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[The U.S. Government Campaign to Promote the Production, Sharing, and Proper Use of Food]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

﻿The U/S. Government Campaign to Promote the Production, Sharing, and Proper Use of Food
THE CONSERVATION OF FOOD
I.	IN THE HOME
Prepared by the
WAR FOOD ADMINISTRATION in cooperation with the OFFICE OF WAR INFORMATION
October 1943
INTRODUCTION
This handbook is compiled to reveal facts about food waste in this country; to outline ways of curtailing waste; to request cooperation in all channels of information in order to reduce this waste and turn the full force of our food supply into winning the war.
This handbook deals primarily with preventing food waste in the home. Supplementary information to be issued later will deal in detail with food waste in other areas—on the farm, in transit, in the wholesale house, in the retail store, and in the public eating place.
The need for fighting waste is explained in detail in the program book, Food Fights For Freedom, prepared by the Office of War Information and the War Food Administration in cooperation with the Office of Price Administration. Food Fights For Freedom calls for an educational program to present reasons why action by every citizen is essential to shorten the war and save lives. The calls to action are summarized by the appeal—PRODUCE AND CONSERVE, SHARE AND PLAY SQUARE.
This handbook deals with the conservation phase of the Nation’s battle to make food fight for freedom.
Last year, we, the people of the United States, wasted more food than was needed by our armed forces and for the lend-lease requirements of all our allies. We wasted from 20 to 30 percent of what we produced, or about 1 pound out of every 4.
We therefore have a direct means of increasing our food supply, simply by not throwing food away and by using all we have.
A substantial part of this waste is accounted for as follows: We let immense quantities of food go to waste unharvested on farms. We lost some more in transit. It was dropped by the wayside at wholesale houses. More of it, bruised and spoiled, was swept out of the back door of retail stores. And staggering amounts of it were scraped off unfinished plates in restaurants and public eating houses.
But one of the greatest single scenes of this astounding waste is the home. Here food is cooked away, drained down the sink, left on plates, and dumped into kitchen garbage pails.
Three-fourths of a pound of food wasted by each of us every day adds up to a staggering total. A slice or two of wasted bread a week in each home is the equivalent of 2,000,000 loaves. Dabs of butter left on each plate, totaling perhaps as little as one-half ounce a week, would make enough to have supplied our Army last year. The one-
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tenth to one-fourth of the potatoes thrown away in paring and cooking after they get into the kitchen represents more than enough to supply New York City.
This is wasting a weapon of war. Even making allowances for unavoidable waste, it is estimated that we can by voluntary watchfulness in the home save food that will more than equal the increase in food production of the past year.
This waste occurs at a time when we are faced with a shortage of many foods.
Although farmers have broken all production records for 4 consecutive years and are out to break the all-time high record of 1942, there will not be enough food this year or for several years to satisfy all claimants for it. Aside from military and lend-lease demands, two other factors are creating a serious strain on the equitable distribution of our food supply:
1.	Americans have more money than there are goods to buy with it-—and much of this is spent on food.
2.	Every new allied victory means more people to feed—at least until they can get back on their feet.
So we at home face this reality-—we will have enough food for good health but not all the food or the kind of food some of us may want. How then do we make our food do all the things it must do— sustain us at home as well as our fighters and allies abroad?
By decreasing the amount set aside for war needs? That would seriously jeopardize our military program. By increasing farm production? That will help, but will not solve our problem. Despite great records for 7 straight years, and even higher goals for 1944, there are limits to what the farmer can do.
The real solution lies in every American taking a number of highly important actions—actions which include a determination to produce more food; conserve food, avoid waste; preserve food, eat the right foods, adjust our eating habits to the available foods, share our food, and help keep food prices down by paying no more than legal prices. Of these actions the avoidance of waste is of tremendous importance.
AMERICANS MEET A NEW PROBLEM
The days of so-called food surpluses are over, at least temporarily. Now we should think of our food supply as one huge basketful—the tallest, biggest basket of the most varied food in the world, thanks to the production records of our farmers. This basket is all we have, and there are 120,000,000 hands here at home ready to dip into it. Our home-front share is by far the greatest—75 percent. Our armed forces need 13 percent. Our allies around the globe are receiving 10
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percent. Territorial needs and requirements for special purposes add up to 2 percent.
