Home Hints

Women at work in National Kitchen, WW1

(Imperial War Museum, available under IWM Non Commercial Licence)

Wednesday 15th December 1915: Housewives wishing to economise will find these suggestions helpful:

Handy hints:

• When baking potatoes, place them in hot water for 15 minutes before putting in the oven. They will then bake in half the time, and so effect a saving in gas.
• Keep a small box in the kitchen, and into this throw all used matches and ends of candles too small to burn. The contents of this box will be most useful for lighting fires.
• Vegetable peelings should be broken up small, wrapped in a piece of paper very tightly rolled and placed at the back of the stove sideways, on the top of the coals. The flames will scorch the paper black, and it will look like a lump of coal, will burn slowly, and be a great saving in fuel.

Economical substitutes:

• Instead of using two eggs for the family cake, use half an egg beaten up in two tablespoonfuls of golden syrup.
• When making rice pudding, place a slice of bread in the bottom of the dish and use less rice.
• Stewed fruit will need less sugar if the fruit is put into a basin and steamed first, and the sugar and water boiled separately and then added to the fruit.
• Put a pinch of bi-carbonate of soda in the teapot when making tea, and you will save a quarter of a pound on each pound of tea.

Recipe for Carrot Pudding

Scrape and wash half a pound of carrots, then put them into boiling water with salt and a piece of soda as large as a nut. Boil with the lid off, then rub the skin from them and pass through a sieve. Add a tablespoonful of sugar and two drops of lemon-juice. Make a custard with custard powder and add to the carrots, grease a pie dish and pour in the mixture. Place a few pieces of dripping on the top and bake for three-quarters of an hour. Turn out and serve.

Source: Bedfordshire Standard, 10th December 1915