The plainest dinner any one can eat is that composed of Allinson wholemeal bread and raw fruit. A man in full work may eat from 12 to 16 oz. of the wholemeal bread, and about the same quantity of ripe raw fruit. The bread is best dry, the next best is when a thin scrape of butter is spread on it. If hard physical work has to be done, a cup of Brunak, cocoa, milk and water, or lemon water, should be drunk at the end of the meal. In winter these fluids might be taken warmed, but in summer they are best cool or cold. This wholesome fare can be varied in a variety of ways; some might like a salad instead of the fruit, and others may prefer cold vegetables. A few Brazil nuts, almonds, walnuts, some Spanish nuts, or a piece of cocoanut may be eaten with the bread in winter. Others not subject to piles, constipation, or eczema, &c., may take 2 oz. of cheese and an onion with their bread, or a hard-boiled egg. This simple meal can be easily carried to work, or on a journey. Wholemeal biscuits or Allinson rusks may be used instead of bread if one is on a walking tour, cycling trip, or boating excursion, or even on ordinary occasions for a change.
Of cooked dinners, the simplest is that composed of potatoes baked, steamed, or boiled in their skins, eaten with another vegetable, sauce, and the wholemeal bread. Baked potatoes are the most wholesome, and their skins should always be eaten; steamed potatoes are next; whilst boiled ones, especially if peeled, are not nearly so good. Any seasonable vegetable may be steamed and eaten with the potatoes, such as cauliflower, cabbage, sprouts, broccoli, carrot, turnip, beetroot, parsnips, or boiled celery, or onions. Recipes for the sauces used with this course will be found in another part of the book; they may be parsley, onion, caper, tomato, or brown gravy sauce. This dinner may be varied by adding to it a poached, fried, or boiled egg. As a second course, baked apples, or stewed fresh fruit and bread may be eaten; or Allinson bread pudding, or rice, sago, tapioca, or macaroni pudding with stewed fruit. Persons troubled with piles, varicose veins, varicocele, or constipation must avoid this dinner as much as possible. If they do eat it they must be sure to eat the skins of the potatoes, and take the Allinson bread pudding or bread and fruit afterwards, avoiding puddings of rice, sago, tapioca, or macaroni.
IV.
EVENING MEAL.
Evening meal or tea meal should be the last meal at which solid food is eaten. It should always be a light one, and the later it is eaten the less substantial it should be. Heavy or hard work after tea is no excuse for a supper. This meal must be taken at least three hours before retiring. From 4 to 6 oz. of Allinson wholemeal bread may be allowed with a poached or lightly boiled egg, a salad, or fruit, or some kind of green food. The fluid drunk may be Brunak, cocoa, milk and water, bran tea, or even plain water, boiled and taken cool. Those who are restless at night, nervous, or sleepless must not drink tea at this meal. Fruit in the evening is not considered good, and when taken it should be cooked rather than raw. Boiled celery will be found to be lighter on the stomach at this meal than the raw vegetable. When it is boiled, as little water as possible should be used; the water that the celery is boiled in may be thickened with Allinson fine wheatmeal, made into sauce, and poured over the cooked celery; by this means we do not loose the valuable salts dissolved out of the food by boiling. Mustard and cress, watercress, radishes, and spring onions may be eaten if the evening meal is taken 4 or 5 hours before going to bed. Those who are away from home all day, and who take their food to their work may have some kind of milk pudding at this meal. Wheatmeal blancmange, or cold milk pudding may occasionally be eaten those who are costive will find a boiled onion or some braized onions very useful. Boil the onion in as little water as possible and serve up with the liquor it is boiled in. To prepare braized onions, fry them first until nicely brown, using butter or olive oil, then add a cupful of boiling water to the contents of the frying pan, cover with a plate, and let cook for an hour. This is not really a rich food, but one easy of digestion and of great use to the sleepless. Those who want to rise early must make their last meal a light
one. Those troubled with dreams or restlessness must do the same. Very little fluid should be taken last thing at night, as it causes persons to rise frequently to empty the bladder.