The American Frugal Housewife: Budget-Friendly Cooking Guide for Smart Home Chefs | Essential Recipes for Family Meals & Everyday Savings

"The true economy of housekeeping is simply the art of gathering up all the fragments,so that nothing be lost. I mean fragments of time as well as materials. Nothing should bethrown away so long as it is possible to make any use of it. However trifling that usemay be; and whatever be the size of a family every member should be employed either inearning or saving money."This is for the most part, the only proper "Introduction" that the reader encounters when starting "The American Frugal Housewife, for Ms. Lydia Maria Francis Child plunges right in and begins dishing out advice left and right, providing a veritable flood of information. She advises, for example, that children not be allowed to frolic about until 13 or 14 years of age."This is not well. It is not well for the purses and patience of parents; and it has astill worse effect on the morals and habits of the children. Begin early is the greatmaxim for everything in education. A child of six years old can be made useful andshould be taught to consider every day lost in which some little thing has not been doneto assist others."Other advice consists of how economize and how keep what you have in good repair. Everything from stockings to hearths, from apples to sausages. In addition, there is medical advice, and instructions on how to cook a variety of foods. Everything from porridges to cows brains, herbed wines to pies.STEWED PRUNES.Stew them very gently in a small quantity of water till stones slip out. Physiciansconsider them safe nourishment in fevers.BEANS AND PEAS.Baked beans are a very simple dish, yet few cook them well. They should be put in coldwater, and hung over the fire, the night before they are baked. In the morning, theyshould be put in a colander, and rinsed two or three times; then again placed in akettle, with the pork you intend to bake, covered with water, and kept scalding hot, inhour or more. A pound of pork is quite enough for a quart of beans, and that is a largedinner for a common family. The rind of the pork should be slashed. Pieces of pork alter-nately fat and lean, are the most suitable ; the cheeks are the best. A little peppersprinkled among the beans, when they are placed in the bean-pot, will render them lessunhealthy. They should be just covered with water, when put into the oven ; and the porkshould be sunk a little below the surface of the beans. Bake three or four hours.THE SKINNY:::To be perfectly honest, there is some sound advice here. Some of it inspired by Ben Franklin, and some of it coming from friends and articles read by the author.I found this an absolutely fascinating book that gives some wonderful insight into the daily life of early American families. We get to see what the concerns of housewives were, and how life was lived amongst a class of people -- the less well-off -- that is frequently overlooked by historical studies.Ms. Child was born in 1802. She was raised by a strict Calvinist father and later she married a lawyer who proved to be an improvident dreamer who at times was imprisoned for his debts. As a consequence she knows frugality quite well.The American Frugal Housewife is extremely well written, and was extremely well received at the time it was first put up for sale. In fact, it was republished 27 times between 1835 and 1841.I HIGHLY recommend this work to students of history and those who are interested in early American life.As for the "Kindle" format, I must say that this particular version comes with 'highlights', some of which are definitions. These are easy to access or ignore. (Which is why I can't tell you what they all are.) Being a FREE book it's hard to complain, but I should note that there are images from the original book that don't appear in the Kindle copy. They pertain to the parts of animals -- rumps, chops, etc.-- and aren't particularly valuable. But if you are curious you can find them at GoogleBooks and Archive-dot-org, both of whom have their own free copies.ASIN: B002RKTKXOPam T~pageinhistory