How To Measure Foods Properly

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How to measure foods properly?

This is a question that comes up many times on the Forums. Unless you’ve taken a cooking class, you might not know how to properly measure foods. And it’s very important to know how to measure these foods, because all the food values in recipes, carb counters, and nutritional data sources are all based upon properly measured foods.

Many people over-estimate a tablespoon or a cup, because they just pour whatever looks like a ‘tablespoon’ to them. But in cooking and in the nutrition game, it’s very different.

NATION CONFUSION

In the United States, there are 2 measuring units for foods: volume and weights. Professional cooks and chefs use weights (grams) for their recipes----as does the rest of the world. Home cooks and cookbooks written for home cooks use volume measurements.

What are volume measurements? Fluid ounces. There are 8 fluid ounces in 1 cup. 4 fluid ounces in ½ cup. 2 fluid ounces in ¼ cup. ½ fluid ounces in 1 tablespoon. "Spoon" measures are further subdivided into tablespoon, teaspoon, ½ teaspoon, 1/3 teaspoon, ¼ teaspoon, 1/8 teaspoon. There are 3 teaspoons in 1 tablespoon.

Does drinking cup and an eating spoon equal a measuring cup and measuring spoon? No. Drinking cups can contain 6 to 10 fluid ounces. Eating spoons can contain more or less too.

Is a fluid ounce the same thing as a dry weight ounce? No. With the exception of water and butter, fluid ounces and dry weight ounces are different. For example 8 fluid ounces (1 cup) of flour weighs 5 ounces. Therefore, you cannot weigh 8 ounces tomatoes and call it 1 cup of tomatoes. This is where the older British versions of DANDR 2002 are faulty. The editors did not take the differences between US and UK measuring into account.

ALL STANDARD COOKBOOKS AND RECIPES USE "LEVEL" MEASUREMENTS OF INGREDIENTS, UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED IN THE RECIPE. THEREFORE ALL NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE DISH IS BASED ON THE "LEVEL" MEASUREMENTS. If you don’t use level measures the final dish might not be right, in terms of taste, texture, appearance, cooking time and nutritional content.

What do you use to measure cups?

There are 2 types of measuring cups in the US: liquid measuring cups and ‘dry’ measuring cups.



A liquid measuring cup is usually made of glass or some other clear material. It has a lip to enable pouring of a liquid food, like oil, eggs, water, etc.




Here there are too many almonds in the measuring cup. Note that the top level of the almonds is above the 2 cup/16 ounce line. If we were to remove the excess almonds and measure them, they would be about ¼ cup.


Here, the top of the almonds are at level with the 2 cup/16 ounce line. So this is a properly measured 2 cups of almonds.

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A dry measuring cup is used to measure ‘dry’ ingredients, like nuts, flour, etc. or semi-solid food like peanut butter. The cup must be filled to the top in order to measure the food properly. The cup has no lip so the food must be leveled off at the top to accurately measure the product.



Here, there is too much flax meal. Notice how the flax meal towers slightly over the rim of the cup. If we were to remove the excess and measure it, it would be about 1/8 to ¼ cup.



To level off the measuring cup or a measuring spoon, use the flat edge of a knife or a straight spatula. Starting at the handle end. Put the edge onto where the handle meets the cup or spoon, slide edge along the rim, pushing the excess off. Be sure to have a piece of wax paper or a plate beneath to catch the excess.



A level cup of flax meal. Notice the flax meal is level with the rim of the cup.

Can you measure liquids in a dry measuring cup and solids in a liquid measuring cup? Yes you can. But these cups were developed to make it ‘easier’ to measure liquids and solids.

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Measuring spoons are shaped differently than eating spoons. That is they are deeper, whereas eating spoons are shallow.



Here is a set of measuring spoons from the late 1950s. This set measures tablespoon, teaspoon, ½ teaspoon, and ¼ teaspoon. Newer measuring spoon sets might have a slightly narrower shape. Also they might include 1 ½ tablespoon, 1/3 teaspoon, and 1/8 teaspoon measures.



Too much flax meal is in this tablespoon. Note the flax meal domes above the lip of the spoon. If the excess amount was measured it would be about ½ to 1 teaspoon.



A tablespoon of flax meal. The flax meal is level with the lip of the spoon.

Do these little extra amounts really make a difference? Yes, it can, especially it the product is higher carb. These little bits add up. If your serving of serving of salad dressing is really a 1/4 cup and you've been counting it as 2 tablespoons. You can be eating 4 or 5 net carbs worth of salad dressing alone. Depending on how your body reacts to these extra carbs, it can make or break your weight loss endeavor.