21 



The fourth and remaining test to be discussed is 



THE ECONOMIC TEST FOR FOOD-VALUES. 



It concerns itself with 



(1.) The price we pay for our foods; 



(2.) The amount of them we waste; and 



(3.) Their management in the kitchen. 



Professor Atwater used to say that for persons in good health, foods in 

 which the nutrients are most expensive are like costly jewels. People who 

 are well off may be justified in buying them, but they are not economical. 



Besides getting good value for our money by an understanding choice of 

 foodstuffs, we ought to check extravagance along two other lines. Many of 

 us eat more than we want, or, rather, more than the body needs, and there 

 is often careless waste of food. 



THE THRIFTY HOUSEWIFE 



\vill constantly ask herself : " Are the nutritive substances contained in the 

 food I should like to buy worth the price asked? How much energy will be 

 furnished for that sum ; how much building material will it supply? " To 

 quote Professor Atwater again : " There is no more nutriment in an ounce 

 of protein or fat of the tenderloin of beef than in that of the round or 

 shoulder." ..." A quarter of a dollar invested in the sirloin of beef at 

 22 cents per pound pays for one and one-seventh pounds of the meat with 

 three-eighths of a pound of actually nutritive material. This would contain 

 one-sixth of a pound of protein and one-fifth of a pound of fat, and supply 

 11,120 calories of energy. The same amount of money paid for oysters at 

 the rate of 50 cents per quart brings two ounces of actual nutrients ; an ounce 

 of protein and 230 calories of energy. But in buying wheat flour at $7 a 

 barrel, the 25 cents pay for six and a quarter pounds of nutrients, with eight- 

 tenths of a pound of protein and 11,755 calories of energy." 



BREAD IS UNQUESTIONABLY THE CHEAPEST FORM OF FOOD 



where energy is concerned. It will furnish for the same cost three times the 

 amount of energy which would be obtained from milk or ten times as much 

 as could be got in the form of meat for that amount of money. If building 

 material is in question, peas rank first as a source of cheap supply. They 

 work out at about half the cost of cheese. Were an equal expenditure made 

 on both foodstuffs, peas would keep the body in repair for two days, while 

 there would be only enough protein in the cheese for one day's requirements. 

 But, because cheaper to buy and chemically satisfactory as regards their 

 nutritive constituents, 



PEAS ARE NOT THEREFORE SUPERIOR TO CHEESE 



as builders-up of the body. It must be borne in mind that each test has to 

 be passed by the particular foodstuff under consideration before its order of 

 merit can be conferred. There are two drawbacks to peas. They call for 

 prolonged cooking, and their nutrients are difficult for the digestive organs to 

 extract and for the tissues to absorb. A large quantity must be eaten to 

 furnish all the body needs. Cheese, on the contrary, need not be cooked and 

 is highly concentrated ; but here lies another pitfall, cheese is unsuitable as a 

 food unless five or six times its bulk of bread or cracker or biscuit is eaten 

 with it to furnish the requisite bulk. 



