OUR PRICES

I have been asked where we get the low prices we use in our work by readers, who really want to know as a help to economical living, and by dealers, who ask in a spirit of crit- icism. To all I want to say this:

All recipes in our work are priced in accordance with the lowest prices on the Portland public market. In Portland, as in all other cities, there is a wide range in the prices which the people pay for food. This is gov- erned by many considerations, some of which are, first, difference in qual- ity. This applies especially in meats. The high-priced meats you buy in the suburbs are cold storage meats, and the very choicest and tenderest meat; the meat you buy in the market is usually fresh killed by the farmers, and perhaps not quite so choice meat; yet our Oregon-grown meat, fed on the rich pastures of the Willamette vallley, ought to equal any meat in the world. Then, again, the fresher meat, which has not had time to "ripen" (or partially decompose) is therefore tougher than the "cured" meat, but it is certainly as whole- some, and is considered by some peo- ple to be much more so. A good cook can prepare this meat so that it will be as tender and palatable as the ex- pensive meat, but the inefficient or indolent cook is reduced to the ne- cessity of always using "prepared or cured" meat. Remember one thing when your butcher tells you that cheap meat is inferior meat, not fit

for food, that we have a rigid meat inspection in Portland, and if this cheap meat was unfit for food the rival markets would soon see that the sale of it was stopped.

On the other side, we must con- sider that all this cheap meat is sold for cash, and most of it is not deliv- ered— you must carry it home your- selves. Here we have two big items particularly the former. Those who find it so "handy" to order by tele- phone and run monthly accounts, must remember that there is alyays a percentage of loss in all business carrying charge accounts, and that in order to meet this, and make a fair profit, all merchants who run charge accounts must charge you more than those who do not; but this is not the real cost of the food — it is the price you pay for having your account car- ried, like the interest you pay on a loan.

Then the careful handling and dis- playing and the delivering of all gro- ceries and meats are expensive. What you pay extra for this is paid as you would pay a porter to carry a bas- ket for you; but it is not the real necessary cost of the food. If you really wish to live more economical- ly, now that the prices of all foods are mounting so high, take your mar- ket basket and go down to the public market some morning and buy some meat and groceries, and see how they compare in quality and price with what you have been paying. It is surely an important enough matter, so that you should investigate it yourself and not take anyone's word for it.

HOW TO CHOOSE AND CARE FOR MEAT.

In choosing meat it should be firm to the touch and free from the slight- est odor. Beef should be a bright red and the fat a rich cream white.

Veal should have a good pink color, and the fat should be white. The calf should never be less than six or eight weeks old. Younger veal is very un- wholesome. Veal requires longer cooking than either beef or lamb.

Pork should be selected with the utmost care. Choose meat from a young animal and not too fat. Slow, thorough cooking is essential.

Remove all meat from wrapping as soon as it is delivered. It should be wiped with a clean cloth — not washed — and set in a cool place protected from insects. — Mrs. S. T. R. How to Cook Meat.

In considering the general subject of cooking meats, authorities say that heat does not alter the chemical con- stituents of food, but when properly applied aids digestion; though it coagulates and hardens albumin, so