By taking a number of direct actions, we can make this basket larger and make it go further. The most important method of accomplishing this increase is by preventing waste.
HOW MUCH FOOD DO WE WASTE?
Garbage analysis studies in 247 cities reveal an average of 300 pounds of waste food per person a year, or more than three-fourths of a pound for each individual every day. Of this food, 225 pounds were edible. This includes wastage from wholesalers, retailers, restaurants, and homes.
Raymond Pearl, statistician and geneticist, estimated a food wastage in the home of 5 percent of protein, 25 percent of fat, and 20 percent of carbohydrates—or an over-all waste of 19 percent of the calories
WHERE FOOD WASTE OCCURS
Food is wasted at every stage of distribution and use—on the farm, in transit, in storage, in the processing plant, at wholesale markets and establishments, in retail stores, in public eating places, and in the home. This squandering of our food adds up to about a fourth of all that we produce. Some waste is unavoidable, but much can be prevented by conservation measures.
Waste on the Farm
Waste on the farm is incalculable. It takes place from planting to harvest. It includes damage done by insects and by rodents. Common plant diseases each year deprive us of several hundred million bushels of grain and other products. Additional quantities are lost when crops remain unharvested because of local labor shortage, transportation difficulties, limited facilities for processing, or because unpredictable weather causes market gluts of seasonal foods. Rough digging and picking, careless preparation for market, and inadequate refrigeration and storage add to the losses.
There is no general cure-all for waste of food on the farm because here, as elsewhere, some losses result from circumstances occasioned by the war—but all efforts to assure that the crop is harvested down to the last bit will help. Voluntary workers and community cooperation where labor shortage exists can save much food. And every effort should be made to see that food which is edible by human beings is channeled to them rather than to livestock.
Waste in Transit .
Waste takes place when farm and food products are transported to market. Some of it results from inadequate facilities due to the war
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situation, but breakage and spoilage commonly occur from improper practices of packing, loading, handling, and ventilating—especially in the shipment of perishables.
When hampers and boxes are packed to the bulging point and then heaped on top of each other, contents are marred and bruised. When delays in transportation are reduced, more of the food value of perishables reaches the table and less waste from spoilage results.
Many pounds of meat are wasted annually through death and crippling of animals in transit and from bruising in general. Three-fourths of the total loss is from bruises, not usually detected until after slaughter. Bruising occurs all along the line: (1) On farms; (2) in transit; (3) at public markets; (4) and to some degree in packing plants. The greatest damage happens in transit, particularly in poorly equipped trucks operated by careless handlers. Projecting nails, splintered boards, sharp-cornered posts, slippery footing, the use of clubs, etc., are a few of the causes.
Waste in the Wholesale Market
To a lesser degree than in homes and retail establishments, certain waste takes place at the wholesale level. Some loss of foods occurs in cold storage and “ripening” rooms. This can be avoided by careful handling and closer attention.
To reduce such losses the wholesaler should carry on a program with the following objectives:
1.	Adaptation of good receiving and delivering practices, such as careful handling and stacking on loading platform, to avoid bruising and deterioration from the elements.
2.	Confirmation to accepted storage plans prescribing temperature, humidity, ventilation, light, stacking, turning, etc., for the particular commodity.
3.	Sanction of progressive merchandising policy calling for adequate packaging, frequent culling, rotating (first in-—first out), selling in customary receiving unit, reducing prices to obtain turn-over of foods which may spoil if held longer.
Waste in the Retail Market
There is additional loss in retail handling. Reports of some of the most carefully managed stores show spoilage losses of 3 to 10 percent on fresh fruits and of 3 to 15 percent on fresh vegetables. These are in addition to losses sustained in selling overripe products at reduced prices in order to avoid spoilage. Some waste is caused by new and inexperienced labor. Dropping crates and dragging sacks cause bruises or actual loss. Much waste occurs through storing, displaying, and selling without giving consideration to the keeping quality of the merchandise. Limited studies suggest that such waste alone totaled about $450,000,000 in 1942.
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Retailers can help reduce such losses through—
1.	Proper receiving—by practicing established methods for careful handling.
2.	Adequate storing—by following acceptable standards prescribed for stacking, ventilating, lighting, and maintaining temperature and humidity.
3.	Correct displaying and selling—by presenting food in an environment away from the elements and by following good merchandising practices such as rotating, culling, segregating, and adjusting prices on products in danger of imminent deterioration.
