[JenMusic]

Hey! A little help - I'm visiting my parents this weekend, and tonight is hamburger night (a Saturday tradition in my family). I have no problem with eating the occasional burger, and am looking forward to it.

My parents bought the ground beef and got a fairly fatty percentage (75/25), which means I need to have a pretty small patty, and I've decided on 4 oz. (raw). My mom is going to let me make my own patty - she makes HUGE patties normally . My problem? I'm completely dependent on my digital food scale, which is not here with me!

How can I get a reasonably accurate estimate of 4 oz. raw hamburger? Can I use a 1/2 cup measuring cup - would that be about right? I never use volume measurements anymore, just weight in grams, so I'm at a loss.

I wouldn't normally be so obssessive about it, but I'm tracking pretty intensely right now. I'm not going to sweat it if I'm a little over, but one of the reasons I weigh everything is because my natural "portion meter" is permanently broken. Even now, I'm really bad at estimating portions without my scale.

Thanks!

[bargoo]

If she bought a pound you could estimate what a quarter of a package looks like,that would be a pretty good guess. The label on the package should say how many pounds are in the package, just estimate from that.

[JenMusic]

Didn't think about that, thanks! I'm not home right now, so no idea how much the entire package weighs, but I'll check it out when I get home. This feels like a word problem in algebra class now, or a segment from Mr. Wizard's World.

[chickadee32]

bargoo's suggestion is exactly what I would do. You could even tell your mom you'll make all the patties, and divide the meat into however many 4 oz balls depending on the total weight of the meat... and then just set yours aside for you and recombine all the others and re-make larger patties for your family. I find that being able to see all of the meat portioned out helps me to estimate more accurately.

[Merediths Mom]

I just measured out 4 oz on the scale about an hour ago for lunch. I would say it's more like a rounded 1/2 cup, closer to 3/4. Definitely see if you can divide it up based on package weight.

Enjoy!

[JenMusic]

Just got home and checked - my mom bought three packages, and all are right around 1 lb each. The division method should work like a charm. Thanks!

[Merediths Mom]

Perfect!

[hpnodat]

I was going to suggest you bring your scale with you. That's what I do. I have a $5 one that I got from walmart for travel.