Uh-oh. Is 1/2 cup cooked rice NOT the same as 4 oz?
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The confusing thing is that we use "ounces" for two types of measurements (weight and volume). It's dumb and confusing. But that's how it is. If people specified "fluid ounces" for volume it would certainly help.
Ounces for weight: 16oz = 1lb
This measures how heavy something is
Fluid ounces: 8oz = cup
This measures how much space something takes up.
Think of something like feathers. A pound of feathers would fill a HUGE bag. But just because that pound weighs 16 ounces does not mean that it's two cups (or 16 fl. oz.)
The same goes for food. If you shred 4oz. of cheese it will give you a pretty good heap. But if you really cram it in, you might get 6oz (of weight) into a 4oz. cup.
But they're totally different measurements. A pound (weight) is totally different than a liter (volume). Ounce and fluid ounce are the same. But some people leave of the "fluid" part which can make it confusing.0 -
Also, using grams for weight instead of ounces is more precise, but it also helps keep it less confusing since "ounce" is often confused for "fluid ounce"...
Does that help?
That's why measuring cups and spoons that measure volume, like fluid ounces, milliliters, liters, cups, gallons (or how much space it takes up) are best used for FLUIDS! Oils, juices, etc.
And the scale is best used for weights, like grams, ounces or pounds.
Most packaging will specify mL (for milliliter) or fl. oz. if they're giving serving sizes in a volume measurement. If it lists the serving size in grams or "oz" then it's a measurement that needs to be weighed. That should help you know when to weigh on a scale vs. use a measuring spoon or cup.0 -
I learned something new in this post. I had no idea that fl.oz. and oz. were not the same thing.0
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4 oz = 1/2 cup, doesn't matter is it's a solid or a liquid.
Weigh your rice dry rather than cooked. My 1/2 cup dry Basmati rice is 45 grams.0 -
Very informative! Thank you.0
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You need to see if the 4 oz is cooked or uncooked weight. 4 oz of uncooked rice is a lot less than 4 oz of cooked rice. I am a professional chef of 15 years, and I was trying to convert uncooked pasta to cooked pasta to get a proper portion size, and for some reason I could not get it because the uncooked pasta was in Cups, and the cooked pasta was in Pounds. All very confusing.
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michelle172415 wrote: »I learned something new in this post. I had no idea that fl.oz. and oz. were not the same thing.
This is one problem that really annoys me in the database. I have come across so many entries for solid foods (like apples) with volume units like milliliters and fluid ounces but not weight measurements like ounces and grams. You should not be logging solids like an apple in volumetric units but in weight units. This makes so many of the entries unusable and sometimes it's hard to find an entry with the correct units.
@zyxst saying 4 oz = 1/2 cup regardless if the matter is solid or liquid is only true for volumetric measurements. 4 fluid ounces in a liquid measuring cup is NOT the same as 4 ounces on a food scale. They are completely different units of measurement with different meanings. As mentioned above, water is generally considered the only product in which 4 fluid ounces = 4 ounces because it is a standardization. For other liquids and solids which are more or less dense than water, this is not true.
The rule of thumb is measure liquids by volume in a liquid measure cup (fluid ounces or milliliters) and measure solids by weight on a food scale (ounces and grams).0 -
OP, just wanted to summarize for you since this thread has gotten a little confusing!
- You should always measure dry when you can, that is what the info on the package is for. Cooked rice expands by absorbing some of the cooking liquid which obviously affects the weight.
- In general, rice doubles from dry to cooked, but that is only an approximation. If your package also gives you nutrition info for 1/2 cup cooked, you might as well measure by volume because the weight will be different depending on how much cooking liquid your rice happened to absorb this time.
- Ounces is a weight measurement, fluid ounces is a volume measurement.
- 1/2 cup (volume) = 4 fl oz (volume) But we should avoid volume measurements.
- A typical serving of rice dry is listed as 1/4 cup or 45 grams. 45 grams is @ 1.6 oz. So if your scale is giving you ounces, one serving is 1.6 oz. If it is giving you grams, one serving is 45 grams.
