confused about measuring ice cream!

one of my favorite parts of summer is getting to indulge a little in frozen yogurt or ice cream. where would summer be without this stuff? lol

however I have always been confused about how it is measured

is 4 fl. oz of ice cream/froyo equivelant to 4 oz. of ice cream?

dont things expand when they are frozen? so would 4 fl. oz. of ice cream equal 1 cup of frozen ice cream? or does it not work that way?

I am so confused because every site you go to, whether it be caloriecount, or calorieking, or fatsecret...etc... describes the serving size a little differently.

if anyone could answer these questions I would appreciate it. It would make figuring the calories for my favorite treat a lot easier!!

I dunno maybe I am just stupid, but I don't think so. I am a college student with a 3.9 gpa, but there are just certain foods that arent as clear on how to measure-mostly foods that change form when eaten (i.e. ground meat, popcorn and ice cream)

you measure it when its still nice and frozen, otherwise it wouldn't be ice cream that you'd be measuring- it'd be flavored sugary cream

ok...that makes sense..but then why even use fl. oz.?? I will notice like on a nestle drumstick for example it will say on the front of the package 5 fl. oz. then on the back on the nutrition label it will give a dry weight, like 83 grams. Is it just me or is there a lack of consistency there? Why not spare us the confusion and use ONE unit of measure? (plus, who the heck measures an ice cream cone in fluid ounces..that is of no use..it is not a frappe it is an ice cream cone!) lol

bottom line..on average, how much does 1/2c of ice cream weigh in OZ?? like weight oz, not fluid oz

I would measure it myself..but I dont normally keep ice cream in the house!! trigger food in my freezer-If I want it, I make myself walk downtown to get it, and then by the time I get home it's usually gone cuz I eat it on my walk. I don't want to bring my scale to the ice cream store---that would be a little weird lol

to prove my point..I found out how much 1/2c. ice cream weighs by using CC's wonderful database. and it said 1/2c vanilla ice cream weighs 2.5oz (72g)

now if we are talking fluid ounces, 1/2cup does not equal 2.5oz, it equals 4. so 1/2cup frozen ice cream, should never be measured in fluid oz (yet it is), it is irrelavant, because we dont eat it in liquid form.

does anyone else see my point?? or have I just had to much to drink and need to go to bed? lol jk

I just weigh ice cream.  It's easier than trying to jam it into a cup measure without overjamming.  My 2 cup tub of Ben and Jerry's weighs 400 g (including the tub, but that weight's pretty negligible) so that means each 1/2 cup serving weighs 100 g or each 1/4 cup mini-serving weighs 50 g.  For fluffier ice creams, I do the same thing - weigh the whole tub and divide by the number of servings to work out what a serving weighs.

Original Post by cduval04:

to prove my point..I found out how much 1/2c. ice cream weighs by using CC's wonderful database. and it said 1/2c vanilla ice cream weighs 2.5oz (72g)

now if we are talking fluid ounces, 1/2cup does not equal 2.5oz, it equals 4. so 1/2cup frozen ice cream, should never be measured in fluid oz (yet it is), it is irrelavant, because we dont eat it in liquid form.

fluid oz is a measure of volume, as is 1/2 cup.  so 4 fluid oz is the same as half a cup, and it weighs (approx) 2.5 oz.

Original Post by susiecue:

My 2 cup tub of Ben and Jerry's weighs 400 g (including the tub, but that weight's pretty negligible) ...

if this is true, you're getting ripped off.  you're supposed to get 400g of ice cream when you buy 400g of ice cream; you're not buying ice cream and cardboard.