Foods and Household Management Part 47

Lemon jelly, whipped cream Pineapple ice, lady fingers

Milk for children to drink Milk for children to drink

By a little calculation from tables giving the 100-Calorie portions of food materials[21] we can find out whether or not we have well-balanced dietaries. Let us take, for example, Menu I, and make a list of the foods required to prepare it for a family of this size.

============================================================= FOOD MATERIAL |100-CALORIE | TOTAL | PROTEIN | PORTIONS | CALORIES| CALORIES ---------------------------|--------------------------------- Oranges | 2.5 250 15 Flaked wheat | 5.0 500 74 Rolls | 5.0 500 61 Milk for children | 6.0 600 114 Thin cream for cereal | 5.0 500 26 b.u.t.ter for rolls | 5.0 500 5 Sugar for coffee | 1.0 100 -- | Creamed salmon | Salmon | 3.0 300 160 Milk | 2.0 200 38 Flour | 0.3 33 4 b.u.t.ter | 2.0 200 2 Toast | 3.0 300 43 Peas | 2.5 250 70 b.u.t.ter for peas | 1.0 100 1 Graham bread | 5.0 500 68 b.u.t.ter for bread | 5.0 500 5 Pears | 2.5 250 8 Sugar for pears | 2.0 200 -- Milk to drink | 6.0 600 114 | Tomato soup | Tomatoes | 0.5 50 10 b.u.t.ter | 2.0 200 2 Flour | 0.3 33 4 Roast beef | 5.0 500 138 Mashed Potatoes | 5.0 500 52 Milk | 1.0 100 19 b.u.t.ter | 1.0 100 1 String beans | 0.5 50 11 b.u.t.ter for beans | 1.0 100 1 Bread | 5.0 500 72 b.u.t.ter | 5.0 500 5 | Cabbage salad | Cabbage | 0.5 50 10 Lettuce | 0.1 10 -- Heavy cream for dressing | 2.0 200 4 Lemon jelly | Gelatin | 0.5 50 50 Lemon juice | 0.1 10 -- Sugar | 4.0 400 -- Whipped cream | Heavy cream | 3.0 300 7 Milk to drink | 6.0 600 114 | ------------------ Totals | 10,636 1308 ===========================================================

It is evident that we have enough protein, and as a good share of it is from milk, we know that it will satisfy the children's requirements in the best possible way. The adults will get theirs largely from the salmon and meat. Comparing this list with our first tentative one, we find that we have used in building up our dietary 21 portions of milk, 5 of cereal, 5 of fruit (not including lemon juice), 4.1 of green vegetable, 8 of meat (including salmon), 18 of bread, and 22 of b.u.t.ter, but no eggs. We have a good representation of the different kinds of foodstuffs, with this exception, and as the boys would need the eggs most, we could put them in for their breakfast, thus adding about 140 total Calories and 50 protein Calories. With this addition we are still slightly deficient in total energy, but to add one or two hundred Calories is a very simple matter. A second serving of potatoes, an extra roll for those whose fuel requirement is highest, or a slightly more liberal use of b.u.t.ter, might well solve the problem. This dietary calculation shows how the menu may help in getting a balanced diet, and how knowledge of food values can be applied as a check on the menu. If we had had fewer dishes in each meal, we should have had to plan to serve larger portions of some or all of them, or to use more freely such staples as bread, b.u.t.ter, and milk.

Each family must find out the kind of menu best suited to its resources.

Some typical meal plans suitable for everyday use are given below.

TYPICAL BREAKFAST PLANS

I

Fruit Toast Beverage

II

Fruit Cereal Toast Beverage

III

Fruit Meat Toast Beverage

IV

Fruit Cereal Meat Toast Beverage

V

Fruit Cereal Meat 1 other hot dish Toast Beverage

TYPICAL LUNCHEON PLANS

I

Hot dish Bread and b.u.t.ter Beverage

II

Hot dish Bread and b.u.t.ter Simple dessert Beverage

III

Soup Another hot dish Bread and b.u.t.ter Dessert Beverage

IV

Soup 2 other hot dishes Salad Dessert Beverage

TYPICAL DINNER PLANS

I

2 hot dishes (as meat and vegetable) Bread and b.u.t.ter Dessert

II

Soup 2 or 3 other hot dishes (as meat and one or two vegetables) Bread and b.u.t.ter Dessert Beverage

III

Soup 2 or 3 hot dishes A relish (as jelly or pickle) Bread and b.u.t.ter Salad Dessert Beverage

More elaborate plans than these should usually be reserved for state occasions.

