HOUSEKEEPING IN WAR TIME.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11282, 9 January 1915, Page 5

HOUSEKEEPING IN WAR TIME.

With the declaration of war it was (prickly realised that foodstuffs would run ui> in price. With this in view, the "Daily Mail," one of London's most popular papers, published snmo valuable, hints on economy for the benefit of British housekeepers in the issue of August -1. "It says:— "Tile first step to be taken in meeting tho household hardships about to be laid upon every man, woman and child in the country by this German aggression is to scrap most of our housekeeping commonplaces, from bacon and eggs for breakfast upwards. Jf wo all start with a clean slate and try, without reference to past habits, how simply wo can live, most of us could go through a long period of warfare with little loss of moncv and none of health. "The vegetable salts thrown away in the water from the saucepan • the good nutriment that escapes from potatoes if not cooked in their skins; the outer, part of the wheat disregarded in making white flour; the wastage of bread scraps and vegetable scraps now disre-ga.rded-*-all acquire new importance. So out-of-doors it now becomes a crime for the gardener to praet'se his usual habit of throwing away tiny carrots and potatoes or of pulling up peas and beans while thev still have pods, even though the pods be old. It is to be remembered that peas and beans, even when dried, are as close and satisfying a food as meat..

"As to meals in general, the advice givon by a famous doctor in the Franco-German War is worth remembering. He recommended one-course meals, especially for children and those over forty. " The standard dish in such hard times should be a little meat cooked with a great many vegetables. " The one-course meal, conservative cookerv which throws nothing away and keeps 'a full stock-pot, and an eagleeye, for all waste, will in many households reduce expenses beyond all expectation. And housekeepers will find, perhaps to their surprise, that economy and simple meals become a game into which the whole household enters with zest and from which it is likely to emerge with improved health. "On this subject a good housewife, tvhohas herself'begun a campaign of '■economy, gave the following advice: " 'The primary duty of every housewife is to prevent waste. She can do so not only by panging to a nicety the requirements of her household, but also bv giving out the stores day by day as her grandmother habitually did. Before 1-esortiug to stricter measures she should decree economical methods of cooking. Fish should be foe boiling and not for frying, and meat, for stewing slowly instead of for roasting. Puddings that require flour should give way to milk puddings, stewed fruit, and simple savouries. Every effort should be made in save fuel. " ' Bread should not be served when fresh, but be kept until stale, when it wiil be more digestible and less wasteful, and everv scrap can be utilised for nursery puddings. Jam instead of butter should be served on the children's tea-table; not the two together. Soup made of lentils and dried peas will be a resource, and in every case great care should be taken over the flavouring of it and of other dishes. Vegetables dressed in different ways are an excellent resource. " ' Those who have gardens.can make use of windfalls of apples, pears, and ■plums, regarded as waste in ordinary circumstances.' "