Cookery for every household

Of course it requires some experience to do marketing well, and the art cannot be acquired in a day. The young housekeeper will be liable to make mistakes at first, in not knowing how to choose nor what to order, but the knowledge will soon come, if only a little common sense and goodwill are applied to it. There is no reason, however, why experience should be gained by mistakes alone, there are other and less expensive ways of learning how to do marketing. Girls at home should be taken round the shops occasionally and be shown how to select the different articles required, and then later on given the opportunity of doing the shopping themselves. Where this has not been possible, special lessons on marketing can often be had from one of the numerous schools of cookery, or, failing this, a little diligent study of a book on the subject will often be an immense help to the practical as well as the theoretical side of the subject, and will prevent one from being entirely at the mercy of the tradespeople. Choice of Shops. — When starting housekeeping for the first time, or moving to a new neighbourhood, it is always worth while to take some trouble at the beginning in finding the best shops with which to deal. As a rule, it will be found the most convenient plan to patronise the shops in one’s immediate neighbourhood. Not only is this fair to local tradespeople, who will generally take trouble to serve you well, but it will be a saving of time as well, and when things are not right they can be spoken about at once. Sometimes at the beginning it is a good plan to distribute one’s custom a little, until it is found out who gives the most satisfaction : one class of goods will be best in one shop, and another elsewhere. It is always best to deal with thoroughly good shops and reliable tradespeople, and not to be continually hunting after the cheapest market. This is especially necessary for the young and inexperienced housekeeper, who has yet to learn how good fish, meat, vegetables, &c., ought to look ; in fact, it is only the very experienced who can afford to shop in less high-toned markets, where they can occasionally pick up a bargain. On the other hand there are some shops which have an exaggerated scale of prices, their standard being based partly on reputation, partly on high rent, and also on the fact that they cater for a wealthy class of customers, who do not trouble to question prices, but pay whatever is demanded of them. This class of shop must be avoided by those of modest means, there are plenty others where they can do just as well at more reasonable prices, although it must always be remembered that it is false economy to buy food of an indifferent quality. It is a good plan to compare two or three different price lists, and thus to get a fair idea of how prices run in a certain neighbourhood. Then choose by preference shops where there is likely to be a good turnover, as then goods are much more likely to be fresh. This applies specially to groceries and other dry stores, which can be kept from year to year in shops where there is very little trade, until they become quite old and musty.