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Show American Housewife's Part in The War Is an Important One $ - a rniii mmmmtmmmmmmmmmnrmmt . r 1 1 ttims . 4 . : ' a - j .Miif.i'tiiiiiiiijai-jijiiiMMMiital Keeping Her Family Well In Wartime Is Her Special Task. By JANET CUPLER rieleused by Western Newspaper Union. One of Uncle Sam's best soldiers sol-diers is the American housewife. house-wife. Her uniform is a kitchen kitch-en apron, her ammunition a bright smile and the capable hands with which she does the proverbial million and one things that make hers a 64-hour, 64-hour, seven-day week. She is usually content with the only reward she really wants the love and gratitude of a happy, healthy family. But once in a while you hear her say, "I feel so guilty. I'm rot doing anything to help win the war. Of course I keep house and save scrap and buy war bonds, but I'd like to feel that I'm doing something some-thing definite, like Joining the WAACs or working in a defense factory." fac-tory." We can't all Join the WAACs. And we can't all work In defense factories. fac-tories. But we can do an Important Job right In our own homes. The war will finally be won only with the help of the American housewife, and the better Job she docs, the sooner she will be able to rejoice In the victory she helped to win. When government reports recently recent-ly showed that only about one-third of the families in the United States have diets that are adequate to maintain health. It became apparent appar-ent that one of the Important factors In winning the war would be proper nutrition (the right food as well as the right amount of it), for, although SAVE SCRAP When you save scrap, kitchen kitch-en grease, tin cans or paper, you are really helping to clothe our soldiers and send fighter planes to bomb the enemy. en-emy. The grease you save is processed to secure glycerine, which is then used in the manufacture man-ufacture of TNT for shells. Waste paper can be used for shell containers; 25 pounds makes eight shell containers. One hand iron contains enough metal for two helmets. hel-mets. Fifty feet of garden hose will make four raincoats. Thirty-two toothpaste tubes contain the tin needed for a fighter plane. will help you get the most from the food you buy: , Don't keep vegetables long at room temperature. 'Wash them and put them in the refrigerator. Pare potatoes as thinly as possible. possi-ble. Scrub carrots with a brush instead in-stead of scraping them. Don't shell peas until you are ready to cook them. Don't soak vegetables in water for any length of time. Cut carrots and other long vegetables vege-tables lengthwise. Cook frozen vegetables without thawing first Some vitamin content is lost in thawing. Don't handle vegetables any more than necessary. Don't squeeze oranges until you are ready to use the Juice. Don't chop salad vegetables and greens until you are ready to use them. Then add the dressing immediately immediate-ly after chopping them. The dressing dress-ing acts as a protective covering and helps to prevent the destruction of valuable vitamins by exposure to the air. Don't handle vegetables any more than necessary. Don't use soda in cooking green vegetables. That lovely, vivid green color it gives them is a danger signal. HOW TO COOK IT Last year, Impressed with the Importance Im-portance of proper cooking. Home Economics Institute of Westing-house Westing-house Electric and Manufacturing company sponsored a program of research conducted by scientists to determine the exact amount of vitamins vita-mins lost In improper cooking. Four typical vegetables were chosen potatoes, po-tatoes, carrots, fresh peas and broccoliand broc-coliand the results of the tests demonstrated conclusively that water, wa-ter, heat and air, used improperly, can destroy as much as 33.7 per cent of the precious vitamins. Water, heat and air are essential to cooking, and some vitamin content con-tent will be lost in all cooking, but the following procedure helps to reduce re-duce this loss to a minimum: USE LITTLE OR NO WATER. Steaming is preferable to boiling, so use Just enough water to produce steam. Wash leafy vegetables thoroughly thor-oughly Just before cooking. The amount of moisture that clings to the leaves will be sufficient to produce pro-duce steam. START FAST, COOK QUICKLY. QUICK-LY. When the boiling point is reached, turn your fire down and let the vegetables simmer. Continuous Continu-ous boiling is destructive. Be sure the heat is evenly distributed. For this purpose a fiat bottomed pan with straight sides is best. COOK IN COVERED UTENSILS. The cover keeps the steam in, the air out. Be sure the cover fits tightly. tight-ly. DON'T STIR. Again, this