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Yup, strangely enough, Americans do often speak informally, relaxing the rules of grammar. But in my admittedly limited contact with Britishers, so do they.
That said, it really depends on the usage. Like you are at a meat counter, you might say "I'd like a couple steaks", but you would also probably say, "I'd like a couple of those steaks" if you were referring to specific ones.
And as mentioned, "I've got a couple questions" vs "I've got a couple of questions to ask you"
No one would ever say a "A couple of kg of apples." "A couple pounds of apples" I think most people would instead say.
It's actually kind of funny that it's used like that. I mean, you don't with "few" when it means three. "A few of questions" or "A few of kg of apples." Probably something picked up from French, which has influenced British English while American English is closer to original English. (Same reason you stopped saying your Rs, the Rhotic shift, only places in the US with close ties to England like NY and Boston picked it up, while the rest of us kept saying them. Most so called "Americanisms" are actually just Britishisms that we kept, but you didn't)
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