Foods and household management

per cent of the total cost. It is often estimated that the " average " man will consume about 3000 Calories per day, and the cost may be expressed on this basis as from 45 to 60 cents per man per day ; or the dietary spoken of as a 45- cent or 60-cent ^etary or whatever the exact cost per 3000 Calories may be. The cost of food for such a family for a year would at this rate be from $550 to $750. If the allowance for food be placed at 25 per cent of the total income/ this dietary would be appropriate for a family with an income of $2200 to $3000 per year. The majority of families have to get along with a lower expenditure for food, yet they want to be well nourished and to enjoy their fare. Fortunately there is no real connection between cost and nutritive value, some of the most nutritious foods being among the cheapest. At the same time, we cannot get wholesome food for nothing. There are very few foods which to-day cost less than f of a cent per 100 Calories, and these are mostly cereal products, such as commeal, rolled oats, and flour, or sugars and molasses. These alone will not make a well-balanced, palatable dietary, though they will supply all the fuel needed for an " average " man for a day" for ten cents. In many parts of the coimtry to-day it is hardly possible to make a dietary satisfactory week in and week out with an average allowance of less than f of a cent per 100 Calories, and even this sum will prove satisfactory only provided there be skill in food preparation as well as food selection. With an allowance of 1 cent per 100 Calories it is possible almost anywhere to make a balanced dietary with some attractiveness in appearance and flavor. In 1 The apportionment of the income to the different expenses of living (food, clothing, shelter, etc.) is discussed in Chapter XIX. It will be found that the smaller the income the higher is the percentage of it which must be allowed for food. MENUS AND DIETARIES 317 Table op Food Materials Arranged according to cost per 100 Calories Gboup I Group II Group III Group IV Less than 1 i per 1-2^ per 100 2f^^ per 100 Over 5 ^ per 100 100 Calories Calories Calories Calories Apples, dried Almonds Beans, canned Asparagus Bacon (all fat Apricots, dried Limas Beans, canned. eaten) Bananas Beans, string. string Beans, dried Butter, over fresh Celery Bread 32 i per pound Beets, fresh Chicken Butter under Cabbage Cauliflower Cod, fresh 32 i per pound Carrots, old Codfish, salt Cucumbers Corned beef Cheese Corn, canned Lettuce Commeal Chestnuts Eggs, 25-36ff Olives Cornflakes Chocolate per doz. Oysters Cornstarch Cocoa Haddock Peaches, Cottonseed oil Cream HaHbut canned Crackers, soda Eggs under 25 i Ham Pears, ca.nned Dates per doz. Lamb chops Salmon, Farina Figs Onions (city ca,nned J^'lour Grapes prices) Sardines, Grapenuts Milk, 7 to 13 ff Oranges ca,nned Lard per qt. Round steak Scallops Lentils Olive oil Rump of beef Steak, choice Macaroni Peaches, dried Tomatoes cuts Milk at 6 ^ or Peanuts Veal, leg Spinach less per qt. Peanut butter Yeal, loin Molasses Pork sausage Oatmeal PufFed cereals Oleomargarine Sweet potatoes Rolled oats Turnips Peas, dried Walnuts Potatoes Raisins Pork, salt fat Prunes Rice Suet Sugar Tapioca 318 FOODS AND HOUSEHOLD MANAGEMENT