While this may seem a formidable list, it will not be found expensive.
Some of the above articles may be omitted and others subst.i.tuted. It must be remembered that the utensils will be well cared for, consequently will last for many years. In country schools, or where gas is not available, oil stoves may be used. In some schools, where s.p.a.ce is limited, one small table is used, two or more pupils demonstrating the lesson under the supervision of the teacher, the pupils taking this duty in alternation. The remainder of the cla.s.s observe and take notes.
The cost of material is trifling. It should not average more than fifty cents per pupil per annum, and for a large number should average less than this amount.
The Boston school kitchens are, many of them, furnished at a cost of from $200 to $300. A fair average cost for Ontario should be about $175.
PLANNING AND SERVING MEALS.
During the last quarter of school work each pupil should submit a typical menu for breakfast, dinner and supper, allowing for a certain number of people. Consider the occupation, and give reasons for the choice of food for each meal.
State how long it should take to prepare the meal, and give the cost.
Insist upon variety in menus, and request the pupil to describe how the meal should be served. _System_, neatness and promptness should be especially emphasized. Clean table linen--no matter how coa.r.s.e--is possible for every one. A dish of fruit or flowers, if only a bunch of green foliage, improves the appearance of the table.
During the school course a special lesson should be devoted to setting the table and serving meals, with and without a waitress, so as to give a knowledge of how a meal should be served, no matter what the pupil"s position in life may be or what part she may have to perform.
A FEW GENERAL HINTS ON SETTING THE TABLE.
Although every housekeeper has her own method for serving meals, a few general principles govern all properly regulated service. When setting the table, cover first with a canton-flannel or felt cloth, in order to prevent noise and protect the table. Place each article in its proper place and not in a confused "jumble." See that the tablecloth is spread smoothly, that the corners are of equal length, that the crease--if the cloth has been folded instead of rolled--is exactly in the centre. Place the fruit or flowers in the centre of the table.
For each person place knife, spoon and gla.s.s on the right, fork and napkin on the left. Place the gla.s.s at the point of the knife. Turn the edge of the knife towards the plate and the fork tines up, the spoon with the bowl up. If soup is to be served, place a square of bread or a roll on top of the napkin or between the folds. Place the pepper and salt at the corners of the table, unless individual salts are used, when they should be placed at the head of the plates, where the dessert spoon may be placed--the handle towards the right--for convenience.
The general rule in serving simple family meals, with or without a waitress, is for the hostess to serve the porridge and coffee at breakfast; the soup, salad and dessert at dinner, and pour the tea at the evening meal. When luncheon is served in the middle of the day the hostess usually does the greater part of the serving, as luncheon is considered to be the most informal meal of the day.
A FEW HINTS FOR WAITRESSES.
Learn to move quickly and quietly. Be scrupulously clean and neat in every detail of dress and habit. Before serving a meal see that hands and finger nails are clean. Always have a fresh white ap.r.o.n ready to put on before the meal is announced. Look over the table and see that everything is in its place before announcing a meal. Fill the gla.s.ses with water either before the family enter the dining room or immediately after they are seated. Lift the covers from hot dishes and turn them over at once in order to prevent the steam from dropping on the cloth. Take the plate from the host or hostess, and place before each person from the right side--keep the thumb well under the plate.
When pa.s.sing anything from which the persons seated at table help themselves, such as vegetables, sauces, etc., always go to the left, so as to leave the right hand of the one to be served free. Keep a watchful eye over the table and pa.s.s anything apparently required.
Learn to receive instructions from the hostess in an undertone. Do not get excited and try to do too many things at once. It is an accomplishment to be a good waitress, as it requires special refinement and deftness, which are scarcely compatible with an untidy nature.
When serving meals without a waitress, the daughters of the house should consider it their special privilege to save the mother any annoyance or discomfort during the meal time. Never allow dishes, which have been used, to acc.u.mulate on the table or allow the table to become disordered. As much of the food as possible should be placed on the table before the family are seated, and the plates or dishes removed at once after using. No matter how simple the meal may be, every housekeeper should see that it is served neatly and on time.
Teachers may exercise a far-reaching influence in the refining of home life by impressing upon the pupils the importance of these--too often considered--minor matters, and by giving minute instructions in the setting of table and serving the meal. One carefully planned _practice_ lesson will convey more knowledge of such matters than any number of lectures or pages of theory.
CONSIDERATION OF MENUS.
