35 



beino- served to each where butter is indicated with bread on the menu. 

 Two students, who preferred a hearty breakfast with steak or chops, 

 felt the loss of meat especially. On the other hand, three who were 

 accustomed to a luncheon of crackers during the forenoon omitted it 

 Yoluntarih', reporting- that this was done simply because they felt no 

 need of supplementing- the breakfast provided. With these exceptions, 

 it was the opinion of the family that, generally speaking, they would 

 not have noticed anv marked change from their usual fare. 



The importance from the standpoint of econoni}- of selecting foods 

 which are nourishing rather than those having a low food value but 

 which please the palate and add to the attractiveness of the diet, is 

 illustrated by a dietary study made of a famih^ in New Jersey " in 

 which it was found that $2.16 was expended in three weeks for 

 oranges and $3 for celery, making a total of $5.16 for these two arti- 

 cles, which together furnished only 150 grams of protein and 6,4J:5 

 calories of energy. During the same period $5.16 was also expended 

 for cereal foods and sugars, which supplied 3,375 grams of protein and 

 18-1,185 calories of energy, or about twentj'-live times the amount fur- 

 nished ])y the oranges and celer3^ Of course, the sum expended for 

 these articles was not excessive and the}^ undoubtedly helped to make 

 the diet palatable and pleasing, a by no means unimportant considera- 

 tion, but it is evident that they were not economical sources of nutri- 

 tive material. 



In the present investigation it was found to be well Avorth while to 

 use special care in arranging the dishes for serving, that the}" might 

 be as appetizing in appearance as possi])le, and for the same reason the 

 Sunday evening tea was served from a small table by an open fire. 

 Much care was also observed in -avoiding waste both by careful prepa- 

 ration and by the use of all "left overs." 



The low cost of the diet was doubtless due in part to the fact that it 

 was made up entirely of home-cooked food, as it has been shown by 

 experiments that food thus prepared under favorable conditions is 

 cheaper than that purchased ready cooked. For instance, in some 

 studies made at the Boston School of Housekeeping,^' it was found that 

 the average cost of a pound of homemade bread, including materials 

 and fuel for baking, was 3.73 cents, or, considering only the cost of 

 materials, 2.94 cents. A pound of leaker's bread cost at this time 5.55 

 cents. If the labor is included, which was valued at 8.5 cents per 

 hour on the assumption that a cook would receive $4 per week, the 

 cost of homemade bi'ead was calculated to be 5.87 cents per pound. 

 However, in most cases it would hardly be fair to include this factor, 



^1 V. S. Dept. Agr., Office of Experiment Stations Bui. 35. 

 i' Massachusetts Labor Bui., 1901, Xo. 19, p. G7. 