Waste in the Public Eating Place
The American public eats 55 million meals a day in public eating places. Estimates are not available on the food waste under the control of restaurant management—through inadequate facilities, poor cooking, overstocking, overproduction, or inexperienced help, but'it is estimated there is a 6 percent or larger waste in food left on plates by restaurant patrons.
The operator of a public eating place has a threefold task:
1.	' Educate his kitchen and service personnel on the ways and means of saving food in the kitchen. (Here, factors in food wastage and the means of correcting them are much the same as those which apply in the home kitchen.) „
2.	Offer his patrons menus which are less elaborate and at the same time varied and well-balanced. (It has often been shown that the public is more interested in quality than in quantity of choices offered.)
3.	Assist in educating his patrons to order only what they want and. to eat everything they purchase.
Waste in the Home
Americans eat more than 135 billion meals a year. If these meals are poorly planned, not prepared well, and are not all eaten, if leftovers or remains of too large portions are not utilized, the door is left open for tremendous waste.
On the next few pages are listed major failures of planning that cause waste and some ways in which this loss can be eliminated.
Waste in the Planning of Meals
1.	Failure to take full advantage of foods in seasonal abundance, especially perishables, results in waste. Proper planning not only saves the full nutrient value of the fresh crop to the consumer, but also saves foods which may be used when perishables are scarce.
2.	Planning meals ahead cuts down waste in the home due to lack of storage space. There is no sense in buying foods for which there
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is no room in the refrigerator and for which there is no other adequate storage facility.
3.	Failure to plan on the basis of required nutrients causes waste. If a housewife serves more carbohydrates or more protein foods than are necessary at the expense of vitamins and minerals, an unbalanced diet results. For example, if both potatoes and spaghetti are served at the same meal, either one may only be nibbled at and the remainder thrown away. Each day’s food should include some of each of the Basic 7 food groups. This balancing makes for better health and better appetites for each of the foods served.
4.	If the same dishes are served for a period of days they become less appetizing. The result is wasted food and often a waste in food values.
Waste in Marketing
Hand in hand with planning goes the right kind of marketing. This yields better nutrition, more for the consumer’s money, and a tremendous saving of food.
1.	Buying too much means dangerous spoilage and loss. Many foods deteriorate in nutritional value the longer they are held, so even though they are eventually eaten there is a waste of food values. It is better not to buy the 2-for-49-cents special if the quantity is likely to be too much to eat before it spoils.
2.	You cannot judge the nutritional and taste value of all food by its appearance. Many tons of fruits with slight blemishes are thrown away because their appearance has not appealed to the customer, although in taste and food values they are equal to the most photogenic pears, peaches, etc. The retailer cannot sell them. They rot, contaminate other fruits and are thrown away. This waste adds to the cost of perishables purchased, because the retailer has to average the good with the bad and charge a price to cover wastage.
3.	Great waste occurs when merchants, in order to make leafy vegetables showy, tear off the outer leaves. The outer leaves are higher in vitamin content than the inner. The use of the vegetable brush, good storage, and prompt preparation will give more food value, better taste, and save waste.
4.	A good rule for shoppers is “hands off” when it comes to pinching and prodding and otherwise injuring sound fruits and vegetables. Such treatment often causes rot and results in waste.
5.	The habit of week-end buying causes waste. Merchants stock up to meet the demand, and if their calculations are wrong, left-over perishables rot by the following Monday. The homemaker who makes week-end purchases is inclined to overstock and spoilage results at the consumer level.
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Waste in Food Storage
Lack of information on proper storage methods causes waste. Simple precautions will eliminate much of this—especially when available refrigerating space is small.
1.	Left-overs in the refrigerator lose their moisture and flavor unless properly covered. Dairy products left uncovered absorb odors of other foods.
2.	Meats often spoil unless placed in the coldest part of the refrigerator.
3.	Forgotten foods shoved back in the ice box too often end up in the garbage can. A daily inventory of the ice box is a food saver.
4.	All foods do not require immediate refrigeration, so the ice box need not become a catch-all. Millions of dwellings have cellars suitable for storage of certain foods. A properly sunken and covered barrel or box in the back yard makes excellent storage space for root vegetables like potatoes, carrots, turnips, and beets.
