assured that the danger of food poisoning will be materially lessened.
Even when such vegetables are wanted for salads, boiling and subsequent
cooling are advised. The mineral salts of vegetables dissolve into the
water in which they stand, and in any shortage of such food, or for the
greatest economy, it would seem wise to save the water in the can, which
is often thrown away to secure a more delicate flavor. Water from the
cooking of fresh vegetables which are not protected by skins (among them
spinach, peas, carrots, and asparagus), can often be reduced to a small
amount by steaming instead of boiling the vegetable, or any drained off
can be used in gravy, soup, sauce, or some similar fashion. The strong
flavor of some vegetables, however, makes such economy rather impractical.

Some people discriminate against canned and dried vegetables because they
do not taste like fresh ones. This seems rather unreasonable, as we want a
variety of flavors in our diet and might welcome the change which comes
from this way of treating food as well as that which comes from different
methods of cooking. Nobody expects a stew to taste like a roast, and yet
both may be good and we would not want either one all the time. Instead of
regretting that canned peas do not taste like those fresh from the garden
(incomparable ones!) let us be glad that they taste as good as they do.
Would we like them any better if they tasted like cornmeal mush?

While a potato has about as much phosphorus as an egg yolk, substitutes
for it in this respect are not hard to find. Five tablespoonfuls of milk
or half an ounce of cheese will easily supply as much, while half a cup of
cooked string beans will provide all the iron as well as half the
phosphorus in a potato, and a teaspoon of butter or other fat added to the
beans will make them equal in fuel value. On the other hand, two small
slices of whole wheat bread would furnish all the phosphorus, half the
iron, and an equal amount of fuel.