In the preceding pages the most important foods, heir composition and preparation for the table have >been considered. Our study would be incomplete with-out some reference to their best combination for the laily meals that they may appeal to the palate and pro-note health without exceeding the bounds of moderate incomes.

There are three important divisions in the prepara-ion of food for a family, wise buying, good cooking, and careful serving. When buying foods the housekeeper should know the sum available for feeding each person for the day or week, she must note the season >of each food, and also adapt her choice to the climate and weather. She must remember the individual needs of each member of the household, depending upon age, health, and occupation.

The art of cookery finds its field between the :choice of food and the serving of the cooked dishes at :he table. As with other arts perfection can come only through constant practice in manipulation, and from continual adaptation of conditions to the desired 2nd. No formulas for combinations of foods can be devised so complete that continuous care is not required in every step of the process.

Buying

Cooking

Serving

Art of Cookery

Few housekeepers have the time or take the trouble to keep their accounts in such a way as to know how much it costs to feed each person in their charge for a day, week, or month; fewer still know anything of the relative proportion of protein, fat, and carbohydrate which is placed on the family table week by week.

When purchasing clothing we take note of its wearing qualities and the ability to keep us warm, but we seldom apply the same reasoning to our foods, although it is quite as necessary.

Some one has estimated that in the average household one-tenth of the sum spent for food will go for flour, a tenth for butter, another for sugar, another for milk, one-fifth for meat, one-fifth for fruit and vegetables, and the remaining fifth for sundries.

There are certain articles of which equal quantities will be used each week or month, and by an examination of previous bills it is easy to estimate the amount required for a given period. Many of these "constants" like butter, sugar, and flour, can be bought in quantities sufficient for a month, then the housekeeper knows how to apportion her money for the variable supplies.

It is not necessary for the housekeeper to attempt to estimate the proportion of food principles in every dish she serves, but once a month or a quarter, if her accounts are well kept, she can see how nearly she approaches such daily estimate as the one below for each member of her family:

Multiply this by thirty and we have a fair allowance for one person for one month. Multiply this by the number of persons in the family, or, to be more accurate, by the fractional parts of a man's rations, usually allowed for women and children, and we have an ample supply for one month for the family.

If the larger quantity of potatoes has been used the smaller amount of flour would have been ample, while if eggs were cheap and two or more consumed by each person daily there should be a corresponding reduction in the amount of meat and fish.

Of the amount purchased there will be not far from 10 per cent refuse and waste. Refuse in the form of bones, skin, and parings, waste of what is left on individual plates and odd bits that are spoiled and are thrown away. Much fat also is thrown away, but it should be remembered that fat is worth more than twice as much as the carbohydrates in keeping the body warm.

Twenty-five cents a head a day is a fair allowance for an abundance and variety of wholesome, satisfying food. Life may be sustained on half that amount, while fifty cents daily cannot nourish more completely, but may provide luxuries and foods out of season.

The actual cost of table board appears, from studies made under different conditions, to be about equally divided between the raw material and the labor required for the preparation and service. It may be cheaper to pay a little more for a prepared food than to use one's own strength or pay for service to get ready a less expensive article.

The woman who has time and strength and no other way to earn should choose the cheaper grade of food. Cheapness does not always indicate meanness, it may mean an abundant supply or less human labor in preparation.

There is a growing tendency toward the fuller preparation of food outside the home, but there is the more need that the housekeeper should be familiar with processes of manufacture that she may know when she is well served.

The housekeeper who never goes to grocery and market and does not study the market reports in the papers is rarely an economical buyer. She is liable to go on in the same old routine instead of varying her menus with the little surprises that may be found by visiting the markets. There are bargains to be had in foods as well as in clothing, when the market is overstocked, or some odd lot is left over. Cuts of meat cannot be made to order and the first choice falls to the early visitor to the market.

Where one woman must take entire care of a family, she must plan carefully if she would have a well balanced household. Elaborate cooking and meals of many courses are out of the question even if they were desirable. Meals should be planned several days in advance and the buying done accordingly, though such plans will be much modified in the performance.

A reserve store of canned foods, etc., is a great aid in the emergencies that arise in all households.

By wise use of outside supplies and by making one's head do more work and hands and feet less, the food for a family may be provided without exhausting the energy of the housekeeper.

The actual cooking necessary for a family through a day may be done in a shorter period than is usually allotted to it if the work is planned wisely. The detail of arrangement depends upon the kind of fuel used, and whether the chief meal is served at noon or night.

Planning System

The breakfast should be a simple meal - fruit, raw or cooked, cereal or warm muffins, (seldom both at the same meal), and eggs, bacon, creamed salt fish or some cold meat. When the meat is cold the bread is warm, while with bacon or omelet toast may be served.

Some one must be in the kitchen for some time to prepare and serve even a simple breakfast, especially if there are tardy members of the family. With the same supply of fuel required for the muffins, it is not difficult for a woman of average ability to bake a cake or pudding which will then be ready for the noon or the night meal. Or at this time the vegetables may be cleaned, fruit picked over and little details attended to which save much time later.

Noon dinners usually are considered easier for housekeeper and cook, since the work can all be done by daylight and the hours of work if not actually less are not so extended through the day. When supplies are ordered early and delivered promptly, much energy and worry is saved. At least half the time the soup may be derived from previous supplies, and be prepared in advance.

One kind of meat or fish, potatoes or rice and a single other vegetable or salad are enough for all ordinary occasions. Fruit or a dessert prepared earlier in the day completes a meal sufficient for all needs of the human body if the articles have been chosen wisely to supplement each other.

Breakfast

Dinner

For a noon luncheon or night supper there are many variations of the souffles, hashes and scallops already described. One of these with bread and butter, tea or cocoa, fruit and a simple sweet will provide all that is essential.

To prepare meals for a family year in and out is not an easy task. The housekeeper must remember not only the cost and nutritive value of the foods but the whims and notions of her family. The ability of the human being to talk makes him much harder to feed than the animals who must accept the balanced ration bestowed upon them.

A few points to be observed in planning menus are these: avoid routine, introduce novelties, cheap or expensive, in attractive form, but say little of nutritive value or cost. Do not allow the same meat or fish to appear too many meals in succession. Let something else intervene. When the meat course is substantial let the dessert be light and make the dessert especially nutritious when the meat course is insufficient. Let there be variety on the table through the week or month but have few dishes at each meal.

The fundamental processes of cookery are not many and the essential points have been outlined in these pages. An intelligent woman can adapt the recipes in any reliable cook-book to her Own conditions after she knows something of the composition of foods and the way each is affected by heat and moisture.

Supper

Planning Menus

In Conclusion