3 cubic feet is the same as 5,184 cubic inches, 22.4416 gallons, and 84.9505 liters. Sadly, these figures will not help you figure out what 3 cubic feet looks like in the real world. If you’d like to measure 3 cubic feet with ease, you can use these 8 objects as references.
7 Fishbowls
Do you belong to the group of 11.8 million people in the United States who own a pet fish? If so, odds are that if you own a fishbowl, it will hold 3 gallons of water. In that case, you would need to have 7 fishbowls to reach a total of 3 cubic feet.
While fishbowls are apartment-friendly and travel well, keeping fish inside bowls isn’t the most humane way to care for the animal. In fact, even large aquariums can be pretty cruel, especially if you predators and their prey in one container.
While keeping fish in a closed environment is arguably unethical, the best thing you can do is to get a container that’s large enough for the fish, provide it with a nutritious diet, and keep its water clean.
6 Personal Coolers
In general, there are 4 different cooler sizes to choose from—personal, small, medium, and large. A personal cooler is a cooler that has a maximum capacity of 16 quarts. To reach 3 cubic feet in terms of personal coolers, you would need to amass at least 6 coolers.
However, if you were to have a single large-sized cooler, which can hold 100 quarts at a time, then you would be 11 quarts beyond the 3-cubic-foot mark. You would only need such a humungous cooler if you’re a huge party animal or like to throw tailgates before football games.
1.5 Beer Kegs
Speaking of being a huge party animal, no party is complete without having at least one keg. The great thing about kegs, as opposed to serving drinks from bottles, is that they limit the content’s exposure to air right before serving, which preserves the quality of the drink. Not to mention that kegs are a lot cheaper than bottled and canned beer per milliliter.
A keg is defined as containing half the contents of a barrel, which contains 31 gallons of beer. At 15.5 gallons per keg, you can serve 4 12-ounce glasses to 40 people. You would need roughly 1.5 kegs, or enough to give 4 drinks to 60 people, to reach 3 cubic feet in beer.
4.5 Large Stockpots
A stockpot is a large pot with handles and a lid that is used to make stock and broth, though it is technically defined as “a pot in which soup stock is prepared.” It differs from Dutch ovens by having straight sides as opposed to curved walls and also much taller. Stockpots come in a variety of sizes, but the average hook cook would probably have a 12-quart version at home.
So, if your stockpot can hold onto 12 quarts of liquid when filled to the brim, you would need to fill it up 4.5 times to get a total volume of 3 cubic feet. As far as stockpots go, is bigger necessarily better? According to Le Creuset, yes, it is, especially if you want to give sous vide a try.
3 15-Pound Charcoal Bags
When it comes to barbecuing, liquid propane doesn’t come close to charcoal. Even though propane burns cleaner than coal, it doesn’t infuse any flavor into the meat. Of course, you could argue that the burned flavor comes from coal residue, which can be pretty disastrous to your health.
Coal come in different bag sizes, but one of the more popular sizes is the 15.4-pound variety. Such a bag would usually measure 24 × 12 × 6 inches or exactly 1 cubic foot in volume. So, you would need precisely 3 of them to get to 3 cubic feet.
18 KitchenAid Stand Mixer Bowls
When it comes to stand mixers, there’s one brand that blows the rest of its competition out of the water—KitchenAid. Sure, they’re pricey, and their attachments can cost a small fortune, but you certainly get what you pay for with a KitchenAid stand mixer. No offense to the other stand mixer brands, of course.
The mixing bowls that come with a KitchenAid stand mixer will typically be 4.5 or 5 quarts in volume. In either case, you would need to fill the bowl 18 times to get a total volume of 3 cubic feet. If you splurge and get the KitchenAid 2-quart ice cream bowl, you would need to make about 45 batches of ice cream to make 2 cubic feet of the delicious frozen dessert.
11 Watermelons
I don’t have to tell you that watermelons vary in size. Seeing as how there are over 50 different watermelon varieties, it goes without saying that no 2 watermelons will grow to be 100% identical in size or flavor. Luckily, the helpful folks at the Watermelon Board have determined the average volume of the typical watermelon.
Including the rind, each watermelon will take up 800 cubic inches of space or just under half a cubic foot. In order to reach 3 cubic feet in terms of watermelons, you would need to have 11 watermelons of average size (roughly 16 inches long and 10 inches wide). With a 20-pound watermelon that yields 32 cups, you could make 88 glasses of Agua Fresca with this recipe with 2 cubic feet of watermelons.
2.5 Backpacks
According to Pottery Barn Teen, there are at least 15 types of backpack styles. We’re talking standard backpacks for everyday use, the sling bags for carrying small quantities of your belongings, and rucksacks with their innumerable pocket counts. But right now, let’s focus on the standard backpack.
A medium-sized backpack made for commuting, hiking, or day walks will hold up to 30 liters or 7.92516 gallons of stuff. So, if you have 3 cubic feet of travel supplies you want to take with you on your next outdoor excursion, you would need to carry around 2.5 medium backpacks.
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