On being Frugal

"The house books, those records of departed sirloins, cakes of soap and pounds of butter, can scarcely be regarded as emotional reading.    Yet I doubt if more tears have been shed over the thrilling adventures of a lovely and luckless heroine than over the chronicles of the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker.    And why?

Simply because the average woman will not realise that housekeeping, like any other profession, must be learnt, and, when learnt, practised methodically.    If the income is large, extravagance in the catering department, though for many reasons deplorable, is scarcely felt; but in the ordinary middle and upper middle-class home it is of the utmost moment that the household expenditure should be kept to a moderate figure; otherwise money which should be spent on recreation, and on the little luxuries which make life worth living, is swallowed by the insatiable maw of 'the house.'

The woman who is at the head of a household, and who knows that she is incompetent to manage it, should ask herself this question, Am I justified in squandering money which can be ill spared?   A negative will surely be the answer.

The course is then plain; she should at once set herself to learn to rule her household judiciously and expend her housekeeping allowance to the best advantage.    To some women the process will at first be irksome, but surely when an orderly home, well-cooked, neatly-served meals, and moderate bills are the reward, they will feel that the game has been worth the candle.

Roughly speaking, for a family of six or more persons, an average of £1 per head a week allows of luxurious living, 15s per head for good living, 10s for nicer catering of a simple description, and 8s 6d per head for a sufficiency of wholesome food.

To cater satisfactorily at an expenditure of 15s or £1 a head per week does not require any great care.   To cater for 10s per head necessitates extremely good management.

It is only fair to warn the housewife who desires to keep her bills to this sum, that she must not expect to perform impossibilities.   If the cook is incorrigibly careless and wasteful; if the mistress is ignorant, if the master is exacting, not to say greedy; if a freshly cooked joint is expected every day, if the family contains delicate children or invalids, if meat and other provisions cannot be procured at reasonable prices - then it will be impossible to carry out the menus on an average of less than 11s or 12s per head a week.

Following my original article (1898)  I received a brief but eloquent epistle:

"Dear Mrs Peel, - I wish you wouldn't write such nonsense.   My husband will now be more tiresome than ever about the bills."

I have been repeatedly asked for a menu and recipe book especially compiled for the mistress who must keep her bills to the 10s a head limit, and who must employ a single-handed plain cook of average ability..."


This is an extract from an 1899 book written by Mrs C S Peel, giving her version of frugality.

A few of her tips:

It pays to buy potatoes, apples, tea, sugar, flour, bacon, tapioca, rice, soap, etc in large quantities.   Biscuits, pickles, jams, preserved fruits, and in fact, almost all stores of a kind which will keep are cheaper when bought in large-sized boxes or jars than in small.   All jars and tins should be returned as they are charged for at the rate of 1/8d to 3d, and in the case of large tins and jars 6d and 1s apiece.

The careful housewife should, if she cannot pay a personal visit to the fishmonger and greengrocer, insist upon a daily price list being sent, otherise it is probably that the most expensive fish or vegetable will be chosen.

When ordering fish for filleting it is an economy to buy the whole fish and have it filleted at  home.  The bones and trimmings may then be used for a fish stock, or possibly there may be sufficient trimmings left wherewith to make a little savoury or breakfast dish.

The inexperienced housewife often adds to her butcher's bill, but not to the variety of her menus, through not knowing what to order.  She needs a meat course for late dinner, so she orders one lb of mutton cutlets.  the order should have been for a neck of mutton, the best end to be used for cutlets, the next piece for a luncheon dish such as hot-pot, haricot or Irish stew, and the scrag end for mutton broth...etc, etc.

The avoidance of waste is a matter which lies to a great extent in the hands of the cook.   The mistress may order with the greatest care, but if the cook does not know how to economise and will not learn, until she leaves and a better manager takes her place the mistress will know no peace.

Bread, potatoes, stock material, and frying fat are materials which are wasted in almost incredible quantities in many kitchens.   Toast trimmings, the end of the loaf from which bread and butter has been cut, the crusts of the crumb which has been used for bread sauce, the pieces left after croutons have been stamped go into the pig tub or ash bin and in consequence the baker's book is a third higher than it should be.

All crusts should be baked in the oven, pounded and stored in a tin ready for use.  Stale slices of bread may be made into croutons for soup or savouries, or made into a pudding.   Not a scrap should be thrown away."

There follows a section of menu plans for the household and kitchen staff, with further chapters giving more hints and tips on how this miracle may be wrought, plus recipes.

I wonder what frugal delights Mrs Peel would have come up with these days, I have no doubt that she would have thoroughly enjoyed the frugal challenges.