Huntsville gazette., 1881-12-17
what Foods are Most Economicals

..=sl ~ asa 81.
With an advance of twenty to 100 per
sent, and more, in the price of staple
foods, the above is now most lmpor-
tant question to over forty millions OF
our people, and one of much interest to
seven or eight millions more. Probably
there are not two millions who take no
thought or care as to the cost OF their
daily diet. Meats, flour, potatoes, corn
meal, and milk are the main articles OF
sustenance for the great masses. FISH,
rice, beans, and oatmeal (recently), !,
with lesser amounts of some other artl-
cles, are consumed; but these alto
gether do not, we judge, constitute
one-tenth of the food of the entire
people, perhaps not more than five or
SIX per cent.
Dried or smoked beef, ham and cheese
rank high, but dried fish outranks all
others. The nutritive value of dried
Goldfish is remarkable, and it deserves
special attentions 100 lbs. of it supply
ing as much nutriment as 341 lbs. OF
beef! 1t is cheap and abundant every
where, because very portable, and easily
kept. II yields labor sustaining aliment
at from one-third down to one-ninth of
the cost of beef in different sections of
the country. 1t is easily digestible, and
if properly freshened and cooked, it can
be made palatable and acceptable to a
very large class4needing to practice
economy.
OF the relative value of potatoes, flour.
and corn-meal, we speak elsewhere. At
the average price of beans, these are
the cheapest self-sustaining of all direct
products of the soil, if not charred or
hardened in baking The drought has
greatly diminished the yield, and the
present price is high, but they are still
comparatively economical.
The occupation of any class of persons
has much to do with deciding the most
economical foods. 1t is estimated that,
in a temperate climate, an average man
needs, each twenty-four hours, simply
to sustain life without increasing his
weight, about eleven and half ounces
of heat-producing, and four and three
quarters of f1esh-forming foods. Labor
ers, and those putting forth much exer-
ton, need most of the fesh-forming
food, such as lean meats of all kinds,
eggs, cheese, fish, beans, peas, oatmeal,
DTedu, caDDdSe, TOOUS, etc.
Those exposed to cold need more of
che heat-producing foods, as fat meats,
corn-meal, and generally those articles
containing large amounts of oil or
starch or both, of sugar, etc.
Those working hard, in cold weather,
need much of both kinds combined, as
in pork and beans.
Wheat contains about sixty-nine per
cent of heat-producing, and eleven per
cent of flesh-forming elements Indian
corn about seventy per cent of heat-pro-
ducing starch and Oil, and nine per cent
of tlesh-formers. Beans and peas about
fifty-two per cent of heat-producing oil
and starch, and twenty-five per cent of
flesh-formers.
Milk admirably combines fesh-form-
ing curd or cheese, and the heat-pro-
ducing oil (butter) and sugar. All kinds
of cheese, including the cottage or sour
milk cheese, are excellent strength Civ
ing food. All skinned milk may be
very economically used in supplying
cottage or soft cheese as a strength-giv.
ing human food. This soft cheese is, in
utility and value, very like lean meats
MacCaroni makes an excellent variety
in the scarcity of vegetables, and should
be much better known, and more used
by the masses here. 1t is the staple
food of the common people in Italy, in
deed of most classes. 1t is made of
strongly glutinous wheat flour; hence
is fesh-forming, while its starch sup
plies heat. 1t may ne cooked tender in
boiling water, seasoned with salt, and
eaten with or even without cream sauce,
or milk or butter. After boiling it can
be put in pudding dish, with about a
quarter of its weight of grated cheese
sprinkled over it, and lightly baked.
The addition of cheese makes this diet
about equal to leaa meat as a flesh
former. w
Ripe peas should be more commonly
used. A bowl of good pea soup is as
satisfying as hearty dinner on a cold
day. To make a gallon of it, wash
pint OF peas and soak them over night;
then boil in five pints of water, gently
simmering three hours or so, until
thoroughly soft. With potato masher
rub the soup through colander or
wire sieve. A pound of beef or ham
bone may be boiled with the peas. The
soup may be seasoned in various ways
with onions, cloves, pepper, sugar, any
OR all OF them, to make them most pala-
table. Bean soup may be made sipil-
arly.
Stewed carrots are far more nour-
ishing and economical human food than
is generally known, and they should not
} be mainly left for animals. Scrape the
roots, chop into small pieces, and stew
in water until very tender. They may
be seasoned with four-and-butter sauce
z all the better with cream added-and
in various other ways. Some like them
made piquant with dish of cayenne
.1necricae Agriculta1st.
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