Why do Americans measure everything in cups?

Chris@feddit.uk to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 198 points –

Used a couple of US recipes recently and most of the ingredients are in cups, or spoons, not by weight. This is a nightmare to convert. Do Americans not own scales or something? What's the reason for measuring everything by volume?

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Just buy cup and spoon measures. It simplifies the whole process. You already own metric measures, so what's the difference.

Edit: What's all this then? Down votes? How is this not the most effective solution? Did it come off as condescending? That was not my intention.

If the issue is that you dont understand the cup and spoon measurements, then just buy a cheap set of measures.

You learn what a cup is. You dont have to translate american recipes every time you want to make something (which doesn't translate to nice round numbers anyway) which saves time and reduces stress and you can still use metric measures for anything else.

If a recipe describes 8 cups of flour, how many grams or kilograms do i need to buy then?

The packaging will tell you, but I think most people just buy in bulk rather than buy the exact amount needed for a recipe.

Depends what it is. In this instance I was buying cups of fruit, how many cups are there to a punnet? I already have the weight on the packaging, so if I know the weight I need it's much easier.

If you owned a cup measure you might have some idea.

If a recipe calls for 8 cups of flour you will need a bigger baking tin.