=The cost of the dietary.=--The types of menu used will depend very largely upon the income of the family. It is comparatively easy to plan attractive bills of fare if one does not have to consider the amount of work involved in preparing them, or the cost of the materials to be used.

With knowledge of food values an expensive dietary may be wholesome, but there is great temptation to overeating and waste of food, and it is wise to keep meals simple for the sake of good digestion. Most families have to consider carefully the cost of food if any money is to be saved for books or travel or emergencies. A dietary such as planned on page 313 will probably cost from $1.50 to $2.00 for the day, or from 1-1/2 to 2 cents per 100 Calories, depending on the locality. Nothing is allowed for waste, which may, if the cook and those who eat the food are not careful, amount to from 10 to 15 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 dietary 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,[22] 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 1/3 of a cent per 100 Calories, and these are mostly cereal products, such as cornmeal, rolled oats, and flour, or sugars and mola.s.ses. 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 country to-day it is hardly possible to make a dietary satisfactory week in and week out with an average allowance of less than 3/4 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 choosing foods with regard to cost a table that shows which are cheap fuel and which dear, is a great help. Prices vary so much with place and season that it is difficult to make one which is very exact, and some rearrangement to suit any particular region may be necessary. The table on page 318 will, however, serve as a guide.

TABLE OF FOOD MATERIALS

_Arranged according to cost per 100 Calories_

======================================================================== GROUP I | GROUP II | GROUP III | GROUP IV Less than 1 per | 1-2 per 100 | 2-1/2-5 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 | b.u.t.ter, over | fresh | Celery Bread | 32 per pound | Beets, fresh | Chicken b.u.t.ter under | Cabbage | Cauliflower | Cod, fresh 32 per pound | Carrots, old | Codfish, salt | Cuc.u.mbers Corned beef | Cheese | Corn, canned | Lettuce Cornmeal | Chestnuts | Eggs, 25-36 | Olives Cornflakes | Chocolate | per doz. | Oysters Cornstarch | Cocoa | Haddock | Peaches, Cottonseed oil | Cream | Halibut | canned Crackers, soda | Eggs under 25 | Ham | Pears, canned Dates | per doz. | Lamb chops | Salmon, Farina | Figs | Onions (city | canned Flour | Grapes | prices) | Sardines, Grapenuts | Milk, 7 to 13 | Oranges | canned 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 b.u.t.ter | | Veal, loin Mola.s.ses | Pork sausage | | Oatmeal | Puffed cereals | | Oleomargarine | Sweet potatoes | | Rolled oats | Turnips | | Peas, dried | Walnuts | | Potatoes | | | Raisins | | | Pork, salt fat | | | Prunes | | | Rice | | | Suet | | | Sugar | | | Tapioca | | | ========================================================================

Inspection of this table shows that if we can afford only one cent per 100 Calories for food, we must get a large share from Group I, and a few from Group II; if we wish to use foods in Group III, we shall have to do so sparingly, or offset them with some of the very cheapest in Group I, to keep the average as we wish it.

When we plan an attractive menu and find it is too expensive for us, we may often carry out our plan by subst.i.tuting cheaper foods of the same sort. Thus in the dietary on page 313 we may subst.i.tute as follows:

Bananas for oranges.

Top milk for cream.

Oleomargarine for a part of the b.u.t.ter.

Bean loaf with tomato sauce for creamed salmon and peas.

Stewed apricots for pears.

Rump roast instead of rib roast.

Doing this, omitting the soup and crackers and the salad for dinner, and increasing bread and potatoes, flaked wheat, and other cheaper foods to prevent any deficiency in fuel, we can still prepare palatable and digestible meals with the right food values, and save perhaps 25 per cent on the total cost for the day.

=Feeding the sick.=--When illness is serious enough for a physician to be consulted, he will give directions concerning the diet, and these should be scrupulously followed. If the case is so severe as to demand a trained nurse, she will have charge of the feeding, under the physician's guidance. Many times, however, a member of the family is temporarily indisposed and needs food different from the ordinary family bill of fare.

It is well to remember that in the first day or two of illness, fasting or taking of very little food does no harm, and may be an excellent help toward recovery, as it gives the digestive tract a chance to rest, if it has been disturbed.

Nevertheless, the internal work of the body goes on, 0.4 Calorie per pound per hour being expended during sleep, and about 0.6 Calorie per pound per hour during waking hours in bed. A person in bed for twenty-four hours will require about 0.5 Calorie per pound per hour to prevent use of body material for fuel. A man of average weight, lying in bed, will thus need about 1850 calories per day. Hence we must see to it, that after a person has been sick for more than a few days (during which he can afford to burn body fat) enough fuel is given to satisfy his energy requirements if he can possibly digest it.