14 
BULLETIN 1443, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
bought roasts because they liked them. Of the 333 housewives an- 
swering the third part of the question only 29.4 per cent stated that 
they bought boiling beef because they liked it. 
Roasts and boiling meat were bought more frequently to provide 
variety in the menu than were steaks and chops . Expressed in percent- 
age of total replies in each case, 17.1 per cent of the housewives 
stated that they bought steaks and chops for variety, while 27 per 
cent gave variety as the reason for purchasing roasts and 25.2 per 
cent gave the same reason for the purchase of boiling meat. 
Convenience of preparation was an important factor in the choice of 
steaks and chops, 12.6 per cent of the housewives of the American 
white group giving this as their reason for buying steaks and chops. 
But 5.4 per cent stated that they bought roasts for this reason, while 
only 1.2 per cent gave this as the reason for buying boiling meat. 
Food value, health, and habit were reasons assigned by some of 
the housewives, but the differences between the percentages of replies 
to the three parts of the question were slight. 
Economy was stressed as the reason for the purchase of roasts and 
boiling meat. Of the housewives replying, 12 per cent gave this 
as their reason for using roasts, 7.5 per cent gave the same reason 
for serving boiling meat and only 1.3 per cent stated that they 
bought steaks and chops for reasons of economy. 
Large families and the necessity of providing meat for more than 
one meal economically were reasons assigned by 1.6 and 7.2 per cent 
of the housewives who stated these reasons for buying roasts. Nei- 
ther of these reasons was given for purchasing steaks and chops 
although an answer related to size of family was stated when 2.2 per 
cent of the housewives said that they bought steaks and chops because 
of the small size of their households. 
Of the housewives replying, 29.5 per cent gave as their reason for 
buying boiling meat, that they combined these cuts with other foods. 
Replies from the colored group in Jacksonville and the Polish group 
in Baltimore and Binghamton are also presented. The number of 
replies from these groups was small and the variations from the replies 
indicated for the American white group were of little importance. 
In general, the replies from the American white groups in Baltimore, 
Jacksonville, New Haven, and Washington were in fair agreement. 
The few Washington replies showed considerable variation from those 
of the four other cities at times, properly attributed, in all proba- 
bility, to the small number of replies. 
Question 8. — How many times a week is meat served at the following meals: 
Breakfast, lunch or supper, and dinner? (Tables 12 and 13.) 
For the purposes of this question dinner was understood to be the 
most important meal of the day, regardless of whether it occurred at 
noon or evening. The use of bacon, ham, salt meat, etc., was regarded 
as the serving of meat. 
In the American white group replies from 2,862 housewives were 
secured. In these households the average number of times meat was 
served at breakfast and at lunch or supper was 2.1 times per week per 
household for each of these meals and for dinner 5.6 times. Some 
variations were found in the number of times per week meat was 
served by the classes within this group. The poor class served meat 
for breakfast 1.8 times per week per household on the average; the 
