Daily Kennebec journal., 1884-04-05

Living Economically.

il has been said. and with more than q
single grain Of truth. that in nearly every
family in this country enough food Is
wasted to keep family of the same size
and means in Europe. This waste be-
gins in careless or unskilled buying. and
ends, after the waste of uDskilled cook
ing in the well filed scrap bucket The
following hints and suggestions will be
found worth considering. If faithfully
brought into practice, many family that
now finds it difficult to make both ends
meet will discover the way out OF trouble
and embarrassment:
The art of living economically and well
is an accomplishment which our people
know little about and yet is one on which
the question of independence may exclu-
sively turn.
The family of limited means which turns
the scraps Of broken victuals to the best
account, takes advantage OF the mar
kets by avoiding the high priced arti-
cles, and limiting itself to those which
are cheaper and nearly as good. and
suffers nothing to be wasted. will live
comfortably and save enough to secure
comparative independence in the course
of wears, while other families in similar
situation that neglect these little lessons
will remain poor and dependent. Ii Is not
what a man earns, but what he saves, that
decides the question of independence in
this country.
The art Of living includes the minor arts
of buying. making. cooking, serving fur
nishine and the other little details which
the Germans and French excel in, and
which Americans too often hold beneath
their notice With practical knowledge
Of these family may live well and save
money on the same stipend which another
will entirely sqnander without securing
an equal degree OF comfort.
The variety of food articles in this
country is so great that there are few oc-
casions when a thrifty housekeeper may
not be able to secure a comparatively
cheap dinner, even when many staples
are high IL is true. when meat and po-
tatoes are high, families OF small means
find il hardship. But there are thou
sands of persons in the community per-
forming no hard manual labor who do not
need meat and potato three times day. nor
even once a day. Soup--the art of max
ing which is one every family ought to ac-
qure-may be prepared with few bits
OF fI-n anu Done anu ft1tidDits at "a u i
fling cost. and when skilllully made goes
far toward compensating for the absence
of meat.
Oatmeal, which is nearly always cheap,
is wholesome, nutritious and abundant in
the properties of muscular fibre. Corn,
the cheapest of all grains raised in the
country, possesses capacities for trans
formation into food which are strangely
neglected. 1t may he eaten in the form
of bread meal porridge. hominy or grits.
in each of which it presents different at
fractions. Eggs, during larger portion
of the year, are cheap and always palata-
BILE and nutritious the lower grades of
dried fruit are rarely expensive, and all
through the summer and part of the win
ter the markets generally abound in GER
tain kinds of vegetables that may be had
at trifling cost.
We are not limited to one or two arti-
cles of cheap food in this country. Our
soil and climate are generous beyond those
of other lands in yielding variety of life
sustaining products and little systemat-
ic experimenting in buying, preparing.
cooking and saving will enable any thrifty
family to live in comfort, even when high
prices place meat and potatoes almost
beyond their reach.