5.	Frequent inspection of packaged goods saves waste. This eliminates potential damage from insects and mice.
Waste in the Preparation of Food
Food values can be completely lost in cooking. For example, paring away from one-tenth to one-fourth of the potato results in physical loss. But in addition, iron and vitamin C in the potato are dissipated by not cooking with the jacket on.
Most housewives still cook vegetables in too much water—and drain off the water and pour it down the sink. This wastes vitamins and minerals which seeped out of the vegetables into the water.
Nutrition value and flavor in vegetables like cabbage and turnips are lost by too long cooking.
We throw away the leaves of cauliflower, cabbage, endive, and chard, overlooking the nutrient value they add to stews and soups.
Much waste occurs because the housewife fails to try recipes which would make some of the less popular vegetables more appetizing.
Many housewives throw out left-overs or withhold their best efforts on them because they lack the knowledge of proper preparation methods.
Waste at the Table
The most obvious waste of food in the home takes place at the table. The actual cause of much of this waste lies in the planning, purchasing, storage, and preparation of food. But part is caused also by prevailing table habits.
We resist “new” or unfamiliar foods. Uneaten portions are left and are wasted—and the unpopularity of the experiment acts against future purchases of the product.
In wartime, when the shortage of many familiar foods increases the
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importance of alternate foods, such traditional notions of what is good and good for us, may mean the difference between good health and indifferent health.
As adults some people rebel against foods which were forced on them as children.
Many of us have grown up with the notion that salad greens are “rabbit food,” while some housewives consider leaf lettuce, parsley, and water cress only as decorations for the salad. These are, in fact, good sources of vitamin A.
We serve on the table more food than we can eat, because it’s pleasant to have more than enough. We urge on our guests more than they want, because we like to play the generous host and hostess.
An extravagant code of table manners is another cause of waste of food'—not squeezing grape fruit for the last bit of juice, not tipping soup bowls for the last drop of soup, not picking up chops and chicken bones in our fingers, etc. There is a shortage of fats and butter, yet some of us seldom think of soaking up the gravy on our plates with a small piece of bread. Some leave a little dessert for appearance’s sake. Although such practices may have been justified before the war, they can hardly be justified now, when food is scarce at home and when hundreds of thousands of our civilian allies are starving.
THE SOLUTION
The success of the Nation’s program to reduce food waste in the home lies in educating people to take a number of actions. Here are 10 basic ways of saving food in the home:
1.	Choose your foods from the Basic 7.
2.	Plan your meals by the week.
3.	Buy seasonals; try new foods.
4.	Store perishables with care.
5.	Prepare food without any waste.
6.	Simplify table manners—we’re at war.
7.	Pledge your family to “clean up the plate.”
8.	Save the left-overs—make them appetizing.
9.	Share or preserve your Victory Garden surplus.
10.	Help harvest the community crops.
If these basic steps in the domestic food-conservation program are adopted by everyone, food will be saved, people will eat better, and victory will be that much closer.
INFORMATION OBJECTIVES
1.	To Everyone
A fact which is important to everyone in America is that there will not be enough food this year or for several years to satisfy all of the
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claimants for it—even though farmers have broken all food-production records and are going to produce to the limit next year.
When people realize that a few simple conservation measures at home can actually increase the food available for family consumption, they will gladly take necessary action.
Hence, it is necessary to instill in everyone a deeper respect for food . . . the same respect which the English, the Russians, the Chinese, and the starving millions in the occupied countries have for their food. That will not be easy, for until recently, food—lots of food and the kind of food desired—had been available to anyone who had the money to pay for it.
To alter public habits and attitudes toward food calls for dramatizing the many ways food can be conserved. We need to enlarge people’s concepts of what is edible ... to encourage new ideas of what is palatable. This calls for changes in eating habits of many years’ standing. It also means persuading people to consume more of the food they buy . . . persuading the housewife to prepare all of the produce that can be made edible . . . persuading her and her family to eat all of each portion taken on the plate.
2.	To the Homemaker
The key objective in the information program on food conservation is the homemaker. She plans meals, buys food, prepares it, serves it, and stores it for later use. She can do more toward conserving our food supply than any other individual. Alteration of her attitudes and practices will influence her family and the other people with whom she comes in contact—the grocer and the restaurant operator.
3.	To the Children
Enlisting the aid of young people in conserving food requires a simple, direct, and understandable approach, coupled with suggested action which can be easily carried out.
