1. As every housewife realizes, the feeding of the members of her family
places upon her serious and important responsibilities. While she
deserves and receives credit for their good health, the blame for much
of their ill health falls upon her, too. The reason for this is that
illness is due in a greater measure to wrong food than to any other
single factor; and even if improper diet is not directly responsible for
ill health, it certainly lowers the bodily resistance and thus makes a
person susceptible to disease.
The health of her family is naturally the housewife's first and greatest
consideration, and as this depends so much on correct diet, it should be
the aim of every housewife to plan her meals in the careful, intelligent
way required to supply her household with the food each member needs.
2. As has already been learned, a knowledge of the selection, care, and
preparation of food is absolutely necessary in providing proper diet.
But correct feeding requires more than this. In addition, the housewife
must have a working knowledge of what foods contain and their effect in
the body. She must also learn what her family needs and then make every
effort to supply this need in the most economical way. The result will
be a sufficient amount of food of the right kind at a minimum
expenditure of funds.
She should keep in mind, however, that the cost of diet has no direct
relation to its food value, but that economy and proper feeding are
closely connected. For instance, an inexpensive diet may be just as
satisfactory from a food-value standpoint as an expensive one. But in
order to make the inexpensive one adequate and the expensive one
balanced, the housewife must apply her knowledge of the general
composition of food; that is, she must know whether a food predominates
in carbohydrate, fat, or protein, and whether or not it furnishes
minerals. Equipped with such knowledge, she will be able to purchase the
largest amount of nutritive material for the smallest outlay of money.
The cheapest food is not always the one that sells for the lowest price
per pound, quart, or bushel, but the one that furnishes the most
nutritive material at the lowest cost; also, food that is the wrong kind
to serve is not an economical one to purchase.
3. Many housewives regard it as unnecessary to plan beforehand and
persist in preparing meals without giving any previous thought to them.
But to begin thinking about an hour before meal time what to have for a
meal is neither wise nor economical, for then it is too late to
determine what ought to be served from a diet standpoint and there can
be prepared only those foods which the time will allow. As can well be
understood, this is both a disastrous plan for correct diet and a very
extravagant way in which to feed a family. Quickly broiled steaks and
chops, commercially canned vegetables and fruits, and prepared desserts
should be the occasional treat rather than the daily food. Instead of
using these constantly, time should be allowed for the preparation of
the less expensive meats and vegetables and the home-made desserts.
To prepare such foods successfully requires that meals should be planned
at least 24 hours before they are to be served, and in reality the main
dishes should be decided on 48 hours ahead of time. Then, sometime
between breakfast and luncheon and before the day's marketing is done,
detailed plans should be made for luncheon and dinner of that day and
for breakfast of the next. Nor should the left-overs be disregarded if
economy would be the watchword in the management of the household.
Rather, they should be included in the plans for each day and used up as
fast as possible.
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