I cannot say that I altogether agree with the statement, “Scraps are accidents to be taken care of, no doubt, but the very last objects on which to bestow either expense or labor.” The “scraps” or “left-over” bits of food that accumulate in the average household, are worthy of consideration and with little labor and expense are convertible into the most palatable viands. There is always some labor attendant on any and all household duties, for we have all learned that the Earl of Chesterfield uttered a great truth when he said (away back in the 17th century), “Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well.” I have discovered that this old maxim applies to household management as well as all other vocations.
It is the careless tossing together of “left-over” food and giving the creation when finished, a name quite as unattractive as itself, that has caused this great antipathy so prevalent among people, for serving or partaking of “made-up” dishes. Hash, itself, is a very much abused term as well as the mixture thus named.
This little book of helpful suggestions has been carefully prepared and if followed by the housewife, fortunate enough to receive one, she will find immediate help over some of the “rough places” too often found in the daily routine of house work, where the preparation for such duties has been limited.
Study the chapter on “How to Measure Accurately, and Combining Ingredients,” and all the others and you cannot fail to learn, thoroughly, the lesson “Left-Overs and How to Use Them.”
To Market and Care for Food
Every one seems to have “a way of their own” for marketing and taking care of food. There are, however, but two methods of marketing and but one proper way to take care of food.
One of the methods of marketing is that followed by the French and Mexican housekeeper; that is, buying just enough for the daily needs and no more. The other method is that in vogue in America and England. It is buying provisions in large quantities (in some cases wholesale) flour, sugar and apples by the barrel, butter by the firkin, canned goods by the case, sides of bacon, whole hams, etc. Both methods have their advantages. The one adopted by the prudent housewife will be that which best suits the conditions under which she lives; the income, the size of the family, and the conveniences provided for storing provisions.
Where the family is small and the home is an apartment, if it is equipped with a fine large glass- or tile-lined McCray refrigerator, the problem of preserving food is not difficult (see chapter on Care of Refrigerator, [page 10]). For the small family, buying just what is needed for the day and no more is the best. This method, does, however, require most careful thought, and very accurate estimates must be made by the housewife, lest she buy more than she can use and thereby sustain great waste.
Herein lies the necessity for housekeepers in general having a better knowledge of food values. For the large family with a generous income, and where cold storage provisions are made, buying in large quantities is by far the most economical method to follow. Every housekeeper should do her own marketing if possible; she thereby becomes acquainted with the market and market prices, makes her selections, buying little or much as the case requires. In this way she will soon learn the advantages gained by the French and Mexican housekeepers’ methods. The latter carries her daily supplies home in a receptacle made of a gourd holding less than a quart, while the former does not hesitate to buy small portions of birds, fish, meats, etc. It is obvious that the foreign methods show the greater economy.