Fresh and canned vegetables and fruits as used in most households average about 225 calories, or 2 1/4 one-hundred-calorie portions, per pound; canned foods such as peas, string beans, cherries, and peaches, having about the same fuel value as if they were fresh weight. Dried vegetables and fruits have about six times the fuel value of these foods fresh weight, or about 1350 calories - 131/2 one-hundred-calorie portions - per pound. Counting the 3 pounds dried vegetables and fruits as 18 pounds fresh weight, the above items would total 70 pounds fresh weight. Therefore, 2 1/4 X 70 pounds fresh weight would equal 157 1/2 one-hundred-calorie portions; or

This would equal 15,750 calories, or a little less than the required estimate.

The larger the proportion of fresh vegetables and fruits to those canned and dried the better.

From the foregoing it is clear that if the weekly food supply is satisfactory, the exact make-up of each meal is not important. It is well to do a certain amount of balancing from day to day, although the habit of providing all the required kinds of foods regularly will save unnecessary time and thought in this direction. If the housekeeper will keep a record of the foods used during the week, she will have little difficulty in securing a satisfactory result. An account book, or a set of cards, should be kept for this purpose, showing the date, the kinds of food, with weight, measure, and cost, listed under their proper headings: Milk, Meat, Eggs, and Similar Protein Foods; Fat Foods; Cereal Foods; Sugar and Sweets; Vegetables and Fruits. With these facts in hand, the fuel value can be roughly estimated by weight, or in calories, by means of the table on the following page. For the fuel value of any particular food per pound, see the tables on pages 433, 434.