Memorize this brief article, if you would be known as a good manager! Adopt it as your homemaking creed, and put it into practice every day, for it will help you stretch your food budget so both ends will meet every time.
There are various ways to make the budget allowance for food go farther. By putting them into action you may be able to shave a dollar or two a week from your estimated weekly food budget. All of the following suggestions will help you to “stretch your food dollar”; certain ones will apply more than others to the type of community in which you live and to your individual family.
Ready –to-eat foods such as cooked meats, salads and bakery goods, packaged mixes for making cakes, cookies, puddings, muffins, etc., and foods packaged in fancy wrappings are usually more expensive than similar products made at home. In buying these products, you pay not only for the foods themselves but, for the time and labor that goes into the preparation and packaging of it also. When you time is your own, it is economical to make the cake or other food yourself.
Commercially made relishes and fruit jellies are usually more expensive than the homemade products, however when these products are only used in small quantities, it is practical and economical to buy rather than make them.
These ready-to-eat foods and packaged mixes have a time-saving value, especially on extra-busy days, and are convenient to use in those unforeseen emergencies that arise in every family. On these occasions, such foods seem like life savers, but generally it is more economical to make them yourself.
CHOOSE A DEPENDABLE MARKET
When there are several stores in your neighborhood, it is usually a good idea to shop around and find which stores give you the best values for different foods; one store may carry the best meats, and another the freshest fruits and vegetables, while still another may make a specialty of staple items and canned goods. The least expensive merchandise is not always the best buy. When comparing costs, you need to consider also the amount to waste of the bought food, the cleanliness and care of the food in the store, the dependability of the quality of the merchandise from day to day, and your own time spent in shopping. Once you have determined which stores are most satisfactory, it will be to your advantage to buy there regularly. You will receive better service and consideration from the dealer who can depend upon your business.
BUY GRADED MERCHANDISE
Many foods-fruits and vegetables (fresh, canned, frozen and dried), meats, poultry, eggs, butter, cheese, honey and rice-are graded according to federal specifications by trained government inspectors. The top grades are those foods most perfect in shape, color, size, and flavor; with certain other physical characteristics, depending on the type of food, that make them superior in quality. The top grades, however, are no more nutritional or wholesome than the lower grades.
All can make a considerable saving by learning the differences between the various government grades of foods, and then choosing between them wisely.
BUYING IN QUANATITY
Every women knows that in buying hand lotion, for example a bottle containing twelve ounces will cost much less per ounce than twice as much as a bottle containing six ounces. Exactly the same principle applies to food. A ten pound bag of sugar cost less per pound than two 5 pound bags of sugar per pound. When purchased at the same time. In buying the one pound you are paying not only for the food itself, but also for the packing and labeling that went in to the larger bag. Whenever you are choosing between the various sizes of packaged foods, compare the net weights, and figure the most economical size.
More or less the same principle applies to fresh foods, such as apples and potatoes. If you buy a sack of potatoes all at once, rather than two of three pounds every day, it saves a lot of handling by the retailer, and may save you several cents per sack. Form the habit of ordering bulk foods by weight rather than volume or number, whenever possible. It is simpler to compare the price of lemons in two different stores, for example, when price is given by pounds than by dozen; since a dozen lemons may include fruit of a great range in size.
Many housewives have facilities for purchasing canned food by case, and a few staple foods in advance, and if menus are planned ahead they will know what the need. The savings when added up at the end of year, will mount to a tidy sum to spend on the occasional extras which make living a little more luxurious.
BUDGET YOUR INCOME
Quantity buying is frequently difficult because a larger amount of cash is needed to pay for the food all at once, than to buy small amounts from day to day. The only way to meet this problem is by a system of budgeting, firmly followed.
