In purchasing perishable goods, care should be taken to get everything as _fresh_ and _new_ as possible. This is absolutely necessary in the case of vegetables, ripe fruits, eggs, butter, and fish generally, as these cannot be used in too fresh a condition; but, as butcher’s meat requires to be kept some time, it may, where the butcher’s word can be trusted as to the day on which it was killed, be purchased ready for cooking. Indeed this must often be done when a small supply of cut meat, such as steaks or chops, is required. As, however, it is the butcher’s interest to sell off his meat while it is fresh, in order to avoid the loss arising from its spoiling on his hands, he will seldom have any prime pieces which have been kept long enough for immediate use, so that it is much safer, as a general rule, to ask for it fresh, and keep it at home. Perhaps the best plan is to ascertain which day of the week is the butcher’s regular “killing day,” and to buy upon that day only, a quantity sufficient to last some time,—which quantity must be determined by the season of the year; for, since meat keeps much longer in winter than in summer, a larger stock may be laid in then. Many a good dinner has been spoiled, and many a fine piece of meat wasted, and this not from ignorance of the time it ought to be kept, but from inattention to the above rule. When it is ascertained where the best and cheapest articles are sold, it is as well to lay in as large a stock as can be afforded at one time, of those provisions which do not spoil by keeping. By so doing, the housewife will not only have a good supply of the best always at hand, but will also be allowed certain discounts from the price, which she would not otherwise obtain, besides saving much time and trouble in shopping. Not only will she have to go _oftener_ to the shop for small supplies, but it may frequently happen that, when she applies for a _second_ small quantity of an article that has been approved of, she may find the dealer’s stock of that particular commodity renewed, and the new supply not so good; and then she will either have to purchase an inferior article, or to wander from shop to shop in search of a better. Of course this rule must be disregarded when, at the time of purchase, there is reason to expect an immediate fall in the price. For instance, it would be absurd to buy a three months’ supply of tea at 4s., with the knowledge that within a month there might be such a reduction of duty upon it as would lower its price to 2s. Such cases, however, occur very rarely. HOW TO COOK POTATOES. The goodness of a potato materially depends upon the skill of the cook. We here introduce a few modes of preparing it for the table, not commonly in use:— POTATOES MASHED WITH ONIONS.—Prepare some boiled onions, by putting them through a sieve, and mix them with potatoes.