ECONOMICAL BUYING
20. APPORTIONMENT OF INCOME.--When the housewife thoroughly understands the qualities of foods as well as their comparative food values and is familiar with the factors that govern food prices, she is well equipped to do economical buying for her family. Then it remains for her to purchase the right kind of food and at the same time keep within her means. A good plan is to apportion the household expenses according to a budget; that is, to prepare a statement of the financial plans for the year. Then the amount of money that can be used for this part of the household expenses will be known and the housewife will be able to plan definitely on what she can buy. If necessary, this amount may be reduced through the housewife's giving careful attention to the details of buying, or if she is not obliged to lower her expenses, she may occasionally purchase more expensive foods, which might be considered luxuries, to give variety to the diet. The amount of money that may be spent for food depends, of course, on the income, and the greater the income, the lower will be the proportion of money required for this item of the household expense.
21. To throw some light on the proper proportion of the family income to spend for food, Table I is given. As the basis of this table, a family of five is taken and the proportion that may be spent for food has been worked out for incomes ranging from $600 to $2,400 a year. As will be noted, an income of $600 permits an expenditure of only 19 cents a day for each person. When food prices are high, it will be a difficult matter to feed one person for that amount, and still if the income is only $600 it will be necessary to do this. To increase the food cost over 39 cents a day per person, which is the amount allotted for an income of $2,400, would denote extravagance or at least would provide more luxury than is warranted.
TABLE I
PROPORTION OF FAMILY INCOME FOR FOOD
| Income per Year | Per Cent. of Income Spent for Food | Amount Spent per year for Food | Amount Spent per Day for Five Persons | Amount Spent per Day per Person |
| $600 | 60 | $360 | $ .98 | $.19 |
| $800 | 55 | $500 | $1.36 | $.27 |
| $1,000 | 50 | $576 | $1.57 | $.31 |
| $1,200 | 48 | $576 | $1.57 | $.31 |
| $1,500 | 44 | $660 | $1.80 | $.36 |
| $1,800 | 39 | $702 | $1.92 | $.38 |
| $2,400 | 30 | $720 | $1.97 | $.39 |
Various conditions greatly affect this proportion. One of these is the rise and fall of the food cost. Theoretically, the buyer should adjust this difference in the food cost rather than increase her expenditures. For instance, if in a certain year, the general cost of food is 20 per cent. greater than it was in the preceding year, the housewife should adjust her plan of buying so that for the same amount of money spent in the previous year she will be able to supply her family with what they need. Of course, if there is an increase in the income, it will not be so necessary to work out such an adjustment.
22. ECONOMIES IN PURCHASING FOOD.--Through her study of the preceding lessons, the student has had an opportunity to learn how to care for food in order to avoid loss and waste, how to prepare it so that it may be easily digested and assimilated, and how to make it appetizing and attractive so that as little as possible is left over and none is wasted. She should therefore be thoroughly acquainted with the methods of procedure in regard to all such matters and should have worked out to her satisfaction the best ways of accomplishing these things to suit her individual needs. But, in addition to these matters, she must give strict attention to her food purchases if she would secure for her family the most wholesome and nourishing foods for the least expenditure of money.
23. To purchase food that will provide the necessary food value for a small outlay is possible to a certain extent, but it cannot be done without the required knowledge. In the first place, it means that fewer luxuries can be indulged in and that the family dietary will have to be reduced to necessities. It may also mean that there will probably be a difference in the quality of the food purchased. For instance, it may be necessary to practice such economies as buying broken rice at a few cents a pound less than whole rice or purchasing smaller prunes with a greater number to the pound at a lower price than the larger, more desirable ones. The housewife need not hesitate in the least to adopt such economies as these, for they are undoubtedly the easiest ways in which to reduce the food expenses without causing detriment to any one.
24. Further economy can be practiced if a little extra attention is given in the purchase of certain foods. As is well known, the packages and cans containing food are labeled with the contents and the weight of the contents. These should be carefully observed, as should also the number of servings that may be obtained from the package or can. For instance, the housewife should know the weight per package of the various kinds of prepared cereals she uses and the number of servings she is able to procure from each package.
Let it be assumed that she buys two packages of different cereals at the same time, which, for convenience, may be called package No. 1 and package No. 2. She finds that No. 1 contains 16 ounces and No. 2, only 12 ounces; so she knows that No. 1 furnishes the greater amount of food by weight for the money spent. But, on the other hand, No. 2 may go farther; that is, it may serve a greater number of persons. This, in all probability, means that the cereals are similar in character, but that the food value of the servings from No. 2 is greater than that of the servings from No. 1. No. 2 is therefore the more economical of the two. Matters of this kind must not be overlooked, especially in the feeding of children.
Then, too, the housewife should work out carefully which she can use to greater advantage, prepared or unprepared cereals. If she finds that unprepared cereals are the more economical and if she can depend on their food value as being as high as that of the prepared ones, she should by all means give them the preference. Of course, she may use prepared cereals for convenience or for varying the diet, but the more economical ones should be used with greater regularity.
25. Canned goods should be carefully observed. A certain brand of tomatoes, for instance, may have 16 ounces to the can, whereas another brand that can be bought for the same price may have 24 ounces. There may be, however, and there probably is, a great difference in the quality of the tomatoes. The 24-ounce can may have a much greater proportion of water than the 16-ounce can, and for this reason will not serve to the same advantage. As it is with canned tomatoes, so is it with canned corn, peas, and other canned vegetables, for the price depends altogether on the quality. Therefore, several brands should be compared and the one should be purchased which seems to furnish the most food or the best quality of food for the least money, provided the quality continues.
26. In the preparation of meat, there is always some waste, and as waste is a factor that has much to do with the increasing of costs, it should be taken into consideration each time a piece of meat is purchased. If there is time for some experimenting, it makes an interesting study to weigh the meat before and after preparation, for then the amount of shrinkage in cookery, as well as the waste in bone, skin, and other inedible material, can be determined.
An actual experiment made with a 4-pound chicken showed that there was a loss of 2-3/4 pounds; that is, the weight of the edible meat after deducting the waste was only 1-1/4 pounds. The following shows how this weight was determined:
| POUNDS | |
| Weight of chicken, including head, feet, and entrails | 4 |
| Weight of head, feet, and entrails | 1-1/4 |
| Weight of bones after cooking | 7/8 |
| Weight of skin after cooking | 1/4 |
| Shrinkage in cooking | 3/8 |
| ----- | |
| Total amount of waste | 2-3/4 |
| ----- | |
| Actual weight of edible meat | 1-1/4 |
It will readily be seen that chicken at 40 cents a pound would make the cost per pound of edible meat amount to exactly $1.28, a rather startling result. It is true, of course, that the busy housewife with a family can hardly spare the time for the extra labor such experiments require; still the greater the number of persons to be fed, the more essential is the need for economy and the greater are the possibilities for waste and loss.
27. The home production of foods does not belong strictly to economical buying, still it is a matter that offers so many advantages to the economical housewife that she cannot afford to overlook it. A small garden carefully prepared and well cultivated will often produce the summer's supply of fresh vegetables, with sufficient overproduction to permit much to be canned for winter. Not only do foods produced in a home garden keep down the cost of both summer and winter foods, but they add considerably to the variety of menus.