The Washington herald., 1917-06-14
HOUSEWIVES DAILY
ECONOMY CALENDAR
KEEPING THE REFRIGERATOR
COLD.
~ FRANCES MARSHALL.

What do you personally think OF
the various sorts Of pads that are
now on the market to be used to
wrap around the ice IN your icebox
to keep the ice from melting?
Well, that all depends on what you
are taking ice for.
II you are taking Ice IN order to
keep the food in your refrigerator
cool you surely don't want one OF
those ice pads, for II Is obvious
enough that your ice will do no good
In lowering the temperature Of your
refrigerator until it oegins 10 melt.
In melting It takes on heat, The heat
that IL in the food Compartments. And
until the ice does that II docs not
serve the purpose for which you
bought It.
However, II you have bought q lot
Of ice, say Saturday morning, and
want to keep surplus supply for
making ice cream or for replenishng
your icebox on Sunday, then the pads
are Wen and good.
This is q good plan for keeping ice:
Have the icenian put the ice in a tub
or wooden box. II you have sawdust
at hand cover the ice well first with
sawdust and then wrap II well with
a piece of old carpet, burlap or other
heavy packing. II you have no saw
dust, newspapers are excellent. Have
the tub or box kept In as dark and
as cool place rs you have. The ice
then will refrain from melting-and
that IL just what you want It to do
II you are keeping 1t on hand for fu-
ture use.
One thing to remember IL you want
to keep your icebox at d nice tempera-
ture is not to put food In II till It has
become cooled to the normal air tenn
perature. Now this does not mean
that you should permit food that has
been taken from the table, or freshly
cooked foods, to stand around your
pantry or kitchen In summer time for
any length of time before putting
them in the refrigerator. This is Just
what you don't want to do, for 1t is
one of the best ways OF bringing
about the bacterial action that pro-
duces food poisoning. What you
should do is this: Place the food
IL It Is some such thing as apple
sauce or stewed fruits-in a bowl or
Jar and then set that In a pan of
water as cold as 1t can be drawn from
the faucet Hot meat or soup may
be put in a bowl also, and this may
be cooled on in cold water in this
way. 1t is best to coyer the food
when this is going on-always il there
are flies about. II there is no cover
for the container use a piece of clean
paper.
Another thing to remember is that
a refrigerator keeps cool much bet
ter when 1t Is dry. What is known as
a moist" refrigerator is never an
economical one. Sometimes women
have radishes, lettuce and other fresh
vegetables floating In a lot of water
in bowl and they put this In the
refrigerator. In the first place II is
not the best way to keep vegetables.
They should be well washed and then
shaken out and put away wrapped in
clean towel or. better still, in a pa
per bag. But merely from the point
OF view OF temperature, you should
keep the refrigerator as dry as DOS
sible, for, for some good and proper
chemical reason, moist foods require
more cold ice to keep cold. Soups and
other liquids should be kept as tight
ly covered as possible In order to keep
up your ideal Of a dry refrigerator,
Copyright, lsI7.)