The Library of Work and Play: HousekeepingGilman, Elizabeth Hale
General
The Library of Work and Play: Housekeeping
Gilman, Elizabeth Hale
Home economics
Wise marketing, like wise shopping, requires of us two moral qualities,
judgment and self-restraint. One must ask oneself and answer wisely and
truly:
Is this what I want?
Is its price reasonable for me to pay?
Is it good of its kind?
Is it in good condition?
Is it a suitable size or quantity?
If any of it is left to-day will it fit into my plans for to-morrow?
Is this what I want? That is, is it what I have reasonably planned to
get or just something which momentarily appeals to me. On the other
hand, is it perhaps better for my purpose than the thing I had planned
to have?
"Reasonable," used in regard to a price, has two interpretations, and
the housewife is concerned with both. She must consider whether the
price of an article is "within her means" as people say, that is,
whether she can buy this thing which she wants without sacrificing
something equally or more important. She must also consider whether the
price is a reasonable value for the nourishment and enjoyment which it
represents and not a fictitious price caused by unseasonableness or an
unusual demand.
Is it good of its kind? And is it in good condition? Are questions
which may well be considered together. We can only learn to answer
them by experiment and experience. Especially is this true in regard
to meat. One cannot easily recognize the different pieces from
another person's description, and it is often difficult to do so from
pictures. Even the names of the pieces differ considerably in different
localities, and a knowledge of the quality of meat is impossible to
obtain except from actual experience. The best and easiest way to
learn about meat is from a good butcher. Three or four minutes of his
time appropriated by you every time that you go to his shop will make
you into a skilful marketer. Do not hesitate to ask him questions nor
be afraid of betraying your ignorance. For whether you know much or
little, it is well to put a good deal of responsibility upon him in
selecting meat, then if it is not satisfactory he can fairly be taken
to task, but if you do the choosing without his help, a mistake is your
own fault.
If the housewife is not sure of the names given to pieces of meat in
the locality in which she is marketing, or not very sure of such names
anywhere, she may easily explain her wishes by designating what she
means to do with a piece of meat, as, "a piece of veal for roasting,"
"about a pound and a half of lamb for stewing," "a piece of beef for
soup," and the like phrases.
Her receipt book will probably give her pictures and the names of
pieces of meat, or she may again apply to her paternal government for
Farmers' Bulletin No. 34: "Meats: Composition and Cooking," in which
she will find placid animals divided into numbered sections, and
considerable explanation of ways in which these sections may be used.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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