Such action is the “clean your plate” practice. It is simple. It appeals to children because it makes them feel they are participating in an important project.
The “clean your plate” idea fits logically into the whole conservation program, but by itself it will do little good unless it is linked with conservation practices in the buying, cooking, and serving of food.
SUGGESTED INFORMATION APPROACHES
In developing an information program on the conservation of food in the home, these approaches may be helpful in suggesting ways of dramatizing the facts.
What the Soldier Needs
The Army must purchase over 5 pounds of food per day to keep a soldier in fighting trim. To insure the success of military operations,
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reserves must be built up to guard against any possible contingency— a 90-day supply at home and a 9-month supply abroad.
What Our Allies Need
Our allies need American food to give them the fighting edge they need to smash the Axis. The English can raise only two-thirds of the food they need. The Russians lost close to half of their best cropland when the Ukraine was overrun; that’s the same as if we lost our entire food-producing area in the Middle West.
Our total yearly waste of food is, by the most conservative estimate, more than twice the amount of food our allies are receiving from us this year!
What the Liberated People Need
American food shipped into countries liberated from Axis oppression is as surely a weapon of war as guns and tanks and ammunition. With American food, we can secure the cooperation of these people in working toward a lasting peace . . . we can prevent starvation, pestilence, and famine.
How the Army Saves Food
Civilians could take valuable lessons from the Army in the careful prevention of food waste. Following an extensive survey conducted at training camps in 1942, a number of conservation measures were adopted and are now saving an estimated three-quarters of a pound of food per man each day. The Army has adopted these rules:
1.	Meals are prepared for only the number of men actually expected at each mess.
2.	Strict mess supervision is required to make sure food waste is kept at a minimum.
3.	Soldiers are asked to take only what they can eat and to eat all they take.
4.	Less popular foods that might be left on the plate are seldom served.
Let’s not bring up the rear in this parade. The armed forces lead in fighting—we should lead in conserving.
How England Saves Food
England has a “Waste of Food Order.” It provides:
(a)	That no person shall waste food or permit it to be wasted.
(b)	That any food fit for human consumption shall not willfully be damaged or thrown away or fed to animals.
(c)	That a person having control or custody of food must take reasonable precautions for its preservation.
(d)	That a person shall not buy food in excessive quantities, and so cause such food to become unfit for human consumption.
(e)	That a person engaged in the disposal of food shall dispose of it before it becomes unfit for human consumption.
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APPENDIX
Selected References on Food Conservation, Food Waste, and Related Data.
AIDS TO CONSERVATION
Vitamins from Farm to You. U. S. Dept. Agr. AWI—2. Washington, D. C. 1942.
Fight Food Waste in the Home. U. S. Dept. Agr. AWI—3. Washington, D. C., 1942.
Facts on Food Waste. U. S. Dept. Agr., Food Distribution Administration. Mim. Washington, D. C., 1943.
It’s Up To You. Script, film, and slides (for either the long or short version of play). U. S. Dept. Agr., Food Distribution Administration. Washington, D. C. 1943.
(Booklets and leaflets available on request. Order by title, and by number when given.)
FIVE SERIES OF POSTERS ON HOW TO PREPARE AND CONSERVE FOOD
Well-adapted for use in schools, dietetics classes, and extension programs.
Up-to-date and to-the-point in terms of nutrition, conservation, economy, and appetite appeal.
Each poster fully illustrated with simple, graphic photographs and brief, step-by-step copy. Printed on heavy white paper.
1.	Fight Food Waste in the Home (size 14% by 20 inches. Printed in black and red on white paper. 25$ for set of 10. Titles follow).
Join the Ranks—Fight Food Waste in the Home.
Milk and Eggs—Nature’s Food—clean, covered, cold—will stay good!
Meat, Poultry, Fish are full of flavor—a cold dry place is what they favor.
Cooked Meat, Poultry, and Fish.
Save Every Drop of Oil or Fat.
Wilt not, waste not—Fresh Vegetables.
Fresh Fruits are Best in Season—with care, they’ll keep within reason.
A Cool Airy Place to Suit Hardy Vegetables and Fruit.
To Keep Bread, Cake, Cookies Nice—protect from insects, mold, mice.
Sugar—Flour—Cereal—Spice—Canned Foods.
2.	Get the Good From Your Food (size 14% by 20 inches. Black and red on white. 25$ per set of 10. Titles follow).
Get the Good From Your Food.