lets in additional air. If the heat is evenly distributed, stirring is unnecessary. Don't spurn the lowly peanut! On the way to your table by way of the peanut butter jar, these peanuts are rich In food value. Experts recommend recom-mend that peanut butter be Included regularly In your diet. today, with gas rationed In many parts of the country and with the housewife eager to do her part by saving her tires, she may find it necessary to do her marketing only once or twice a week. HOW TO KEEP IT Then proper refrigeration becomes be-comes more Important than ever. But putting foods in the right place in the refrigerator is Just as important impor-tant as keeping them there at all. They must be kept cold, but not too cold. And they must have the proper prop-er amount of humidity, neither too much nor too little. Frozen foods need extreme cold with no humidity. Vegetables and greens need mild cold with lots of humidity. Milk, butter, staples and prepared dishes other than frozen ones need only mild cold. Meat requires re-quires a slightly lower temperature than vegetables, and more humidity. humid-ity. In general, 40 degrees Is considered consid-ered a safe temperature for most foods. At that temperature the growth of bacteria Is usually retarded. retard-ed. Cold air travels downward, so the coldest places In your refrigerator refrigera-tor will be the freezing chamber and the spot directly under It. Put frozen foods in the freezing chamber, cham-ber, meat and fish directly under It. Milk and cream and other beverages bev-erages to be chilled should be placed on the shelf next to the freezing chamber. Staples, butter and left-overs will keep satisfactorily in the middle section, as they require moderate cold but no special care. Vegetables, Vegeta-bles, too, and most fruits can be kept there, but they require more humidity. Some refrigerators have special compartments for them, but if yours does not, one of the vegetable vege-table bags or a covered dish will do. Canned foods that will not be used right away, salad dressing and pickles need not, and bananas must not, be put In the refrigerator. On the other hand, bread, coffee, shelled nuts and chocolate keep better bet-ter there. SPARE THAT VITAMIN Even when she buys the proper foods and plans her meals to include them, the housewife's job has only begun. Vitamins are perishable. Minerals can be washed away. By Improper preparation and cooking she can lose much of the value for which she so carefully paid at the market. Here are some suggestions that & 0 J 1 vtf r LlJ Women in rural communities, faced with a shortage of farm labor, are learning to care for poultry and livestock. Rural health programs include in-clude the study of nutrition. our soldiers are the best fed in the world, the men and women who keep them equipped, those employed in our war Industries, are sometimes some-times very badly fed indeed. A survey sur-vey conducted among employees of one large aircraft company revealed that about half showed definite signs of vitamin deficiency. Healthy workers work-ers are good workers, and it is up to the American housewife to see that the members of her family are properly fed. WHAT TO BUY Proper nutrition begins with the food you buy. Although there is much to be learned about those mys- I t; ! it vV-. ,'! 1 ' ft , - J v terious substances called vitamins, the fact, is that we need them, as well as minerals, fats, proteins and v carbohydrates. A balanced diet must include them all. The amount of food each person requires depends de-pends largely upon how active he is. One who sits all day will, of course, require proportionately less food, particularly of the muscle and tissue building and energy producing produc-ing types, than one who is doing hard physical labor. Each normal person, however, needs every day some milk; whole grain or "enriched" bread or cereal; green or yellow vegetables; oranges, or other citrus fruit, or tomatoes; meat, fish, or poultry; eggs (at least three or four a week) ; butter or other fats rich in vitamins; vita-mins; and a limited amount of sweets. These foods can always be supplemented with additional vegetables vege-tables and fruits. Experts also recommend that peas, dried beans, nuts and peanut butter be included from time to time. Under normal circumstances it is best to use all fresh foods, especially vegetables, as soon as possible. Long exposure to the air deprives them of some of their value. But Women all over the country are taking courses in nutrition, first aid and home nursing to fit them for the important task of keeping their families healthy. These women, part of a class of 20, are taking an examination ex-amination in nutrition. |