Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-12-31

| it is wise to use system. Some house
keepers wait until it is time to pre-
| and buy the materials for it. ina
| is extravaganza in time, energy ant
money. Others look over their stoct
of supplies in the morning and pu!
| for that day, a method that Is some
| what less thriftless than the hrst
but that is still shortsighted ant
wasteful. 1t is easy enough for ever
an inexperienced housewife to leari
how to plan the meals for a week III
advance and thus limit marketing u
three times a week instead OF SIX.
After one has become proficient II
planning for a week, try planning 1oi
a month. The longsighted system o.
marketing will prove so practlca
J that you will find yourself aI!er
while looking even farther ahead aho
months and weeks. When tnat tlIne
| comes. instead of buying coid.siorase
eggs in December by the half ooIen
you will buy fresh eggs IN the sprin e
by the crate and put them Gown ~
water glass yourself. AS a Su ~,
not only will you have more eggs, put
| they will be better eggs ana VIII NAYS
cost only half as much; and you VII
| buy potatoes, apples, pumpklns. LUZ
nips and cabbages by the par,ei III
November. when they are the cnsap-
est and keep them in the home ceiiar'
insteat of waiting to buy them IN
small lots during the winter. Wnen the
price has doubled or trebled.
Buying ut Wholesale.
When buying thus ahead of time
you will soon learn to compute sne
quantity of given food that you ere
likely to need and to learn what Is tne
smallest amount that you can ouy a. q
wholesale price. The next step Is 70
make sure that you can store tnat
quantity where it will not spoil pc
fore it is used. Not all foods can pc
bought economically in large quanu-
ties, and certain kinds are hkely 70
be used less carefully if they are Kept
on hand in bulk; for instance, sugar
and butter.
Buying in season is an important
point. Foods bought out OF season
are, as rule, inferior in Quality ana
always cost more. You can nave =
larger quantity of the same food and
a better quality if you will save your
money until later instead of spending
it on the forced product. An excellent
plan is to make out calendar that
will show at any time in the year
generally the minimum cost at that
time. Then, by judicious buying and
canning. preserving and storing. you
can lay in a supply at the lowest cost
for use out Of season.
Food bought in packages is more
bought in bulk. since the wraQpings
protect it from dust. insects and han
ding. Ready-to-serve food, such as
crackers, cheese and raisins. should, as
a rule, be bought in packages. even
though it may cost a little more in
that form. Foods that have to be
cooked, such as cereals. macaroni and
dried fruits, will not need that pro-
lection, because they are washed be-
fore they are used and are sterilized
by the cooking. When buying food IN
Of being able to choose brands Of
standard makes. Fancy wrappings and
glass containers add nothing to the
value Of the contents. but add good
deal to the price. A purchaser should
per pound, because the law requires
that the net weight Of the contents
shall be printed on the package.
It cannot be said that all bakery
goods, jellies and canned goods are
prepared under sanitary conditions;
are sometimes used, such as dried
eggs, stale milk and poor butter. but
the standard brands of ready-cooked
foods are prepared in sanitary fac
tories and with pure ingredients.
Necessarily they cost more.
The subject Of preservatives and
adulterants in food is one that re-
is often used for bleaching food. and
benzoate Of soda and other chemicals
are frequently used as preservatives.
but it is the law that when that is
the case the wrapper must say SO.
Although such substances are per-
haps not injurious if used only occa-
sionally and in small quantities. they
are not necessary. You can readily
find foods that are prepared without
them.
Protection Of Food.
It is even more important that food
should be protected from dust and
prepared and handled by clean,
healthy workers than that 1t should
be unauthorized. The wise house.
wife, therefore. will choose market
where the food is kept covered. where
the surroundings are clean and the
statesmen neat and wholesome in ap-
pearance Before choosing bakery
YOU should find out whether 1t is
clean, we'll lighted, well ventilated
and we'll conducted.
The only way that you can learn
to tell the quality and the freshness
of meat is by personal inspection at
the market, with instruction at the
same time from an experienced
teacher. One pound Of beef or of
mutton, after the bone and gristle
have been removed. is as nutritious
as another. The expensive cuts are
no more nourishing than the others:
they cost more because there is a
greater demand for them. That de-
mand is owing to the fact that they
reouire less time for cooking. since
they have shorter muscle f1bers and
more tender connective tissue.
What the butchers call prime meat
has a. high proportion Of fat and cooks
away more than the less fatty ana
usually less expensive grades OF meat.
tissue. which are the fine white
strands, or with long muscle fbers
require slow cooking. The slow cook
ing changes the connective tissue into
"a tender gelatin and makes the low
priced cut as appetizing as the ex-
pensive sirloin or tenderloin.
A few important things to bear IN
mind are these: By going to market
and making your own selections you
will get far better value than by or
dering over the telephone or through
a salesman. Paying cash is conducive
to economy. whereas a charge account
is a temptation to extravaganza. Buy
ing direct from the producer or from
the manufacturer usually means a
considerable saving. Wherever a num-
her of housekeepers cooperate in
their marketing and order wholesale
quantities of eggs, butter, fruit and
staples they nno that they can. save
| a surprising amount of money and
energy.
The study of the cost Of food goes
hand in hand with successful market
ing. There are several ways in which
you can work out q useful family
| a certain sum for the whole weekly
food allowances much for each
person-and then make out q list OF
| the foods that you must have, with
| the quantity Of each that viii Be re-
Quired for q week and tho cost Of that