FEEDING A FAMILY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23707, 14 January 1939, Page 14

FEEDING A FAMILY

WEEKLY COST OF 337TEST MADE IN DUNEDIN CHANGE IN FOOD HABITS The results of a series of experiments on low-cost family dietaries conducted by the Otago University under the auspices of the New Zealand Social Research Bureau are given by a member of the university faculty in an article in the Journal of Science and Technology. Low-cost dietaries were prepared, and actually adopted, for a number of Dunedin familie?. All provided the nutrition required by a family of two adults and three children, and variations were made between summer, and winter, and also for the contingency of father and children taking lunch away from home, and of using beef as an alternative to mutton. The highest weekly cost is shown as 33s 4jd where the diet had to provide for older children, and included 121 b of mutton, an unusually large allowance compared with most of the other lists. The family tests were made for periods of a week, and the conclusion of the investigators is that in many cases they found that there was too much food, but in no esse a shortage. “ No sweets and few cakes were allowed,” states the report, “while the amounts of meat and butter are below the average New Zealand consumption, and therefore the application of these dietaries would represent a change in food habits. It would, however, be a desirable change, as it is associated with a corresponding increase in the consumption of milk." It was assumed in the experiment that all jams were home made, and that families living on the lower incomes would preserve eggs and bottle tomatoes to use when prices were higher. Tomatoes have such a high vitamin content that certain bottling and cooking processes still leave them a valuable source of vitamin.