JenniferH81
    JenniferH81 Posts: 285 Member
    I know all this stuff already, but this thread has me confused. go figure. xD
  • Cindi_Jo
    Cindi_Jo Posts: 19
    When we are measuring what a person drinks at work 8 ounces = 1cup, 240ml=1cup. Dry ingredients are measured a bit differently but basically it's the same.
  • starrynight85
    starrynight85 Posts: 3 Member
    Just so you know, water, milk and oil can all be measured by weight or volume. Everything else really should be weight because depending on how tightly or loosely an ingredient is packed in a measuring cup you could have more or less of something, ie. a cup of flour is not 8oz, it could be 4 or 6 oz. And there are roughly 28.9g in an oz if that helps at all.

    p.s. I'm a baking student so this is what I have been taught, just wanted to try to help :)
  • naturallykat
    naturallykat Posts: 118 Member
    Do not, whatever you do, google images "cup," thinking you can guess the size of it from the pictures. Not only are the images of a US measuring cup unhelpful because they are not in a picture with anything else, but images also come up for "2 girls 1 cup" which you really, really do NOT want to see, because you will wish you could bleach your eyeballs! :sick: :noway:
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