SAVE FOOD
_REASONS WHY OUR GOVERNMENT ASKS US NOT TO WASTE FOOD, WITH PRACTICAL RECIPES ON THE USE OF LEFTOVERS_
Elimination of food waste is to-day a patriotic service. It is also a most effective method of solving our food problem. This country, like all the powers at war, will undoubtedly be called upon to face increasing prices so long as the war continues, and waste in any form is not only needless squandering of the family income, but failure in devotion to a great cause.
Food waste is due to poor selection of raw materials, to careless storage and heedless preparation, to bad cooking, to injudicious serving, and to the overflowing garbage pail.
To select food in such a way as will eliminate waste and at the same time insure the best possible return for money spent, the housekeeper must purchase for nutriment rather than to please her own or the family palate.
When eggs are sixty and seventy cents a dozen their price is out of all proportion to their food value. Tomatoes at five or ten cents apiece in winter do not supply sufficient nutriment to warrant their cost, nor does capon at forty-five cents a pound nourish the body any better than the frica.s.see fowl at twenty-eight cents. In order to prevent such costly purchasing, a knowledge of food values is necessary. The simplest and easiest way to plan food values is to divide the common food materials into five main groups and see that each of these groups appear in each day"s menu.
GROUP 1.--FOODS DEPENDED ON FOR MINERAL MATTERS, VEGETABLE ACIDS, AND BODY-REGULATING SUBSTANCES.
FRUITS
Apples, pears, etc., Berries, Melons, Oranges, lemons, all citrus fruits.
VEGETABLES
Salads, lettuce, celery, Potherbs or "greens"
Tomatoes, squash, Green peas, green beans, Potatoes and root vegetables.
GROUP 2.--FOODS DEPENDED ON FOR PROTEIN.
Milk, skim milk, cheese, Eggs, Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dried peas, beans, cow-peas, Nuts.
GROUP 3.--FOODS DEPENDED ON FOR STARCH.
Cereals, grains, meals, flour, Cereal breakfast foods, Bread, Crackers, Macaroni and other pastes, Cakes, cookies, starchy puddings, Potatoes, other starchy vegetables, Bananas.
GROUP 4.--FOODS DEPENDED ON FOR SUGAR.
Sugar, Mola.s.ses, Syrups, Dates, Raisins, Figs.
GROUP 5.--FOODS DEPENDED ON FOR FAT.
b.u.t.ter and cream, Lard, suet, Salt pork and bacon, Table and salad oils, Vegetable, nut, and commercial cooking fats and oils.
If from each of these groups the housekeeper, when buying, chooses the lowest-cost food, she will provide the necessary nutriment for the least expenditure of money. In war time such marketing is essential.
Other causes of waste in food purchasing may be enumerated as follows: Ordering by telephone. This permits the butcher or grocer, who has no time to make selection of foods, to send what comes ready to hand; whereas if the housekeeper did her own selecting, she could take advantage of special prices or "leaders"--food sold at cost or nearly cost to attract patronage.
Buying out-of-season foods also makes marketing costly. Through lack of knowledge concerning the periods at which certain fruits and vegetables are seasonable, and therefore cheaper and in best flavor, housekeepers frequently pay exorbitant prices for poor flavored, inferior products.
Buying in localities where high rental and neighborhood standards compel the shopkeeper to charge high prices, the consumer pays not only for the rent and the plate gla.s.s windows, but for display of out-of-season delicacies, game and luxury-foods. Markets should be selected where food in season is sold; where cleanliness and careful attention prevail rather than showy display.
Many a dollar is foolishly spent for delicatessen foods. The retail cost of ready prepared foods includes a fraction of the salary of the cook and the fuel, as well as the regular percentage of profit. The food, also, is not so nourishing or flavorsome as if freshly cooked in the home kitchen.
Buying perishable foods in larger quant.i.ties than can be used immediately. Too frequently meats, fish, eggs, vegetables, milk and cream are purchased in quant.i.ties larger than needed for immediate consumption, and lack of knowledge of use of left-overs causes what is not eaten to be discarded.
Buying non-perishable foods in small quant.i.ties instead of in bulk.
Food costs on an average 50 to 75 per cent. more when purchased in small quant.i.ties. Select a grocer who keeps his goods in sanitary condition and who will sell in bulk; then do your purchasing from him on a large scale and extend the sanitary care to your own storeroom.
Buying foods high in price but low in food value. Asparagus, canned or fresh, is not as nourishing, for instance, as canned corn or beans.
