While most of what has been discussed in the previous pages relates to food which must be purchased as needed, because perishable, there is a class in buying which much time and thought may be saved by supplying enough for at least a month in advance. This is dry groceries such as sugar, flour, cereals, flavorings, coffee (unroasted), tea, chocolate, spices, soap, starch, and all like necessities.

A store-closet large enough to allow the purchase of these things at a wholesale store, and so arranged as to temperature, dryness, light and ventilation as to keep them in perfect condition is a saving so great as to astonish one who trys the method for the first time. Often the difference amounts to twenty per cent.

Sugar should be bought by the hundred weight at least, flour by the barrel, canned goods by the dozen or better by the case, cereals by the dozen packages after the fresh fall supply is in, vanilla by the quart (at the drug store to secure better quality), baking powder by the 5-pound box from which smaller quantities are transferred as needed to the box in use, soap by the box, that it may have a chance to dry out thoroughly and so waste less readily, and so on through a long list. For a very small family the list would naturally be shorter. Anything that does not deteriorate in storage can be bought to much greater advantage in quantity.

In groceries it is not well to buy an inferior grade Here the best is the cheapest and wisest, especially in these days of intense competition and fraud. It is well to know a good brand and insist upon having it. Foreign labels are not a surety of a good grade of goods, in fact some of our best American firms put up their best quality of spices, for instance, under their own name and the poorer grades are labeled with French labels and sold to firms that deal in a cheaper line of goods.

Through the reports of the Government upon adulteration as given in the Bulletins and the report of different state and city inspectors one may ascertain to some extent which are reliable and which are not.