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Weekly Expenses
1251. The calculation of the weekly expenses is readily made from the above table of annual expenditure by dividing each item by 52. Of course, every manager will find he (or she) must vary the items to suit particular circumstances, inasmuch as in many situations milk is dearer in proportion than bread, while it is an invariable rule that green-grocery in towns is double the price which it bears in the country; so that the calculation must only be received as an average one, and as serving to show the mode of arriving at the several details. But when the manager has carefully set about her task, and after putting down the whole sum to be spent, and dividing it into items, has proceeded to consider whether the fiftysecond part of each of these will serve her for a week, she begins to see her way through her task, and at once is able to accommodate herself to circumstances, and to raise one, and lower another, accordingly. The great thing is, to make the calculation on paper, and when that is done, to determine to adhere to it somehow or other. But, without this weekly estimate, it is scarcely possible to check the expenditure until it has gone so far as to trench severely upon the whole sum to be laid out in the year. 1252. When the manager has proceeded thus far, the next thing is to lay in a stock for the week, or in some articles for a longer period, including in the latter those which improve by keeping, or which may be bought to advantage in larger quantities than are required for the seven days. But, until she has gained some experience in housekeeping, it is perhaps better in all cases either to buy a week's consumption, or that for a month, or a quarter, or half a year, so that it may be divided into distinct portions, one of which may be easily set apart for each week. This is not possible with all the articles used in housekeeping, nor can the rule be as strictly carried out in the affairs of the house as it can in a large mercantile establishment, because, in order to do this, stock must be taken at the end of each week, which would be a difficult and tedious affair. Besides which, some articles are not used invariably in the same quantities in each week, such as poultry and fish; but these may be considered as exceptions to the rule, and treated accordingly. Coals and candles, again, are in much greater demand in the winter than in the summer; so that usually in the latter season one-half or one-third at least may be subtracted from the weekly sum, and put by to be afterwards added to that demanded in the winter months. The remedy, however, is simple enough; for though the expenses of each single week are not to be taken as the exact fifty-second part of the whole annual cost, yet after a time it will be found that one week will correct another, and that the cost of thirteen will give as nearly as may be the fourth part of the year's expenses, and, by proceeding further on the same principle, the outlay made in four weeks will show, though not so accurately, the thirteenth part of the annual expenditure. 1253. The task relating to the provisioning for the week is affected by so many causes, that no rule can possibly apply. Thus, at a distance from market, many articles are of necessity purchased at intervals, which would be bought as they are wanted where the proximity to good shops admitted of such a convenient mode. In the country it is often impossible to procure butcher's meat, or even butter, except on market-days; so that, even in the sultry weather of midsummer, a stock sufficient for the interval must either be laid in at those times, or they must be altogether dispensed with. It must not therefore be assumed, that because the week's provisions are here indicated as purchased on the Saturday, the caterer should always do so on that day, but that she should comply with the rule in principle, and should only depart from it when some valid reason exists, as a matter of course substituting any other day of the week which may be the local market-day. The limits of this book will necessarily prevent a statement of the actual details in each separate income; and therefore what is given can only be received as a specimen of the plan generally to be adopted, which must be modified according to the circumstances already alluded to. In the higher incomes, also, there is less necessity for extreme care and anxiety, because the amounts set apart for them are on a liberal scale; and they will therefore be omitted in the calculation, the attention being confined to that most difficult problem comprised in the catering for a family upon the confined scale of expenses given under the third and fourth columns.
A WEEK'S CATERING FOR AN EXPENDITURE ON HOUSEKEEPING OF £150 A-YEAR. 1254. By the adoption of the above plan, and by subdividing the amounts given in the table of expenditure, the result is, that the mistress will have 18lb. of meat, 2s. worth of fish, 30lb. of bread, 2lb. of flour; 6s. worth of milk, butter, and cheese; 7s. worth of grocery; 3s. 10d. worth each of green-grocery and beer; and 5s. 9d. to spend in materials and female help in washing and ironing. She therefore goes to market and buys, we will say, a leg of mutton and a piece of the buttock of beef, together weighing 181b., which, allowing for one day's dinner on fish, will be 3lb. per day on the whole. The bread will allow of three-quarters of a pound per head per day, with 2lb. of flour for puddings during the week; and, if it is made at home, there will be an extra quantity, or a saving to the extent of about 6d. The breakfast must be confined to oatmeal porridge or flour-milk, alternately with bread and butter or dripping for the children, and also tea and sugar; for which last item 6d. may be allowed for breakfast and tea, and 6d. for the sugar, rice, raisins, &c., used at dinner for puddings. About 6td. is allowed per day for green-grocery and beer respectively, which is quite enough for these items; so that the chief difficulty lies in the management of the meat, which must be eked out with some care, and made to go as far as possible. Three pounds are allowed per day, or, in other words, the leg of mutton and piece of beef must each last three days, which, with a family of four children, is not a very easy task. Many people do this by filling their stomachs with heavy pudding in the first place; but this, I believe, to be wrong in point of health and economy. Whatever is considered a treat, will be eaten by children after they have already had enough of other articles of food. The better plan is to tell them that so much will be given of meat and no more, and then let them have their pudding afterwards. In this way the following dinners may be arranged:-- A WEEK'S CATERING ON SIXTY-FIVE POUNDS A-YEAR. 327 Sunday. Leg of mutton; roast potatoes: and greens; Yorkshire pudding.
Monday. Cold mutton; potatoes and salad; rice pudding.
Tuesday. Hashed mutton; fried potatoes; cauliflower; apple dumplings.
Thursday. - Pea-soup made from the mutton bones and beef boilings; fish and potatoes; currant dumplings.
Friday. Cold boiled beef; potatoes and salad; bread-and-butter pudding, made with fruit preserve.
Wednesday. Boiled beef; carrots and pota- | Saturday. Bubble and squeak; potatoes; toes; suet pudding. yeast dumplings.
In this plain way it is undoubtedly possible to keep a family of four children in good health on the above sum; and, what is more, there is not a particle of waste in the method of cookery. It is quite absurd to suppose that more can be done with the materials in point of economy. They may, no doubt, be made into more palatable dishes; but as, in the case of healthy children, due justice will generally be done to the above fare, it is useless to make the attempt on their account alone. While at the same time, if parents have this limited income, and have also a family of the number described above to keep, they must content themselves with this plain fare, or else they must pinch the stomachs of their children in order to pamper their own.
A WEEK'S CATERING FOR AN EXPENDITURE OF £65 PER ANNUM