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Not to complicate things,
but part of the reason you see volume measurements next to the serving size & weight measurement is because a lot of people don't have a scale and/or need to eyeball the serving size. Basically, it's to make things "easy." But "easy" isn't good enough when you're cutting calories and every calorie counts. 
My peanut butter says a serving is 32g, or about 2 Tbsp. But if you want to be really accurate, you must use the weight (32g), because that is how the food manufacturers are actually doing it when they run the actual tests that measure nutritional info and calorie counts. The "about 2 Tbsp" is just because consumers can't easily gauge what 32g really is.
Same with my Cosmos popcorn snacks. 28g is one serving. And that's actually a lighter weight than a serving of peanut butter. I'd never gauge the amount correctly. They put "about 2 1/2 cups" on the package because otherwise the nutritional info would be completely unusable to the average person. No one would accurately gauge weight measurements.
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Thank you all. I think I'm there. Here's what i ate last night.
http://m.minuterice.com/en-us/products/92/WholeGrainBrownRice.aspx
If I understand, I incorrectly measured and ate 4oz of cooked rice on the food scale.
Before hand, I would just put enough cooked rice in one of those glass Pyrex glasses. That was sooo much less rice.
So the word problem I now have is how many calories of the rice did I have?
And from now on I should convert the oz to grand and weigh that on the scale, right?0 -
CeeBeeSlim wrote: »Thank you all. I think I'm there. Here's what i ate last night.
http://m.minuterice.com/en-us/products/92/WholeGrainBrownRice.aspx
If I understand, I incorrectly measured and ate 4oz of cooked rice on the food scale.
Before hand, I would just put enough cooked rice in one of those glass Pyrex glasses. That was sooo much less rice.
So the word problem I now have is how many calories of the rice did I have?
And from now on I should convert the oz to grand and weigh that on the scale, right?
It doesn't matter if you use grams or ounces on your scale, as long as you are weighing instead of using a measuring cup.
You should weigh your rice BEFORE you cook it, while it's dry. That is what the weight on the package is using.
The package you linked, states that a serving is 1/2 cup dry, or approx 2/3 cup cooked. Since at this point all you can do is make an educated guess since you only measured cooked, I would log 3/4 of a serving and chalk it up to a learning experience. It won't be accurate, but it should be close.0 -
I've read this whole thread and I'm still a little confused on the rice issue specifically. I JUST bought a food scale, so of course I'm super excited about using it (yay!). I usually make rice for myself and my husband. With that said, if I'm weighing the rice dry, then what do I do once the rice is cooked if I am not eating the entire amount? How would I measure the calories for that?0
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CeeBeeSlim wrote: »Thank you all. I think I'm there. Here's what i ate last night.
http://m.minuterice.com/en-us/products/92/WholeGrainBrownRice.aspx
If I understand, I incorrectly measured and ate 4oz of cooked rice on the food scale.
Before hand, I would just put enough cooked rice in one of those glass Pyrex glasses. That was sooo much less rice.
So the word problem I now have is how many calories of the rice did I have?
And from now on I should convert the oz to grand and weigh that on the scale, right?
Ok I used a similar type of brown rice in the past and it came out to 205 calories for 4oz cooked. Of course if you're talking about volume, there's no way to know.
In the future though... put one (or two, or three) servings worth in your pan, then weigh it cooked, so you know how many grams is a serving cooked.
I'd tell you to use USDA or MFP's database for cooked rice but it's WAY off in my experience (like it says that 4oz cooked is 125 calories. I wish).0 -
jillian909 wrote: »I've read this whole thread and I'm still a little confused on the rice issue specifically. I JUST bought a food scale, so of course I'm super excited about using it (yay!). I usually make rice for myself and my husband. With that said, if I'm weighing the rice dry, then what do I do once the rice is cooked if I am not eating the entire amount? How would I measure the calories for that?
Weigh out two servings dry. Cook the rice. Now put the cooked rice back on the scale, and divide that by two to figure out a portion size cooked. Done!0 -
CeeBeeSlim wrote: »I'm dense! So does that mean I should or shouldn't use the food scale for the rice? And if so, I should've used grams as a measure - not oz? I saw 1/2 cup and figured oh, that's 4 oz.
