Cost of Food i 3^3 



Table for comparing the cost of various foods. — In comparing the cost 

 of energy as supplied by various foods, two points of view have been 

 adopted: first, the cost of sufficient food to furnish 3,000 calories, the 

 amount of energy required daily by the average man at moderate 

 muscular work; second, the amount of energy that various foods can 

 furnish for ten cents. The price assumed for some of the foods is 

 necessarily arbitrary, since prices will vary from day to day and from 

 place to place. In comparing the cost of the various nutrients supplied 

 by foods, the ten-cent basis has been used. The following table (pages 

 1364-1365) should prove of great value to the housekeeper desiring to feed 

 her family in a progressive way. While it has not been possible to 

 include a wide variety of foods, an effort has been made to choose 

 those that are typical. The housekeeper can thus group, under the 

 types given, foods that are not included. 



One soon learns from such a study of foods that the really cheap sources 

 of energy are cereals. Here also, however, a study of our table will 

 show us marked differences among various types. It is very interest- 

 ing to compare the energy cost of two cereal foods such as oatmeal or 

 corn meal, with a ready-to-eat cereal food such as shredded wheat, and find 

 that shredded wheat is really expensive as a source of energy — as expen- 

 sive, in fact, as whole milk at six cents a quart — and is more expensive 

 than whole milk at six cents a quart as a source of protein. From the 

 energy and protein standpoint, corn meal is an exceedingly cheap food; 

 but as we look further we find that it is an expensive source of lime, iron, 

 and potassium. Whole milk, even at ten cents a quart, is a cheap source 

 of lime, while skimmed milk or buttermilk is very cheap as a source of 

 lime and phosphorus. From a study of the table, eggs seem to be a 

 comparatively expensive form of most nutrients, except iron. Here, 

 however, is where even further knowledge of foods is necessary; for, 

 while eggs are expensive, the protein, iron, and phosphorus contained 

 in them are of a kind that is considered to be unusually available to the 

 body, whereas the iron and phosphorus in such a food as meat are not 

 believed to be so completely used by the body. 



Comparative cost of edible material in foods. — Many persons do not 

 realize the importance of considering the proportion of edible material 

 when purchasing foods. This is particularly true in the case of meat. 

 Rump, round, beef loaf, a piece of neck or chuck, is just as nutritious as 

 porterhouse or tenderloin and may be made as palatable. Not only may 

 the cheaper cuts of meat be as nutritious and as palatable as the more 

 expensive ones, but they may often be found to be less wasteful as well. 

 A cheap piece of meat may not prove cheap in the end, however, if we 

 pay for bone instead of for edible material. 



