The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1917-04-19
STOP rood WASTE
Much Of the 500. 100000 Annual
Waste in Homes Caused by Careless
Handling, Improper Cooking. Etc.

II ruined by careless cooking
BY careless pairing and trimming.
When too much is served at meal
Good food heodlessly thrown into
garbage pals, food allowed TO spoil in
! the household, food ruined by improp.
er cooking, and food destroyed by
rats, mice. and insects constitute the
heavy items in the 100000 900 annual
waste of food in homes in this country
cited recently by the Secretary OF
Agriculture. Seven hundred million
dollars il considered to be conserva-
tive figure. In household waste, OF
course, are not included the vast loss
es Of food allowed under improper
1 handling or Inefficient marketing
methods TO spoil in transit or in the
hands of producers or dealers.
Much of this S700, 000,0 household
waste of food, the dietary specialists
of the United States Department of
| Agriculture declare, is easily prevent
able. This preventable waste consists
in large part Of the following items:
"a Edible food thrown into the gar
bage pail or into the kitchen sink
That vast amounts of nourishing ma
terial are thrown out from American
kitchens and so made useless for hum
an consumption, is well established by
the returns from garbage and fertile
er plants showing the amount of fats
and heterogeneous material removed
from city garbage.
Much of the food is thrown out, the
specialists say, because so many
people do not now how to utilize cleft
overs" or will not take the trouble to
keep and prepare them The special
lists point out that leftover cereals
can be re-heated or combined with
fruits, meats, or vegetables into appe-
tizing side dishes; that even a spoon
full of cereal is worth saving as a
thickener of soups, gravies, and
sauces. Stale bread can be utilized in
variety of ways in combination with
vegetables and meats and in prepar-
ing hot breads and buildings. Skim
milk, too widely looked down upon as
food, although it contains practical
ly all the nourishing elements of
whole milk with the exception of the
cream or fat, can be used as bever-
age, in cooking cereals, or as a basis
for milk soups or sauces. Even sour
milk, so largely thrown away, can be
used in making hot breads or in the
home manufacture of cottage cheese.
Every scrap Of meat or fish can be
combined with cereals or other foods
lacking in pronounced flavor, both to
give flavor and to add nourishment to
made-over dishes. Every bit of fat
or suet trimmed from meat before
cooking or tried out in boiling, roast
ing, or broiling can be made useful in
cooking. Many butchers, after they
have weighed meat and named the
price for the cut, trim off valuable
suet and fat. This fat, which the
housewife pays for, if taken home and
used, would reduce expenditures for
cooking fats. Water used in
cooking rice and many of the vege-
tables contains nutrients and desirable |
havoring materials valuable in soups
or sauces. Too often fats and such
water are poured into the sink.
Many persons regard the saving of
small amounts of leftover food as un
important. If they kept accurate ac-
count, however, for any period, the
specialists say, many families would
De astounded by the amount of good
'ood they are throwing out and by the
sums that they are paying to the
grocer, the butcher, and milkman
merely to replace good food being abb
;olutely wasted.
(2) Spoilage of food due to careless
and storing in the home
important amounts of perishable
GODS are made dangerous or inedible
n households because they are expos
d unnecessarily TO heat, germs, dust,
Iirt, or to flies and other insects.
Much milk spoils quickly because it
5 kept uncovered in warm kitchens.
Keep perishable food, especially
mix, cool, clean, and covered contin-
ously' may make striking differ
nee in the food bills Of many fam
les.
In other cases, one or two vege- J
ables, bcets or carrots, for instance,
OF needed Immediately, are thrown
at or allowed to spoil instead Of be-
x used in soups or combination {
ishes. Fruits which could be stewed
nd kept are allowed to spoil. Veg {
tables and fruits in quantities often
re stored in hot, damp, and poorly Il
.ntilated bins and under conditions
hich hasten whiting, fermentation, D
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