A simple budget system can be planned by keeping a careful account of month’s expenditures, and then dividing the next month’s income into portions to meet the various large items. A convenient way of doing this is to have a group of envelopes labeled with the family’s bit expenses rent, gas, light and heat; groceries, meat and milk; taxes; clothing for the various members of the family; and so on. Divide the actual cash of the allowance. Not all the expenses will need to be considered every month. A fraction of the whole sum should be put aside each month for those obligations which must be met at a future date. By following this plan faithfully one will have the money needed to pay for food in large as well as in small sums, providing the monthly total is not exceeded. The same system could be followed on a weekly basis. This simple budget system has the advantage of being based on past experience of your family. Rather than on some theory of a remote budget planner who never had to deal with Junior’s shoes and Sister’s tooth-straightening.
HAVING YOUR OWN GARDEN
Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a large back yard or a convenient spot for a gig garden. But many people can locate a place for a small kitchen garden. Here with the expense of a few seeds, some good outdoor exercise, and lot of fun, the family can raise many of their vegetables for summer use.
The “victory-gardens” of the past proved to thousands of families the advantages, even in a large city, of having a small garden. They have experienced the thrill of eating perfectly fresh vegetable all summer, and have learned the economy of wisely preserving any excess by freezing, canning or drying.
Any family, in a suitable location, with a little experience and managing ability, can keep a few laying chickens or even a good milk goat or cow. Their feed and keep will cost considerably less than the value of the food they produce in exchange.
MAKE USE OF LEFTOVERS AND AVOID WASTE
There are some old proverbs, “want makes want” and “a penny saved is a penny earned. That apply to food as well as to money. The intelligent housewife recognizes that preventing any possible food waste is the best known way of stretching the food dollar.
For example, a small rubber scraper should be used to remove ever trace of batter, dough, or sauce, etc. From bowls and pans before they are placed in the sink for washing. Dry bread, rolls and cake should be made into crumbs instead of being discarded or allowed to mold. The good outer envelope leaves of cabbage, lettuce, etc., should be saved and combined with spinach or other cooked greens. Fruits or vegetable should be pared is thinly as possible, if at all. Chicken feet and necks, as well as other parts of the animal/s carcass, even though they may contain little visible meat, may be used for preparing delicious soups. Food leftovers may be regarded as clear gain or as clear loss, according to whether your family has learned to accept them gratefully in a new dress, or insists that the leftovers are only good for chicken feed. The way leftovers are presented will usually determine the amount of enthusiasm they can be expected to arouse. An ancient, dried-out dab of meat or vegetable can’t possibly rate more than a cool reception, but a well-stored tasty leftover used in the preparation of a new and interesting “did” will be received with an enthusiastic welcome.
Meats are the most generally accepted leftovers, and some people go so far as to choose a larger pot roast, or a larger ham or turkey than the family requires, in order to have some left for sandwiches, hash or croquettes, or fir various casserole dishes, the next day.
One example will illustrate how a big meat cut can be economically and appetizingly used, for even a small family. Have the butcher saw a small whole ham in two and cut two half-inch steaks from the center to be broiled for whole ham in two and cut two half-inch steaks from the center to be broiled whole ham in two and cut two half-inch steaks from the center to be broiled for the first nights dinner. For the next day, roast the butt end – a fine main dish for Sunday dinner. Several days later prepare a boiled dinner with the shank end; or cut off thin slices to pan-broil for breakfast or for sandwiches and use the bean for making bean or pea soup.
Vegetable leftovers are less easily used, because usually only small amounts are left. However, two or even more kinds may be combined to be served hot as a vegetable or in soup, or chilled for salad. When leftover vegetables must be reheated, some of their pot liquor should be left on them and they must be heated in this, or if there is none, in a little milk and butter.
Leftovers should be cooled and placed in closed containers, air-tight if possible, to prevent the absorption of any foreign odors and flavors and too prevent drying out. Then be sure that the food goes straight into the refrigerator and is used as soon as possible. If good care is given to the foods while they are stored, they will remain in good condition till the next day; but it should be remembered that part of the vitamin content will lessen on standing.
It should become a fixed habit to check the refrigerator daily for leftovers that can be incorporated in the day’s meals, and never to allow these leftovers to deteriorate unused. Avoid any excess chopping and cutting of leftovers. Let the pieces be large enough to be readily identifiable. Do your disguising in some way other than making the food itself unrecognizable.
