Home economics: answers for home and family life

by Mary Carver, P.H.Ec.

Families today need home economics skills as much as they did a century
ago when Adelaide Hoodless declared
'a nation is only as strong as its homes and families.'

Home economics is an interdisciplinary field of study — the sum of its parts: nutrition, food preparation, consumer education, financial management, clothing and textiles, interior design, child development, relationships and sustainability. 

Re-branded as family studies in high schools and as human ecology at universities, course values remain true to home economics roots and central to the well-being of families.

A home economics movement
A growing number of people seek a healthier lifestyle, farmers’ markets, slow-food, improved fitness and better mental health. They read food labels, avoid fad diets, shop local and buy fair trade. They’re socially responsible consumers and are concerned about global food and water security. They respect time-of-day energy use and minimize waste. This is home economics.

However, families are less-healthy and carry more household debt than ever before. Dining out frequently and buying packaged food is costly to our health and budgets. 

We are major consumers that appear to manage time and purse strings with difficulty. In December 2013, Statistics Canada reported that Canadians owed $1.64 for every dollar earned. 

Common family challenges

• Balancing household budgets to ensure food, housing and basic needs are met to maintain quality of life (Credit Counselling Canada).
• Finding the time and the skills to prepare nutritious, affordable meals at home (Food Literacy for Life Study, 2013).
• Handling stress from encroachment of technology, vulnerable relatives, health issues, debt and no time for self (Vanier Institute of the Family).

Looking forward
A zealous demand for organic food, community gardens, and home canning are indicators that not all families crave fast-food. That said, at least one generation has already grown-up without learning how to cook.

Follow these tips to achieve and maintain
a desirable quality of day-to-day life 

• Prepare home-cooked meals. Plan a grocery list for one week at a time. Eat out less-often. Choose fewer packaged foods — less sugar, sodium and saturated fat.
• Cook and eat together. It’s a perfect time to connect, to strengthen relationships, establish traditions and boost positive energy.    
• Set technology aside. Find creative ways to relax at no-cost family walks, skating, and picnic.

Some families romanticize a healthier, back-to-basics lifestyle; others struggle to achieve it, due to a lack of skill or opportunity.

Mandatory food literacy (nutrition and food preparation skills) may help to reduce risks of obesity, type II diabetes, heart disease and unnecessary stress on family finances (read our latest media release here - Food Literacy ~ A Lifelong Commitment)

In 2013, the Ontario Ministry of Education released several ‘new’ family studies courses. Students should check high school option sheets for food and finance choices.