The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-04-03

in the household, food ruined by i'm
proper cooking, and food destroyed
| by rats, mice and insects constitute
| the heavy items in the $700,0OO,OOO
annual waste of food in homes In this
country, cited recently by the Sec9e-
tary of Agriculture. Seven hundred
million dollars is considered to be
conservative. figure. In household
waste, of course, are not included the
vast losses Of food allowed under I'M
proper handling or inefficient mar
keting' methods to spoil in transit or
in the hands of producers or dealers.
| Much Of this 100000 house
hold waste Of food, the dietary spec
ialists of the U. S. Department OF Ag-
riculture declare, is easily prevent
able. This preventable waste consists
in large part of the following items:
/. Edible food thrown into the gar
| bage pail or into the kitchen sink
That vast amounts of nourish1ng ma
terial are thrown out from American
kitchens and so made useless Tor nu-
man consumption, is we'll estNDnsneo
by the returns from garbage and Ter
tilizer plants showing the amount OF
fats and heterogeneous material recoV-
cred from city garbage.
Much of the food is thrown out, the
specialists say, because so many peo-
pie do not know how to utilize lett
overs or will not take the trouble to
keep and prepare them. The spec
ialists point out that leftover cereals
can be reheated or combined Win
fruits, meats, or vegetables into ap-
petizing side dishes: that even q
spoonful of cereal is worth saving as
a. thickener Of soups, graves anu
sauces. Stale bread can be utilized IN
a, variety of ways in combination Will
Vegetables and meats and in prepar-
ing hot breads and puddlngs. okini
milk too widely looked down upon
as q food although it contains prac-
tica1lv all the nourishing elements OF
whole milk with the exception Of the
cream or fat, can be used as pev-
erage, in cooking cereals, or as ossls
for milk soups or sauces. Even sour
Milk so largely thrown away, can be
rsod in making hot breads or In the
home manufacture of cottage cheese.
EVERY scrap of meat Or fish can pc
combined with cereals or other foods
10 cling in pronounced flavor, both 10
g;ve flavor and to add nourlshment
70 noadeAoyer dishes. Every bit OF
fa+ or suet trimmed from meat before
COOKING or tried out in boiling, roast
mo or broiling can be made useIui
in cooking. Many butchers AFTER tney
have weighed meat. and named the
nrice for the cut, trim Off ValuaDle
sna+ and fat. This fat when the'
housewife pays for, If taken nome
and used. would reduce expenditures
for nrepared cooking fats. Water useo
IN cooking rice and many OF the vege-
+ab1es contains nutrients and deslr-
ob1a flavoring materials valuaple III
so,,ns or sauces Too often 1ats anu
cuch water are poured into the SILK.
Manv persons regard the saving OF
snau amount of leftover food as I'm
irnnortant. If they kept accurate &C
count however, for any perlod' the
snecialists say, many families WouIu
he astounded by the amount OF gooo
food they are throwing out ana ny
the sums that they are paying to the
grocer the butcher, and m1lkman
merely to replace good food being ao-
solutely wasted.
2 snoilage of food due to careless
handling and storing In the nome
Important amounts OF perlsnaoie
foods are made dangerous or 1neolOie
in households because they are expos
ed -unnecessarily to heat, germs, dust'
dirt. or flies and other insects.
Much milk spoils quickly because II
is kept uncovered in warm 5k1tchens.
Close observance Of the doctrine
"Keep perishable food, especially
milk. cool, clean and covered contlnu-
ously" may make striking dl1Ierehce
in the food bills Of many families.
In other cases, one or Two sVese-
tables, beeets or carrots, Tor instance
not needed Immediately are thrown
out or allowed to spoil instead or pc
ing used in soups or complnation
dishes. Fruits which could be steWeo
and kept are alleged to spoil. Vege-
tables and fruits in quantities often
are stored in hot, damp, and poorly
ventilated bins and under conditions
which hasten whiting, fermentation
and decay. Fruits, surplus beans, to-
matoes and other vegetables produced
in home gardens are allowed to spoil
on the vines or rot on the ground. A
mornings work would can and pre-
serve such surplusage for use when
fruits and vegetables are scarce and
high in price.
Much food is ruined by being stored
where flies or other insects or rats
and mice can get at it. Much cereal
food is ruined because it is not pro-
tected against weevils or other insects
8. Food spoiled by careless cooking.
Many housewives who complain that
children and adults will not eat break
fast cereals fail to realize that the
cereals they serve are under-cooked,
scorched, or improperly seasoned and
thus made unpalatab1e. Most OF the
cheaper foods require careful season.
ing and preparation to be fully appe-
thing. In many households, the spec
ialists believe, proper attention to the
cooking of these cheap and desirable
foods will increase greatly their con-
sumption and thus reduce consider
ably the use of more expensive foods
eaten instead of cereals.
Vegetables properly prepared tempt
the appetite. When they are served
in soggy or in watery or poorly flavor
ed dishes, much of them will be left
on the table. The nutritive value and
flavor of meat or fish can be lessened
by overlooking or improper cooking.
If fats are allowed to burn even a
little, they develop unpleasant flavors
and usually cause people to refuse
gravies and sauces made with them
or foods fried in them; burned meat
is also disagreeable as are burned
vegetables.
4. Waste in preparation. Much USE
full food gets into the garbage pail be-
cause the housewife in preparing po-
tatoes or other vegetables and fruit,
such as apples, cuts off with the skin
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