Get the Good From Fruit.
Get the Good From Vegetables (3).
Get the Good From Meat (2).
Get the Good From Poultry.
Get the Good From Eggs.
Get the Good From Fats.
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3.	Meat Cooking Charts (size 20 by 30 inches. Black on white. 500 for set of 7. Titles follow).
Do you know meat cuts and cook according to the cut?
Roasting a tender cut.
Stuffing low-priced tender roasts.
Broiling tender steaks and chops.
Pot-roasting a less tender cut.
Braising a less tender steak.
Ground meat in savory ways.
4.	Poultry Cooking Charts (size 20 by 30 inches. Black on white. 500 for set of 8. Titles follow).
Cooking poultry.
Broiling a young bird.
To fry chicken.
Stuffing and trussing.
Roasting young turkey.
Roasting young duck.
Braising a fowl.
Stewing a fowl.
5.	Home Canning Charts (size 14% by 20 inches. Green and orange on white. 500 for set of 20).
(How to order poster sets: Send order to the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C. Each set of charts is complete in itself. Each set is sold as a complete set only. Cash, money order, or certified check must accompany the order.)
Conserving the food you buy
Excerpts from conservation suggestions prepared by the War Food Administration follow:
I.	Suggestions for conserving the nutritive value of food to be used in fresh stage (cooked or raw). The following suggestions are taken from Vitamins From Farm to You, U. S. Department of Agriculture:
(1)	Don’t crush or bruise.
(2)	Don’t soak.
(3)	Keep cool until ready to cook or eat.
(4)	Use quickly when prepared.
(5)	Make raw salad or slaw as a last-minute job. Vitamin C gets away faster from foods peeled or cut.
(6)	When you cook vegetables, use as little water as possible. Add salt to cooking water at the start, to help hold the vitamin C.
(7)	Cook quickly whenever you can. Put vegetables into boiling water, and bring the water back to boiling point fast.
(8)	Cook vegetables until just tender—but no longer.
(9)	Stir vegetables only when you must. If you stir you mix air into the food and that destroys some of the vitamins.
(10)	Do not add soda when you cook vegetables. The soda destroys thiamine and vitamin C.
(11)	Do not thaw frozen vegetables before you cook them.
(12)	Serve raw frozen foods, such as fruits, at once, immediately after thawing.
(13)	Since cooking water takes up some of the vitamins and also minerals, it is good food; so don’t pour cooking water down the sink. Serve it with the vegetables—or in soups—sauces—gravies.
II.	Suggestions for conserving the quantity and quality of food through adequate storage and methods of preparation (from Fight Food Waste in
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the Home, U. S. Department of Agriculture): Keep meat and poultry in the coldest part of the ice box or your coldest storage place—45° F. or lower is best.
Fresh meat.—Cover fresh meat loosely. Wipe with damp cloth just before cooking. If ground, store in extra cool place and cook soon.
Meat broth.—Cool meat broth rapidly, keep cold, use soon.
Cooked meat.—Keep cooked meat covered. Chopped and sliced cooked meats spoil more quickly than meat in the piece. Cut or chop just before using. Keep meat sandwiches and salads cold right up to serving time.
Cured meat.—Keep uncooked, well-cured meat in a dark, cool, dry, airy place. Leave wrapping on ham, bacon, and other cured meat until ready to cook. Keep mildly cured meats like fresh meats.
Poultry.—Wash poultry thoroughly inside and out, pat dry, and store very cold until time to cook.
Sea food.—Fish and all other sea food spoils in a few hours at room temperature. Cook at once, or wrap in wax paper to keep odor from other food, and store very cold.
Milk.—Don’t let milk stand out. Keep it in the colder part of the refrigerator. When cooking, take out only milk and cream needed and let the rest stay cold. Don’t pour left-over milk back in the main supply. Put away milk the first thing after each meal. Keep odorous foods—fish, onion, cabbage, melons—away from milk. Use suds and sun on all milk containers. Scald often.
Milk and egg dishes.—Milk and eggs are good combinations, but spoil easily. If custards, cream pies and puddings, and cream puffs are not to be eaten at once, cool them quickly, cover, and keep very cold.
Cheese.—Cold and covered, are the watchwords for cheese too. Use cottage and other soft cheese quickly, for they soon spoil. Hard, cured cheese, well wrapped, may be kept longer.
