How To Be a Frugal Housewife: Cooking and Baking Tips For Retro Living

Learning From Frugal Housewives Part I

I thought it might be fun to share with my Retro readers some handy dandy 1947 "Household Hints'

Saving Money in The Kitchen

1. Get More juice out of lemons : Quickly heat the lemons in hot water for several minutes before squeezing, Or roll to soften.

2. Don't waste flour, you won't waste flour if you dust it from a large salt shaker onto meats, fish, or patties instead of dipping hte food into the flour. It's easier too.

3. Save your orange and lemon rinds: a clever woman also saves some of her orange and lemon rinds, boils them in water for a short time and uses the liquid in iced tea, lemonade, fruit drinks. Costs nothing and helps make a fine thirst quencher.

4. Leftover coffee need not be poured down the drain. Freeze it into coffee ice-cubes for your iced coffee or other iced drinks. The same goes for your tea.

5. Eliminate molasses waste when measuring molasses by greasing the cups lightly.

6. Use cereal to stretch meat. Add crushed cereal flakes to a meat loaf. Or toss cereal flakes with melted margarine and grated cheese for a caserole toppping.

7. Save the water in which you boil rice. It's good to use to make gravy. It thickens itself!

8. To make fruit go farther, add cubes of bright-flavored gelatin dessert (lime, strawberry, etc). Pretty to serve in sherbets.

9. If only a little lemon juice is needed, make a cut in the end of hte lemon and squeeze out exactly the amount desired. The rest will keep better.

10. Place a piece of apple in your brown sugar and it will keep the sugar from drying out and lumping. Try the same cure for too-dry cookies.

Source "1003 Household Hints", 1947 Edited by Michael Gore


C. Dianne Zweig is the author of Hot Kitchen & Home Collectibles of the 30s, 40s, 50s and Hot Cottage Collectibles for Vintage Style Homes. She is also the Editor of Iantiqueonline.com an actively growing internet based resource community for people who buy, sell or collect antiques, collectibles and art. You can find Dianne’s fabulous retro and vintage kitchen, home and cottage collectibles at The Collinsville Antiques Company of New Hartford, CT, a 22,000 feet antique emporium with an in-house retro café.

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