Household Hints

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 244, 23 March 1910, Page 3

Household Hints

DRINKING WITH MEALS. "Never drink with your meals" is the advice given by an expert. To sip or drink with meals softens the food and prevents the seeming necessity of thorough mastication. Masticate each mouthful of food, no matter how hard and dry, without the aid of artificial solvents. The mouthful of bread or toast and butter and then a sip of coffee or tea leads to invalidism for those who are passing middle age. If your teeth are not equal to the mastication of meat, chop it fine before it is cooked, or have it cut in small particles after it is' cooked. OMIT SOFT FOOD. All starches must be eaten in a thoroughly cooked condition and munched until they are well insalivated. Better to skip soft breads which, by this operation, are formed into dense balls, and substitute rice and well-cooked cereals. Learn to eat longer and less —that is, take a long time to eat a little. HOW TO DRINK TEA AND COFFEE. Tea, stewed fruit, and bread for supper is one of the most unwisj combinations. A class of dyspepticss who use these foods are ever with us. They are always complaining and still nre what the w.orld calls "simple livers." Coffee may be taken alone in the place of breakfasts. If taken with foods, it prevents digestion by softening the foods. This is also true of tea. Such foods as green vegetables and fruits contain a goodly proportion of water, quite enough without adding more at the end of a meal. Fruit eaters are always small drinker-J, while people who live upon dry foods must take a glass of water at the end of the meal. TO REDUCE WEIGHT. One method of reducing weight is to live solely upon lean meats, eliminating from the diet —water, starches, fats, and sugar. But hot water should be taken half an hour before the meal, and cold water after the meal. Thorough mastication of common, simple foods, taken in small quantities, will relieve the obese in a perfectly simple way, and these kinds of overfed and under-exercised women and men must drink water, but not with meals to soften dry foods. GENERAL HINTS. Common baking soda is better than ashes or sand for scouring tinware. Apply with a soft brush and polish with a dry cloth. It will not scratch, and makes the articles look like new. If one has to carry a dress suit case much, especially in tramcars, it will be found very helpful to have a strong strap handle attached to one end. By means of this, one can handle it easily, even in a crowd. Knots in table linen are brought to view by a too vigorous use of a crumb scraper. The scraper brings to light all unevenness of the linen. Use a brush or a scraper very lightly, and your cloth will last much longer. Nervous children should never be scolded unless it is absolutely necessary, and should never under any circumstances be ridiculed. Such treatment is only likely to make them more nervous and in these days such a tendency should be specially guarded against. Aluminium, though rather expensive, is considered the best for cooking utensils. It is light in weight, and ha 3 a clean-looking appearance. A simple washing in soap suds and hot water, then a thorough drying, is all that is necessary to keep this ware in good condition. All dairy cattle, whuther large or small, should have robust frames, indicating a strong and vigorous constitution.