Measuring vegetables is not as easy as you may think. Any cook who has ever tried to guess how many asparagus spears equal a pound when a scale is not available knows how hard this can be. (Try stuffing a measuring cup with those pesky raw spears!) Here’s a cheat sheet to follow when faced with measuring vegetables.

asparagus: 1 pound = 15–20 large spears

carrots: 1 pound = 5–6 medium carrots

green beans: 1 pound = 4 handfuls of whole beans

spinach: 1 pound = 12 cups fresh, torn leaves

sugar snap peas: 1 pound = 4 cups whole pods