The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1927-06-17
THRIFT IN BUYING
FOOD FOR FAMILY
KnolO What Is Liked, Buy
Carefully and Don't Waste.

Prepared by the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture.l
Being thrifty In buying and using
food need not mean going without
everything the family likes. 1t may
not mean having lower food bill
than your next-door neighbor, for the
food needs of her family may be alto
gether different from those Of your
household. You will be thrifty II you
know what constitutes the right kind
of food for each person in your home.
II you buy carefully, and allow moth
Ing to be wasted.
Do you know how many pounds OF
sugar, butter, -four. coffee, and other
much-used foods your family requires
each week? How many dozen eggs
when eggs are plentiful-how few you
can manage with when they are
scarce? How much of given kind OF
meat to buy for single dinner, for
two dinners, or for dinner and lunch
next day? How many slices of pine
apple there are In a can-in other
words. how many 1t will serve? How
many makings Of breakfast cereal
there are in a box Of each kind?
Definite knowledge on such points
as these, together with good system
of planning meals and buying for them
will go long way toward thrifty
management of the food supply. Some
housekeepers who keep accounts go
over the preceding months food bills,
and not only discover some of the facts
of this kind that they need to know,
but also arrive at an estimate of how
much the food per day averages, or, in
some cases, the food per person per
day. The advantage of having some
such figure as this to guide one is that
1t helps one to plan for the next week
or month and to buy more exactly. If
you know just what use is to be made
Of every pound of food material you
purchase, there will be fewer discon-
certing left-overs to use up, and the
tendency to use materials too lavishly
will also be checked. In small fami-
lies, 1t may prove most economical to
buy perishables in day-to-day amounts,
rather than to lose part through spoil
age; but as rule, buying In very
small quantities Is expensive, either
because of the uneven division Of the
selling price for halves or quarters, or
because the dealer charges higher
rate It takes him four times as long,
for instance, to handle and wrap four
quarter pounds of butter as Is re-
quired for one pound of butter.
Staple groceries and canned goods
are often sold at lower rate in dozen
or half dozen lots, and consequently
may be wisely purchased that way.
Time as well as money is saved by
shopping for such articles in quantity
at intervals of several weeks or more.
Clubbing with neighbors is often a
means of buying perishables at whole
sale rates.
Foods In season are cheaper than
those out of season, but locally pro-
duced foods may sell higher than those
brought from distance, because OF
freshness, according to the United
States Department of Agriculture.
Buy by weight Wnen you can. LIS
innate the pound rate on package
goods and compare one kind with an
other Foods in packages are often
preferred to those sold in bulk because
of the sanitary protection given by the
sealed carton.
Selling services are paid for by the
customer. Stores run on the "cash-
and-carry" plan have eliminated the
cost of delivery and credit. If your
time is valuable, however, 1t may be
better for you to buy in quantity
where delivery is furnished, even II
you have to pay more. True thrift
sees all the needs Of the home as a
whole and finds, sometimes, that the
lowest dollars-and-cents cost may not
be the thriftiest management.