Dear Penelope:

You have no idea how your plaintive little “wail” in the form of a letter went right to my heart, or what memories long forgotten it brought back to me of my early married life. You are perfectly right in thinking that I too had my “experiences,” and I am so pleased that you came to me to see if I could help you by recalling what I actually went through myself and what those “experiences,” almost tragic to me at the time, brought about in the way of remedies.

I have no doubt that it will seem “like a leaf out of your own book” when I tell you that when we began housekeeping I started, as a matter of course, in about the same way of living that I had been accustomed to in my mother’s house. This was my standard and I knew no other. What was my horror to find, when the end of the month came, that I was taking so much for table expenses that we had little left for anything else. This discovery nearly reduced me to tears, for we had both been brought up as you have, with a great dread of living beyond our means.

Our first thought was to move into a house with lower rent, but, after considering the question from all points of view, we decided to remain where we were and find some other way of cutting down our expenses. This was a difficult problem for any one so inexperienced and who had never had to think much about economy, but it was the very same problem that you are facing in very much the same way, and I did just what you are doing, consulted a friend in whom we had confidence and who had had years of experience. This consultation encouraged me to feel that there were many changes I could make in our way of living, and I was honestly amazed to find how much that seemed necessary for the table, just because I had always been accustomed to it, was not necessary at all, but that one was quite as well off without it.

I came home full of enthusiasm to see what I could do. Then came a serious settling down to the subject and a careful looking into ways and means. Together my husband and I talked over his income and decided what proportion we should allow for the table. The next month was to be a practice month, carefully watching how the money went, in order to make a plan for other months. How interesting it seemed! It meant that I had a vocation as well as my husband; that, by careful thought, I could make him feel that it was worth while to work hard if what he earned went just as far as it could and if when he came home tired he found my part attended to so well that the home was comfortable and serene. For why, if he went faithfully to his business daily, as a matter of course, in order to give me the wherewithal to run the house, should not I do my part as seriously and faithfully?

From that time economy and the management of the household took a new interest, and what had been drudgery became a fascinating puzzle. I plunged into the study of good cookery books, learning all I could about the different cuts of meat, how to tell good fowl, etc., so that I could choose well and make the money go as far as possible. In this search I discovered that the cheaper cuts of meat are sometimes the most nourishing and can be made tender by long cooking and very palatable in various ways. I also learned a great many different receipts for cooking the less expensive vegetables and serving them in an attractive way to give variety with the least expense.

I then started with my practice month in this way: I bought groceries in small quantities, only as much as we needed for a few days at a time, asking the price of things and keeping an account of them to check off with the bill when it came at the end of the month. Bills are a torment with a small income, so, while I found the bills for staple groceries, ice, and milk almost a necessity, I paid cash for all other articles of food; that is, meat, vegetables, fish, eggs, butter, etc. I went to market two or three times a week buying and paying for everything on the spot and seeing everything weighed and measured that was sold in that way. At the end of this practice month I made a list of what we had used in groceries, ice, and milk, and also added together all the cash spent on the other articles of food. With the grocery list in hand, at the beginning of the second month, I laid in a complete supply of groceries for the whole month, keeping it in a storeroom and giving out each morning enough for the day’s needs. Of course some months we used a little more, some a little less, but it averaged pretty even and was a good guide. I laid in laundry soap by the box, because to keep a box ahead, if you can, is the best economy, for it lasts twice as long if it is stacked on shelves with spaces between the cakes so that it can dry thoroughly before using.

The amount of groceries, milk, and ice we should use per month having been decided upon as nearly as I could, we divided the cash I had spent on the other food during this practice month by 30, to see what allowance this would give me per day. Then, when I went to market I took with me in my marketing purse only the exact sum we allowed for the number of days for which I was marketing. Otherwise I felt sure I should spend too much, as the markets are so tempting and human nature so frail!

Luxuries we did not have; we were young and did not need them and we have never regretted that we saved them in order to have them in our old age. Finding fancy groceries expensive, I did not buy them, but tried to put the money we had allowed ourselves for the table into nutritious food. Before going to market I used to make a rough outline ahead of the meals and take with me a list of what was needed for them. One is much more apt to have variety by thinking ahead, and taking a list to market is an economy, for, while one may change it after getting there, and substitute one article of food for another, still there is less likelihood of getting unnecessary things.

Money spent on a few good cookery books is well spent, for without their suggestions one is apt to fall into a rut, and this the family cannot forgive. No cook left to herself does her best. She needs constant supervision; to be told, “a little more salt here,” “more sugar there,” “slower cooking,” etc., and also to be praised for what is good. If the praise is not given, the cook gets discouraged; if mistakes are overlooked, she gets careless. As some cooks don’t take correction pleasantly, however well given, you will find that it works best to give it at the end of your morning talk when all the ordering is finished.

In beginning with a new cook, it is well to explain at once to her that you want her to lay aside everything that is left over, if only a tablespoonful, putting it into the wire safe or refrigerator for you to decide about the next morning. This is not generally done by American housekeepers, so that, at first, cooks are apt to think you are mean unless you explain to them cheerfully and pleasantly that it is in order to have a greater variety and that this is one of the reasons that the French cookery is so good.

You will find in some of your receipt books about the French pot-au-feu and can learn from this how to manage your own soup pot, using the bones left over from roasts, etc., to start a stock and varying this soup each day with left-overs, such as even a tablespoon of peas or some spinach (strained), or string beans, tomatoes, shreds of lettuce, or creamed oyster plant. This may not sound especially good to you, but my cook now makes soups that surprise me by their good flavor and variety in just this way.

These left-overs also make good salads, sometimes the basis being potatoes, to which is added a few beets, a little shredded lettuce, or, in addition, some meat chopped up, each thing being too small a quantity in itself for any one dish. Thus, a hearty and good salad or a hot dish is evolved from what many people allow to be thrown away. I would advise you to study some of the scientific diet menus that are published now and find out the relative values in nutriment of the different foods. Among the ideas of value to you you will discover that there are many foods, such as cheese, peas, lentils, and beans, which take the place of meat. As, for example, one pound of cheese equals two pounds of beef in nutriment.

Eloise is at my elbow imploring me to stop writing and give her some advice about her dress for Mrs. Blake’s fancy ball, so I mustn’t run on any more. Don’t hesitate to tell me anything that troubles you, for it will be such a pleasure to me if I can help you.

Very affectionately yours,

Jane Prince.

P. S. Some days, when you don’t feel well, it is hard to think of the menu, so I would advise you, whenever you have tried a receipt and found it good, to write in a blank book, kept for the purpose, the name of the dish, the title of the cookery book, and the page on which you found the receipt; thus: “Fish pudding, Mary Ronald’s Century Cook-Book, page 123.” Before you know it you will have a book, not of receipts, but of suggestions, which will tell you just where to look for the sort of dish you want for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. In order to make it perfectly easy to turn at once to any especial dish, divide the blank book, before you make any entries in it, into as many sections as may be convenient, leaving several pages to each section:

Can’t you imagine the relief such a book would be in an emergency and how valuable it would become after a while because it has references only to tried receipts?

Devotedly yours,

Jane Prince.