Mixing different volumes of powders for a drink mix.

October 1, 2020 8:40 PM

I wish to mix different volumes of powders for a drink mix (vitamin supplements, green tea, flavoring, etc), ranging from teaspoons to measuring cups, keep it all in a container, then be able to accurately use one measuring cup to get the original correct volumes of the mixed ingredients to mix with water. Is there a simpleish way to do this that doesn't involve advanced calculus?
posted by Evilspork to Health & Fitness (10 answers total)

Do you have the proportions worked out to produce a single portion of the drink?
posted by Miko at 8:43 PM on October 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Don't use volumes, get a kitchen scale and weigh it.
posted by wotsac at 9:03 PM on October 1, 2020 [11 favorites]

Best answer: there are a few ways to do this but I think the easiest (assuming you know how much goes into one drink) is by weight. do you have a kitchen scale?
posted by fingersandtoes at 9:04 PM on October 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If you don’t have a small amount that you’re just scaling up already to hand, I’d do it by weight. All those things will be different densities, may even be different densities from lot to lot or brand to brand.

If you already know your starting volumes for one serving, just figure out how many servings you can get from one container of the priciest ingredient and multiply everything else by that number. But long term I’d be happier figuring out the weight. You don’t need to get all those utensils dirty!
posted by tchemgrrl at 9:06 PM on October 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: DIgital kitchen scale that measure to the gram are inexpensive. Do it by weight.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 9:22 PM on October 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Probably impossible. Say you take 2 cups of X, 3 tablespoons of Y, 2 teaspoons of Z, and 1/8 teaspoon of W. You're not going to have a measuring cup that matches exactly that volume (unless you're really lucky). Your best bet is to just mix one up in some sort of reasonable 'cup' and mark how not-full it is, or how heaping it is. Then mix up a 10x batch and try to notice on that last bit before you need to make more if you're a little bit short or a little bit full.

Alternatively (and I've done this) is you make a custom cup. Take a simple clear plastic bottle, cut off the top, put 1 drinks worth of the mixture in the bottle, make a mark, cut the bottle to that size. Presto! Instant measuring cup that holds exactly the volume of one mystery drink.
posted by zengargoyle at 9:29 PM on October 1, 2020 [6 favorites]

Best answer: This doesn't have to be complicated. Just mix together the powders you'd need for a set volume of liquid -- so that they're in proportion -- and then use a fraction of the powder to make a proportional fraction of the total expected liquid. Here's the process broken down:



1 - Measure out the appropriate powder to make a target volume -- maybe 1 cup -- of each item. (If you decide you like this, you can scale up to measure for 1 quart or 1/2 gallon of each item.)

So, if 1 tsp of green tea powder makes 1 cup, but it takes 2 Tbsp of soy milk powder to make 1 cup, fine -- you put 1 tsp of green tea powder in your jar, and then you add 2 Tbsp soy milk powder.

2 - Keep track of the number of ingredients you add. If you add powder for 1 cup (liquid/rehydrated) green tea, 1 cup soy milk, 1 cup lemonade, 1 cup rose tea, then the total rehydrated volume would be 4 cups.

3 - You now have enough powder to make 4 cups of your liquid. Just measure it out in teaspoons or Tablespoons; that's how much powder makes 4 cups, so divide by 4 to get the powder required for 1 cup liquid. Say you get 8 Tablespoons of combo powder; Divide that by 4 to get the amount you'd need for 1 cup - in this example, 2 Tablespoons.
posted by amtho at 1:56 AM on October 2, 2020 [4 favorites]

I’d be concerned that some of these ingredients will be heavier than others, and maintaining an even distribution of everything might prove difficult.
posted by mollymayhem at 5:57 AM on October 2, 2020 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: I hadn't thought of using mass instead of volume, that definitely simplifies things! Thank you for your genius.
posted by Evilspork at 8:26 PM on October 2, 2020

Response by poster: "I’d be concerned that some of these ingredients will be heavier than others, and maintaining an even distribution of everything might prove difficult."

And as for this, I would keep it in a large enough container that I can shake everything thoroughly before measuring it out.
posted by Evilspork at 8:29 PM on October 2, 2020