Foods and home making

1. Thematerials of which it is made. By observing the thickness of the walls and door of a refrigerator one can readily understand that these parts consist of several layers, viz. : (a) the interior (or lining), ( b ) the exterior, and (c) the inter- lining. The lining and ex- terior of most refrigerators is metal coated with por- celain or with a synthetic material. Both the lining and exterior should be durable. The material coating the metal foundation should not chip. It is essential that the lining be easily cleaned. For this reason it should be seamless and have rounded corners. The interlining of a refrigerator box is an insulating material. 1 See Better Buymanship Pamphlet No. 19, Household Refrigerators, page 11. Household Finance Corporation. Seeger Refrigerator Company Figure 54. A Section of a Refrigerator Wall 1, 2, porcelain enamel lining and ex- terior ; 3, cork board ; 4, insulating paper ; 5, wall board. What is the purpose of the cork and other insulating materials ? Refrigerators — Stoves and Firebuilding 173 This should be at least two inches thick in both the walls and door. (See Figure 54.) 2. Another important part of a refrigerator to be investigated is the fit of the doors and security of the locks or fasteners. The doors should be fitted with fasteners that will latch them tightly and with a rubber gasket or strip around the inside of the door so that there may be no cracks through which warm air may enter. The door should be so tightly closed that a calling card cannot be wedged between the door and box. 3. If you are buying an iced refrigerator, notice whether there is a separate door on the compartment in which ice is stored. Efficient refrigerators either have two outer doors as shown in Figure 55 or a single outer door with an inner ice-saving door which keeps warm air from the ice when the outer door is opened. 4. The size of a refriger- Figure 55. Food Storage in a Top Icer Refrigerator The coldest part of this refrigerator is in the center portion just beneath the ice compartment. Here foods that spoil most readily, such as milk, cream, butter, milk desserts, and meat broth, should be placed. Vegetables and most fruits, being odorous foods, should be placed at the sides so their odors will be carried im- mediately to the ice. Since berries and cherries mold readily they should be placed where the colder air is circulating. ator, especially the food storage space, needs to be considered. This will depend upon the size of a family, the number of meals prepared each day in a home, and the number of times per week marketing is done. Storage space is measured in cubic feet. A refrigerator of at least 7 cubic feet storage space is 174 Modern Housewifery needed by a family of four if two or three meals are served in a home each day and perishable foods (milk and cream excepted) are purchased but once or twice a week. For a family of four or five, an iced refrigerator should be large enough to hold ioo pounds of ice. Where should food be placed in a refrigerator? In Figures 55 and 56 notice that the milk and other foods which spoil readily are placed in the coldest spot. Some spots in a re- frigerator are colder than others because the warm air rises to the top and cold air drops to take its place. The air in a good refrigerator keeps circulat- ing, as shown in Figure 57-