The following menus and a.n.a.lyses are taken from bulletin No. 74, prepared in the United States Experiment Stations, and are inserted so as to give some idea of the cost and relative value of various foods in combination. _It must be remembered that the prices given are in excess of prices in Ontario, therefore the cost per menu would be less than is given in these ill.u.s.trations._ The more expensive menus have been omitted. The writer of the article says:--
"In planning a well balanced diet the following points must be considered:--
(1) The use of any considerable amount of fat meat or starchy food should be offset by the use of some material rich in protein. Thus, if roast pork is to be eaten for dinner, veal, fish, or lean beef might well be eaten for breakfast or supper, or both. Bean soup furnishes a considerable amount of protein, while bouillon, consomme, and tomato soup are practically useless as a source of nutriment. Skim milk also furnishes protein, with but very little accompanying fats and carbohydrates to increase the fuel value.
(2) The use of lean meats or fish for all three meals would require the use of such foods as rice, tapioca, or cornstarch pudding, considerable quant.i.ties of sugar and b.u.t.ter, and more vegetables, in order to furnish sufficient fuel value.
(3) Since flour, sugar, and b.u.t.ter or lard enter very largely into pastries and desserts, the larger the quant.i.ties of these dishes that are consumed the larger does the fuel value tend to become as compared with the protein."
The princ.i.p.al cla.s.ses of food materials may be roughly grouped as follows as regards the proportion of protein to fuel value, beginning with those which have the largest proportion of protein and ending with those which contain little or no protein:--
Foods containing a large amount of protein as compared with the fuel value.
Fish; veal; lean beef, such as shank, shoulder, canned corned, round, neck, and chuck; skim milk.
Foods containing a medium amount of protein.
Fowl; eggs; mutton leg and shoulder; beef, fatter cuts, such as rib, loin, rump, flank, and brisket; whole milk; beans and peas; mutton chuck and loin; cheese; lean pork; oatmeal and other breakfast foods; flour; bread, etc.
Foods containing little or no protein.
Vegetables and fruit; fat pork; rice; tapioca; starch; b.u.t.ter and other fats and oils; sugar, syrups.
THE MENUS.
To ill.u.s.trate the ways in which milk may be combined with other food materials, to form daily dietaries with about the amount of protein and the fuel value called for by the standard for men at moderate muscular work, a few menus are given in the following pages. These menus are intended to show how approximately the same nutritive value may be obtained by food combinations differing widely as regards the number, kind, and price of the food materials used to make up three daily meals. They also ill.u.s.trate how the cost of the daily menu may vary greatly with the kind and variety of materials purchased, though the nutritive value remains the same. These sample menus should not, however, be regarded as in any sense "models" to be followed in actual practice. The daily menus for any family will necessarily vary with the market supply, the season, and the relative expensiveness of different food materials, as well as with the tastes and purse of the consumers. The point to which we wish here to draw especial attention is that the prudent buyer of foods for family consumption can not afford to wholly neglect their nutritive value in making such purchases.
With reference to the following daily menus, several points must be definitely borne in mind. (1) The amounts given represent about what would be called for in a family equivalent to four full-grown men at ordinary manual labor, such as machinists, carpenters, mill-workers, farmers, truckmen, etc., according to the usually accepted standards.
Sedentary people would require somewhat less than the amounts here given. (2) Children as a rule may be considered as having "moderate muscular exercise," and it may easily be understood that the 14-year-old boy eats as much as his father who is engaged in business or professional occupation, both requiring, according to the tentative standard, 0.8 of the food needed by a man with moderate muscular work.
(3) It is not a.s.sumed that any housewife will find it convenient to follow exactly the proportions suggested in the menus. The purpose is to show her about what amounts and proportions of food materials would give the required nutrients.
A family equivalent to four men having little muscular exercise--_i.e._, men with sedentary occupation--would require but about 0.8 the quant.i.ties indicated in the following menus. It would be very doubtful, however, if they would eat proportionally less of every food material. It would, in fact, be more probable that the amounts of meat, fish, eggs, potatoes, and bread eaten would be reduced in a much greater proportion than fruit, pastry, coffee, etc.
PECUNIARY ECONOMY OF MILK AND OTHER FOODS.
_Amounts of actual nutrients obtained in different food materials for 10 cts._
_Food Material._ _Lbs. Oz._
Whole Milk, 10 cts. per qt. 2 0 " " 8 " 2 8 " " 7 " 2 14 " " 6 " 3 5 " " 5 " 4 0 " " 4 " 5 0 Skim " 3 " 6 11 Skim " 2 " 10 0 b.u.t.ter, 24 cts. per lb. 0 7 Cheese, 16 " 0 10 Beef, round, 12 cts. per lb. 0 13 " sirloin, 18 " 0 9 Mutton, loin, 16 " 0 10 Pork, salt 12 " 0 13 Cod, salt 6 " 1 9 Eggs, 22 cts. per doz. 0 11 Oysters, 30 cts. per qt. 0 11 Potatoes, 60 cts. per bushel 10 0 Beans, dried, 8 cts. per qt. 2 8 Wheat flour, 3 cts. per lb. 3 5
MENU I.--_For family equivalent to 4 men at moderate muscular work._
----------------------------+-----------+----------+---------+---------- | | | | Fuel Food materials. | Weight. | Cost. | Protein.| Value.
