The United States Food Administration is preaching the gospel of the clean plate, and this can be accomplished by serving smaller portions, insisting that all food accepted be eaten; by keeping down bread waste, cutting the bread at the table a slice at a time as needed; by cooking only sufficient to supply moderately the number to be fed, and no more. It is a false idea of good providing that platters must leave the table with a generous left-over. Waste of cooked food is a serious item in household economy, and no matter how skillfully leftovers are utilized, it is always less expensive and more appetizing to provide fresh-cooked foods at each meal.
One would think that with the various uses to which all kinds of foodstuffs may be put that there would be little left for the yawning garbage pail. But the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture is responsible for the statement that $750,000,000 worth of food has been wasted annually in the American kitchen. Undoubtedly a large part of this wastefulness was due to ignorance on the part of the housewife, and the rest of it to the lack of co-operation on the part of the employees who have handled the food but not paid the bills.
According to a well-known domestic scientist, the only things which should find their way to the garbage pail are:
Egg shells—after being used to clear coffee.
Potato skins—after having been cooked on the potato.
Banana skins—if there are no tan shoes to be cleaned.
Bones—after having been boiled in soup kettle.
Coffee grounds—if there is no garden where they can be used for fertilizer, or if they are not desired as filling for pincushions.
Tea leaves—after every tea-serving, if they are not needed for brightening carpets or rugs when swept.
Asparagus ends—after being cooked and drained for soup.