Strawberries out of season do not compare with dates, figs or raisins which are to be had at all times.
Buying without planning menus. By this carelessness foods are often purchased which do not combine well, and therefore do not appeal to the appet.i.te, and so are wasted. Unplanned meals also lead to an unconscious extravagance in buying and an unnecessary acc.u.mulation of left-overs.
Buying foreign brands when domestic brands are cheaper and often better.
Leaving the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs from meats and poultry at the butcher"s. Bring these home and fry out the fatty portions for dripping; use all other parts for the stock pot.
Having purchased for nutriment and in sufficiently large quant.i.ties to secure bulk rates, careful storage is the next step in the prevention of waste. Flour, cereals and meals become wormy if they are not kept in clean, covered utensils and in a cool place. Milk becomes sour, especially in summer. This can be prevented by scalding it as soon as received, cooling quickly, and storing in a cold place in covered, well-scalded receptacles. Sour milk should not be thrown out. It is good in biscuits, gingerbread, salad dressings, cottage cheese, pancakes or waffles, and bread making.
Meats should not be left in their wrappings. Much juice soaks into the paper, which causes a loss of flavor and nutriment. Store all meat in a cool place and do not let flies come in contact with it.
Bread often molds, especially in warm, moist weather. Trim off moldy spots and heat through. Keep the bread box sweet by scalding and sunning once a week.
Cheese molds. Keep in a cool, dry place. If it becomes too dry for table use, grate for sauces or use in scalloped dishes.
Winter vegetables wilt and dry out. Store in a cool place. If cellar s.p.a.ce permits, place in box of sand, sawdust or garden earth.
Potatoes and onions sprout. Cut off the sprouts as soon as they appear and use for soup. Soak, before using, vegetables which have sprouted.
Fruits must be stored carefully so as to keep the skins unbroken.
Broken spots in the skin cause rapid decay. Do not permit good fruit to remain in contact with specked or rotted fruit. Stored fruit should be looked over frequently and all specked or rotted fruit removed.
Sweet potatoes are an exception. Picking over, aggravates the trouble.
See that these vegetables are carefully handled at all times; if rot develops, remove only those that can be reached without danger of bruising the sound roots. Sweet potatoes may also be stored like fruit by spreading over a large surface and separating the tubers so that they do not touch each other.
Berries should be picked over as soon as received and spread on a platter or a large surface to prevent crushing and to allow room for circulation of air.
Lettuce and greens wilt. Wash carefully as soon as received and use the coa.r.s.e leaves for soup. Shake the water from the crisp portions and store in a paper bag in a cold refrigerator.
Lemons when cut often grow moldy before they are used. When lemons are spoiling, squeeze out the juice, make a syrup of one cup of sugar and one cup of water, boil ten minutes and add lemon juice in any amount up to one cup. Bring to boiling point and bottle for future use. This bottled juice may be used for puddings, beverages, etc. If only a small amount of juice is needed, p.r.i.c.k one end of a lemon with a fork.
Squeeze out the amount needed and store the lemon in the ice-box.
When we come to waste caused by careless preparation we may be reminded of the miracle of the loaves and fishes--how all the guests were fed and then twelve baskets were gathered up. Often after preparation that which is gathered up to be thrown away is as large in quant.i.ty and as high in food value as the portions used.
Vegetables are wasted in preparation by too thick paring, the discarding of coa.r.s.e leaves such as are found on lettuce, cabbage and cauliflower, discarding wilted parts which can be saved by soaking, throwing away tips and roots of celery and the roots and ends of spinach and dandelions. All these waste products can be cooked tender, rubbed through a sieve and used with stock for vegetable soup, or with skimmed milk for cream soup. Such products are being conserved by the enemy, even to the onion skin, which is ground into bread-making material.
Throwing away the water in which vegetables have been cooked wastes their characteristic and valuable element--the mineral salts. Cooking them so much that they become watery; under-cooking so that they are hard and indigestible; cooking more than is required for a meal; failing to use left-over portions promptly as an entree or for cream soups or scalloped dishes--all these things mean an appalling waste of valuable food material. Good food material is also lost when the water in which rice or macaroni or other starchy food has been boiled is poured down the kitchen sink. Such water should be used for soup making.
Fruits are wasted by throwing away the cores and skins, which can be used for making sauces, jams and jellies, the latter being sweetened with corn syrup instead of sugar.