Part 18 (1/2)

SAVE FOOD

_REASONS WHY OUR GOVERNMENT ASKS US NOT TO WASTE FOOD, WITH PRACTICAL RECIPES ON THE USE OF LEFTOVERS_

Elimination of food waste is to-day a patriotic service. It is also a most effective method of solving our food problem. This country, like all the powers at war, will undoubtedly be called upon to face increasing prices so long as the war continues, and waste in any form is not only needless squandering of the family income, but failure in devotion to a great cause.

Food waste is due to poor selection of raw materials, to careless storage and heedless preparation, to bad cooking, to injudicious serving, and to the overflowing garbage pail.

To select food in such a way as will eliminate waste and at the same time insure the best possible return for money spent, the housekeeper must purchase for nutriment rather than to please her own or the family palate.

When eggs are sixty and seventy cents a dozen their price is out of all proportion to their food value. Tomatoes at five or ten cents apiece in winter do not supply sufficient nutriment to warrant their cost, nor does capon at forty-five cents a pound nourish the body any better than the frica.s.see fowl at twenty-eight cents. In order to prevent such costly purchasing, a knowledge of food values is necessary. The simplest and easiest way to plan food values is to divide the common food materials into five main groups and see that each of these groups appear in each day's menu.

GROUP 1.--FOODS DEPENDED ON FOR MINERAL MATTERS, VEGETABLE ACIDS, AND BODY-REGULATING SUBSTANCES.

FRUITS

Apples, pears, etc., Berries, Melons, Oranges, lemons, all citrus fruits.

VEGETABLES

Salads, lettuce, celery, Potherbs or ”greens”

Tomatoes, squash, Green peas, green beans, Potatoes and root vegetables.

GROUP 2.--FOODS DEPENDED ON FOR PROTEIN.

Milk, skim milk, cheese, Eggs, Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dried peas, beans, cow-peas, Nuts.

GROUP 3.--FOODS DEPENDED ON FOR STARCH.

Cereals, grains, meals, flour, Cereal breakfast foods, Bread, Crackers, Macaroni and other pastes, Cakes, cookies, starchy puddings, Potatoes, other starchy vegetables, Bananas.

GROUP 4.--FOODS DEPENDED ON FOR SUGAR.

Sugar, Mola.s.ses, Syrups, Dates, Raisins, Figs.

GROUP 5.--FOODS DEPENDED ON FOR FAT.

b.u.t.ter and cream, Lard, suet, Salt pork and bacon, Table and salad oils, Vegetable, nut, and commercial cooking fats and oils.

If from each of these groups the housekeeper, when buying, chooses the lowest-cost food, she will provide the necessary nutriment for the least expenditure of money. In war time such marketing is essential.

Other causes of waste in food purchasing may be enumerated as follows: Ordering by telephone. This permits the butcher or grocer, who has no time to make selection of foods, to send what comes ready to hand; whereas if the housekeeper did her own selecting, she could take advantage of special prices or ”leaders”--food sold at cost or nearly cost to attract patronage.

Buying out-of-season foods also makes marketing costly. Through lack of knowledge concerning the periods at which certain fruits and vegetables are seasonable, and therefore cheaper and in best flavor, housekeepers frequently pay exorbitant prices for poor flavored, inferior products.

Buying in localities where high rental and neighborhood standards compel the shopkeeper to charge high prices, the consumer pays not only for the rent and the plate gla.s.s windows, but for display of out-of-season delicacies, game and luxury-foods. Markets should be selected where food in season is sold; where cleanliness and careful attention prevail rather than showy display.

Many a dollar is foolishly spent for delicatessen foods. The retail cost of ready prepared foods includes a fraction of the salary of the cook and the fuel, as well as the regular percentage of profit. The food, also, is not so nouris.h.i.+ng or flavorsome as if freshly cooked in the home kitchen.

Buying perishable foods in larger quant.i.ties than can be used immediately. Too frequently meats, fish, eggs, vegetables, milk and cream are purchased in quant.i.ties larger than needed for immediate consumption, and lack of knowledge of use of left-overs causes what is not eaten to be discarded.