CHAPTER VII
What this Chapter is About
Labour and Time-Saving Housekeeping—Ordering in Advance—Cooking Mornings—Labour-Saving Utensils—The Late-Dinner Bogey—Simplified Requirements.
CHAPTER VII
Other People's Experiences of Labour-Saving Homes (Continued)
I
For many a year I have thought that the average good domesticated woman wasted far too much of her own time and that of her servants in housekeeping, while, on the other hand, many women give too little time and attention to their households.
Clever organisation will do much to lighten the work of a household. Take, for example, the ordering of meals and the cooking thereof. The average mistress orders the meals each day with no regard except for the needs of that special day, and the average cook cooks in just the same short-sighted manner. Now, I hold that in a well-regulated establishment, with an intelligent cook, it should not be necessary to order the meals more than three times a week, unless special entertaining has to be considered. The mistress knows the number of her household, and can calculate with sufficient nicety what can be done with the available material, while the cook should be able to make the most of the various odds and ends which can be utilised for breakfast dishes, savouries, servants' supper, and so forth.