----------------------------+-----------+----------+---------+---------- | | | | _Breakfast._ |Lbs. Oz. | Cents. | Pounds. | Calories.
| | | | Bananas, 4 (or grapes, | | | | 1 pound) | 1 4 | 6-1/2 | .009 | 362 Breakfast cereal | 4 | | / .031 | 421 Milk | 8 | > 3 |< .016="" |="" 162="" sugar="" |="" 1-1/="" 2|/="" |="" ...="" |="" 175="" veal="" cutlets="" |="" 1="" 0="" |="" 20="" |="" .200="" |="" 775="" potatoes="" |="" 1="" 0="" |="" 1-1/2="" |="" .018="" |="" 325="" b.u.t.ter="" |="" 3="" |="" 6="" |="" ...="" |="" 653="" rolls="" |="" 12="" |="" 4="" |="" .077="" |="" 1,148="" coffee="" |="" ...="" |="" 3-1/2="" |="" .010="" |="" 410="" |-----------+----------+---------+---------="" total="" |="" |="" 44-1/2="" |="" .361="" |="" 4,431="" |="" |="" |="" |="" _dinner._="" |="" |="" |="" |="" |="" |="" |="" |="" pea="" soup:="" |="" |="" |="" |="" split="" peas="" |="" 8="" |="" |="" .121="" |="" 820="" b.u.t.ter="" |="" 1="" |=""> 5 |< ...="" |="" 217="" flour="" |="" 1="" |/="" |="" .007="" |="" 103="" roast="" beef,="" chuck="" rib="" |="" 1="" 12="" |="" 21="" |="" .275="" |="" 1,260="" potatoes="" |="" 1="" 4="" |="" 1-1/3="" |="" .022="" |="" 406="" turnips="" |="" 8="" |="" 1="" |="" .005="" |="" 67="" cottage="" pudding="" with="" |="" |="" |="" |="" lemon="" sauce:="" |="" |="" |="" |="" 1="" cup="" flour="" |="" 4="" |="" |="" .028="" |="" 410="" sugar="" |="" 3="" |="" |/="" ...="" |="" 350="" b.u.t.ter="" |="" 1-1/2="" |="" 6-1/2="" |="" ...="" |="" 325="" 1="" cup="" milk="" |="" 8="" |/="" |="" .016="" |="" 162="" sugar="" |="" 4="" |="" |="" ...="" |="" 465="" cornstarch="" |="" 1-1/2="" |=""> 2-1/2 |< ...="" |="" 172="" b.u.t.ter="" |="" 1/2="" |/="" |="" ...="" |="" 108="" coffee="" |="" ...="" |="" 3-1/2="" |="" .010="" |="" 410="" |-----------+----------+---------+----------="" total="" |="" |="" 41="" |="" .484="" |="" 5,275="" |="" |="" |="" |="" _supper._="" |="" |="" |="" |="" |="" |="" |="" |="" milk="" toast:="" |="" |="" |="" |="" milk="" |="" 2="" 0="" |="" |="" .066="" |="" 650="" bread="" |="" 1="" 2="" |="" 18="" |/="" .107="" |="" 1,356="" b.u.t.ter="" |="" 4="" |="" |="" ...="" |="" 869="" cornstarch="" |="" 2="" |/="" |="" ...="" |="" 228="" canned="" salmon="" |="" 8="" |="" 8="" |="" .098="" |="" 340="" fried="" potatoes:="" |="" |="" |="" |="" potatoes="" |="" 8="" |="" 1="" |/="" .009="" |="" 162="" lard="" |="" 1/2="" |/="" |="" ...="" |="" 132="" cake="" |="" 6="" |="" 4="" |="" .026="" |="" 619="" coffee="" or="" tea="" |="" ...="" |="" 3-1/2="" |="" .010="" |="" 410="" |-----------+----------+---------+----------="" total="" |="" |="" 34-1/2="" |="" .316="" |="" 4,766="" |="==========|==========|=========|==========" total="" for="" day="" |="" |="" 120="" |="" 1.161="" |="" 14,472="" |="==========|==========|=========|==========" total="" for="" one="" man="" |="" |="" 30="" |="" .290="" |="" 3,618="" ----------------------------+-----------+----------+---------+----------="">
MENU II.--_For family equivalent to 4 men at moderate muscular work._