How much is a cup in UK terms? +other proportions hells

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stargirl85
stargirl85 Posts: 50 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
When I see this I assume it's about the same as a cup or a mug here but I'm not sure.

Also I know most here advise measuring by weight but it's not practical for me and with others cooking for me etc I'm not going to ask them to weigh everything.

I was wondering if someone could tell me this:
How many calories in a tablespoon or dessertspoon of sweetcorn?
Carrot sticks-how long does one carrot stick usually count as?
I have someone else prepare food for me as am currently unable to do so and cannot check tins and do not want to come across as being obsessive by asking.

Replies

  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    There's literally no way to know the answers to your questions without weighing your food.

    Weighing food isn't obsessive, it's a tool.

    I'm assuming it's a parent cooking food for you? There's nothing wrong with asking for food to be measured or weighed. If you're going the measuring route, it's just going to have to be an estimate, because there's no accurate way to identify the calories in it.
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
    edited June 2015
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    I can understand not wanting to force whoever's cooking for you to weigh your food - if I'd have done that when I lived with my parents it would have driven my mum crazy.

    I'd recommend weighing out all of these things yourself so you know how many calories you're likely to be eating, then once you know how much each of these things are you can roughly work out your calories for each meal. But we can't say for you, only you can know how much you heap your spoons with sweetcorn or how long you cut your carrot sticks.
  • SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage
    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage Posts: 2,668 Member
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    one cup = 250 ml. millilitres/ litres are used for measuring liquids only
    to measure solids, use a kitchen scale
    I'm in Canada and so I often have to make the conversion, I just plug the imperial measurement into google and it gives me the metric conversion. Easy-peasy
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
    edited June 2015
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    https://exploratorium.edu/cooking/convert/measurements.html
    allrecipes.co.uk/how-to/44/cooking-conversions.aspx
    A cup does not mean a tea cup or a mug. A cup is a specific standard measurement device for cooking. There is a difference between a dry cup measuremt device and a liquid measuring cup. A teaspoon and tablespoon are also not the spoons you eat with but measurement devices. If you don't have or use these devices then you should definitely learn to weigh your food, look for entries that give weight and observe what portion sizes of different foods look like for times you can't weigh your food.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    238 ml I think, 240 approx. You can buy a set of cups and fractions in supermarkets, kitchen shops or online. Only useful for liquids and free flowing powders IMHO.
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
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    On weighing:

    Just to be clear - you don't have to weigh everything. If you are meeting your weight goals, or you are good at estimating, weighing can be superfluous. People will often recommend detailed weighing for those who are having trouble losing, because underestimating is common.

    I weigh everything I make, but I don't weigh things that Mrs Jruzer makes. I just don't want to put her to the trouble when she is cooking for the whole family. I try to overestimate quantities in that case.
  • runningagainstmyself
    runningagainstmyself Posts: 616 Member
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    It's 8oz, if I remember correctly.
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
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    stargirl85 wrote: »
    When I see this I assume it's about the same as a cup or a mug here but I'm not sure.

    Also I know most here advise measuring by weight but it's not practical for me and with others cooking for me etc I'm not going to ask them to weigh everything.

    I was wondering if someone could tell me this:
    How many calories in a tablespoon or dessertspoon of sweetcorn?
    Carrot sticks-how long does one carrot stick usually count as?
    I have someone else prepare food for me as am currently unable to do so and cannot check tins and do not want to come across as being obsessive by asking.

    this is the reason why i weigh EVERYTHING!


  • MamaBirdBoss
    MamaBirdBoss Posts: 1,516 Member
    edited June 2015
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    stargirl85 wrote: »
    When I see this I assume it's about the same as a cup or a mug here but I'm not sure.

    Also I know most here advise measuring by weight but it's not practical for me and with others cooking for me etc I'm not going to ask them to weigh everything.

    I was wondering if someone could tell me this:
    How many calories in a tablespoon or dessertspoon of sweetcorn?
    Carrot sticks-how long does one carrot stick usually count as?
    I have someone else prepare food for me as am currently unable to do so and cannot check tins and do not want to come across as being obsessive by asking.

    A cup is 8 liquid ounces or about 237mL.

    A tablespoon is .5 liquid ounces or about 15 mL.

    A teaspoon is 1/6 of a liquid ounce or about 5mL.

    But you should work it out in weight.

    "A cup or a mug" is something you drink out of, not a form of measurement. Is a pound an actual pound of silver? You can't just scoop with a tablespoon or dessertspoon, either. Yes, ONCE people measured roughly, but these were standardized over a century ago!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    a fluid cup is 8 ounces...

    if it's dried goods you would have to use one of these:

    DryMeasuringCups.jpg

    but for dried goods, you're really better off going by weight, particularly for things that aren't uniform in size. You can get away with dry measuring cups for thing like oats, rice, etc as long as you don't heap them...but they're pretty much worthless for things like vegetables, meat, etc.

  • goaliesmate
    goaliesmate Posts: 49 Member
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    half a cup of fruit or veg is 80 grams or one portion

    if you need to estimate, a portion is the amount that will fit onto the palm of your hand, excluding any digits

    a cubic inch (cheese) is 30 grams

    a small dice (butter) is 10 grams

    a pack of cards (meat) is 90 grams
  • Velum_cado
    Velum_cado Posts: 1,608 Member
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    A cup is a standard measure. You can buy measuring cups in the UK.
  • stargirl85
    stargirl85 Posts: 50 Member
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    goaliesmate wrote: »
    half a cup of fruit or veg is 80 grams or one portion

    is the amount that will fit onto the palm of your hand, excluding any digits

    a cubic inch (cheese) is 30 grams

    a small dice (butter) is 10 grams

    a pack of cards (meat) is 90 grams

    Most useful. Thanks. A pack of cards? Do you mean the size of a pack of cards.

    I can't walk about much and really don't want to weigh stuff. I'd rather eat healthily and see how my body reacts. even if it isn't completely accurate.
    It takes long enough filling things out on here. I can rarely leave my bedroom due to a long term condition. If I could I would be doing something other than weighing my food. Nothing against those who do, it's just not for me.

    @goaliesmate I was wondering where you lived and If you could help out a bit more maybe?

    People are right-liquids weigh different to food... Sillyme. And I would mean a level tablespoon not heaped Because I'm not cheating.

    I do wonder how people know if they go out to eat and go to friends. Presumably you may be able to remember some things but you're not going to weigh everything then.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    edited June 2015
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    You might as well guess by portion size as use a cup ...it's a similar estimation

    There's lots of pics online

    But everyone loses through their food intake

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