Conversions & Substitutions

Occasionally, I come across a recipe in which I need to convert the measurements provided into something I can actually work with. I remember in junior high a history class that had a food party for nearly every country we studied. We had to provide a recipe from that country for each food party. A lot of the recipes were in the metric system, and not an easy task to convert!

I also had a college roommate from Germany (Melissa, remember Connie?), and wouldn't you know she forgot to pack her metric measuring cups & spoons? :) She cooked a lot for our roomies, and in addition to the challenge of converting measurements, she also had to substitute cuts of meat, types of cheeses, seasonings, etc.

I also worked at Tim Horton's when I lived in Michigan for a year. This is a Canadian company, a cross between Dunkin' Donuts and Subway. I was a shift leader, but spent a lot of time baking, and all the measurements were in the metric system.

Just a few of the many reasons why I researched conversions & substitutions a long, long time ago so I could have that information available to me at the touch of a finger. (Thankfully, I don't come across recipes in the metric system too often!)

Liquid & Dry Metric Conversions

Liquid Measure
1 cup = 8 ozs = 1/2 pint = 127 mL
2 cups = 16 ozs = 1 pint = 474 mL
4 cups = 32 ozs = 1 quart = 946 mL
2 pints = 32 ozs = 1 quart = 0.964 L
4 quarts = 128 ozs = 1 gal = 3.784 L

Dry Measure
3 tsp = 1 Tbsp = 1/2 oz = 14.3 g
2 Tbsp = 1/8 cup = 1 fluid oz = 28.3 g
4 Tbsp = 1/4 cup = 2 fluid oz = 56.7 g
5 1/3 Tbsp = 1/3 cup = 2.6 fluid oz = 75.6 g
8 Tbsp = 1/2 cup = 4 ozs = 113.4 g = 1 stick butter
12 Tbsp = 3/4 cup = 6 ozs = .375 lb = 170 g
32 Tbsp = 2 cups = 16 ozs = 1 lb = 453.6 g
64 Tbsp = 4 cups = 32 ozs = 2 lbs = 907 g