Eggs.—Wipe off soiled spots on eggs with a dry, rough cloth. But don’t wash eggs before storing. Water destroys the protective film that keeps out air and odors. Store eggs in open bowl or wire basket in a cool place.
Vegetables.—The fresher a vegetable when it is used, the better the taste, the less the waste, and the more vitamins retained.
“ Wilt not, waste not,” is a golden rule for garden stuff. For household storage of fresh vegetables, use refrigerator or other cold place.
Salad greens.—To crisp up lettuce, radishes, celery—all raw vegetables headed for the salad bowl—wash, drain, store in covered vegetable pan. Keep cold.
Cooking greens.—Pile cooking greens loosely to prevent bruising. Store in covered vegetable pan, or waterproof bag, preferably after washing and draining. Keep them cold.
Snap beans, lima beans, peas, corn.—To hold the sweet in corn, peas, and lima beans and to keep snap beans fresh, keep them cold. Let them stay in the pod or husk unless you can store them tightly covered in refrigerator.
The cabbage family.—Cauliflower, brussels sprouts, and broccoli lose freshness faster than cabbage. Leave them uncut; keep cold and not too dry.
Root vegetables.—Put beets, turnips, rutabagas, carrots in a cool ventilated place. Cut tops to 2 inches to save space. (Don’t throw away edible turnip and beet tops. Save as shown under “salad greens” above—or can, dry, brine, or freeze them.)
Potatoes, onions.—A dry, cool blackout suits them both, but avoid freezing.
Sweetpotatoes, squash.—For sweetpotatoes and squash, dry cool storage.
Berries, cherries, grapes.—To keep berries, cherries, and grapes tip top, store in a shallow tray in a cold place. Wash just before using.
Peaches, pears, plums.—Spread to keep from bruising. Keep the ripe fruit cool. Let under-ripe fruits ripen at room temperature.
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Oranges, lemons.—Spread out to prevent loss from mold and rot. Keep in a cool place.
Apples.—Apples soften as much in 1 day at 70° F. as in 2 days at 50° F.—So keep them at the cooler temperature.
Be gentle with the firm apple and orange as well as with the soft berry and the tender-skinned peach.
To pinch and bruise and break the skin will let the enemy, rot, come in.
Bananas.—Bananas are best when kept at warmer temperatures than our native fruits. Let underripe bananas ripen at room temperature.
Dried fruits.—The natural sugar in dried fruits keeps them from molding easily.
Store them in a tight bag or jar in a cool place. Watch in warm weather for worms or weevils.
Spoilage spreads as mold breeds mold, weevils breed weevils. This happens oftenest in the forgotten can or box. Frequent check-ups save food.
Bread.—Cool home-baked bread before storing in ventilated box. In hot weather, to keep bread from molding, wrap in moistureproof paper and put in refrigerator.
Cake.—Cool on rack before storing in its own covered box, ventilated if in humid climate.
Cookies.—Crisp cookies and crackers soften if kept with bread and cake. Keep them in airtight tins or boxes all their own.
Flour, cereal, sugar, spice.—Don’t try to store much flour and cereal over the hot mohths—buy less and oftener. Store such dry foods as flour, cereal, sugar, spices in tight containers to keep out dust, moisture, insects, and mice.
Dried vegetables.—Mice and weevils are fond of dried vegetables, too. Keep dried vegetables in tight containers.
Canned goods.—Tinned foods should be kept dry to prevent rust and spoilage. Foods canned in glass should be stored in a cool dark place.
Quick-frozen foods.—Quick-frozen foods must be kept frozen solidly in the freezing compartment of a mechanical refrigerator until used. Don’t hold too long even at freezing. Once thawed, frozen foods spoil rapidly. Do not refreeze.
Waste no fats. Store butter and other table fats in tightly covered dish in a cold dark place away from strong odors. To keep cooking fats well, strain fat drippings to remove food particles and store in clean covered jars in a cool, dark, dry place until used.
Don’t drain away vegetable juices. Save them for soups and sauces.
Save fruit juices for cold drinks.
Save bread and cracker crumbs for poultry stuffing or to make a crumb blanket for scalloped dishes.
Use perishable foods promptly.
STOP EVERY SMALL LOSS OF GOOD FOOD. SAVE EVERY DROP AND CRUMB.
U S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1943
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