Weights and Measures

Every recipe tells you how much of each ingredient to use, at least to start with. Sometimes it is convenient to be able to know how many tablespoons are in a quarter of a cup, to save you time and mistakes.

Also, some of you Food Dudes out there won’t be using teaspoons and cups at all, but rather milliliters and cc’s. And degrees C. So we’ll include a conversion table for you.

The equivalents will cover both weight and volume. Be aware of the unfortunate fact that the word “ounce” is used for both. I’ll make it clear that I’m talking about volume, by using the term “fluid ounce”.

The old English saying “A pint’s a pound, the world around” is an easy way to remember that a pint of water weighs 1.04 pounds. Oh well, close enough. So a cup is 16 fluid ounces, and a cup of water weighs about 16 ounces, or one pound. So a gallon of water weighs about eight pounds. Stuff that floats on water, like jet fuel, weighs more like seven pounds. So now when your 747 takes on 256,000 pounds of fuel, you can figure out how many gallons at the filling station that would be. That gives you something to do while you’re trying to figure out what that food is in front of you…

Equivalents

Dash or pinch = less than 1/8 teaspoon
3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon = 1/2 fluid ounce
2 tablespoons = 1/8 cup = 1 fluid ounce
4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup = 2 fluid ounces
5 1/3 tablespoons = 1/3 cup
8 tablespoons = 1/2 cup = 4 fluid ounces
10 2/3 tablespoons = 2/3 cup
12 tablespoons = 3/4 cup = 6 fluid ounces
16 tablespoons = 1 cup = 8 fluid ounces = 1/2 pint
2 cups = 1 pint = 16 fluid ounces
4 cups = 2 pints = 1 quart = 32 fluid ounces
4 quarts = 1 gallon
8 quarts = 1 peck
4 pecks = 1 bushel

And by weight, 16 ounces = 1 pound

Other handy things to know:

4 ounces of shredded cheese = 1 cup
6 ounces of chocolate chips = 1 cup
1 cup whipping cream = 2 cups whipped cream
1/3 cup uncooked rice = 1 cup cooked rice

1 cubit = 18 inches, in case you’re called on to build an ark.

English to Metric Conversions:

Volume:

1 teaspoon = 5 ml
1 tablespoon = 15 ml
1/4 cup = 60 ml
1/3 cup = 80 ml
1/2 cup = 120 ml
1 cup = 240 ml
1 pint = 470 ml
1 quart = 950 ml or .95 liters
1 gallon = 3.8 liters

Weight:

1 ounce = 28 grams
1 pound = 454 grams

Length:

1 inch = 2.54 cm
1 foot = 30.48 cm
1 yard = 91.4 cm = .91 meter

Temperature:

32 F = 0 C
200 F = 93
300 F = 149 C
350 F = 177 C
400 F = 204 C
450 F = 232 C
500 F = 260 C