Besides the saving of wheat for our country's sake, we shall do well to
economize in it for our own. Compared with other cereals, wheat is
expensive. We can get more food, in every sense of the word, from half a
pound of oatmeal than we can from a twelve-ounce loaf of white bread, and
the oatmeal will not cost one-half as much as the bread. A loaf of Boston
brown bread made with one cupful each of cornmeal, oatmeal (finely
ground), rye flour, molasses, and skim milk will have two and one-half
times the food value of a twelve-ounce loaf of white bread and will cost
little more. One-half pound of cornmeal, supplemented by a half pint of
milk, will furnish more of everything needed by the body than such a
twelve-ounce loaf, usually at less cost.

It pays at all times to use cereals in other forms than bread, for both
health and economy. Does your family eat cereal for breakfast? A dish of
oatmeal made from one-fourth cupful of the dry cereal will take the place
of two slices of white bread, each about half an inch thick and three
inches square, and give us iron besides. Served with milk, it will make a
well-balanced meal. When we add a little fruit to give zest and some crisp
corn bread to contrast with the soft mush, we have a meal in which we may
take a just pride, _provided the oatmeal is properly cooked_.

A good dish of oatmeal is as creditable a product as a good loaf of bread.
It cannot be made without taking pains to get the right proportions of
meal, water, and salt, and to cook thoroughly, which means at least four
hours in a double boiler, over night in a fireless cooker, or half an hour
at twenty pounds in a pressure cooker. Half-cooked oatmeal is most
unwholesome, as well as unpalatable. It is part of our patriotic duty not
to give so useful a food a bad reputation.