THE FOOD PROBLEM. 369 



we have undertaken to buy it, and that skill in cooking and flavoring, 

 and by giving right variety, a healthful and acceptable diet can be 

 furnished, though it cannot, of course, contain luxuries. 



u Another thing, when I speak of a woman who is to buy the food 

 of a family for thirteen cents apiece daily, I have in mind the wife of 

 a man who earns this sum himself, the wife having her time to attend 

 to her housework and children. If a woman helps to earn, as in a 

 factory, doing most of her housework after she comes home at night, 

 she must certainly have more money than in the first case in order to 

 accomplish the same results, for she must buy bread already baked, and 

 can only cook those dishes that take the least time. 



" I shall take for granted that you have the kitchen utensils described 

 on page twenty ; if not, buy them, because you cannot afford to be with- 

 out them. Food is very expensive compared with pots and pans ; you 

 must not spoil food for lack of the right things to cook in. 



"I only ask you in advance to try the recipes I shall give you, and 

 to try and lay aside your prejudices against dishes to which you are not 

 accustomed, as soups and cheese dishes, for instance. You cannot 

 afford to reject anything that will vary your diet, for many good-tasting 

 things you cannot buy. I know it is hard for a busy woman to give 

 her cooking a bit more time than will ' just do,' but if you make it a 

 rule to determine the night beforehand just what you will cook the fol- 

 lowing day, no matter how simple the food may be you will gain this 

 result ; with the materials at your disposal you will put before your 

 family much better food, and they will call you a good cook, and think 

 that no family need live better than they ; and this impression will be 

 made from your having the right variety. Let us understand, to begin 

 with, that it is your business in life just now to conquer the food ques- 

 tion as it affects your family. Just as the business man must watch the 

 market and take advantage of a half cent a pound on an article that 

 he may successfully compete with his neighbor, so you must be on the 

 alert to use every possible advantage. It is a struggle in which energy 

 and calculation will tell for a great deal, and you will have solid enjoy- 

 ment in every point you gain. 



"In buying meat, your saving cannot be so much in quantity as 

 quality. Try to learn the different parts of the animal, and to dis- 

 tinguish between meat from a fat ox and a lean one; for, as we have 

 explained, the former has less water in it, and why should you pay 

 good money for that which nature gives you free ? In winter try to 