You're comparing 1/2 fluid cup = 4 fluid ounces...you're trying to translate fluid ounces to weight and it doesn't work that way. 1/2 cup of a solid will have variable weights depending on what that particular product is. When you use a food scale, you weigh it and log the weight...you can log it in either grams or ounces...the point is that you log the weight.0 -
Got it. No cups, only scale, and weigh rice dry. I also found this site which may be helpful to some. Just regarding rice:
http://www.cookitsimply.com/measurements/cups/rice-cooked-0070-0s199.html
I think i found a reason to go low carb...
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I'm not sure how much 1/2 cup of cooked rice weighs. Do you have any leftover that you could weigh?0
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jillian909 wrote: »I've read this whole thread and I'm still a little confused on the rice issue specifically. I JUST bought a food scale, so of course I'm super excited about using it (yay!). I usually make rice for myself and my husband. With that said, if I'm weighing the rice dry, then what do I do once the rice is cooked if I am not eating the entire amount? How would I measure the calories for that?
Weigh out two servings dry. Cook the rice. Now put the cooked rice back on the scale, and divide that by two to figure out a portion size cooked. Done!
Ahh. Thanks. I think I get it. Now, I have a follow-up question that might be dumb: The amount of rice I eat cooked has the same amount of calories as the same amout of dry rice? (Assuming I'm cooking the rice in water, I know some people like to use other liquids like chicken broth or something) i.e. 10 grams of cooked rice has the same calories as 10 grams of dry rice? I am aware this might be a silly question, but I promise I will appreciate the answer! :-)0 -
jillian909 wrote: »jillian909 wrote: »I've read this whole thread and I'm still a little confused on the rice issue specifically. I JUST bought a food scale, so of course I'm super excited about using it (yay!). I usually make rice for myself and my husband. With that said, if I'm weighing the rice dry, then what do I do once the rice is cooked if I am not eating the entire amount? How would I measure the calories for that?
Weigh out two servings dry. Cook the rice. Now put the cooked rice back on the scale, and divide that by two to figure out a portion size cooked. Done!
Ahh. Thanks. I think I get it. Now, I have a follow-up question that might be dumb: The amount of rice I eat cooked has the same amount of calories as the same amout of dry rice? (Assuming I'm cooking the rice in water, I know some people like to use other liquids like chicken broth or something) i.e. 10 grams of cooked rice has the same calories as 10 grams of dry rice? I am aware this might be a silly question, but I promise I will appreciate the answer! :-)
If you cook it in water, it won't add additional calories. The 10 grams of cooked rice will have fewer calories because there is more water and less actual rice. The water and rice combined make up that 10g, when it's dry, it's all rice.0 -
jillian909 wrote: »jillian909 wrote: »I've read this whole thread and I'm still a little confused on the rice issue specifically. I JUST bought a food scale, so of course I'm super excited about using it (yay!). I usually make rice for myself and my husband. With that said, if I'm weighing the rice dry, then what do I do once the rice is cooked if I am not eating the entire amount? How would I measure the calories for that?
Weigh out two servings dry. Cook the rice. Now put the cooked rice back on the scale, and divide that by two to figure out a portion size cooked. Done!
Ahh. Thanks. I think I get it. Now, I have a follow-up question that might be dumb: The amount of rice I eat cooked has the same amount of calories as the same amout of dry rice? (Assuming I'm cooking the rice in water, I know some people like to use other liquids like chicken broth or something) i.e. 10 grams of cooked rice has the same calories as 10 grams of dry rice? I am aware this might be a silly question, but I promise I will appreciate the answer! :-)
It's confusing until you get the hang of it!
The answer is no. Let's say one serving is 45 grams = 150 calories.
When you cook it, then weigh it, it now weighs 70 grams. It's still 150 calories.
You are weighing it cooked to make sure you don't take more than half the rice by accident when it's time to eat.
I hope that makes sense.0
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