Article published August 11, 2009
Update cooking skills for today's economy
Let's revive home economics, but give it an updated name like Top Cook or At-Home Economics.
With the current economic downturn leading to a return to home cooking by many people, consider the life skills that would help adults create healthful, flavorful meals for the family table.
Registered dietitian Roberta Duyff, author of The American Dietetic Association's Complete Food & Nutrition Guide and secondary-school textbooks on the subject, created a position paper to reinvent home economics for today's consumer. Then she teamed with the Canned Food Allinace to produce her Tool Kit "for moms, guys, single homemakers" to do just that. You can find it at Mealtime.org or AAFCS.org (the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences). It's a downloadable 38-page free guideline with recipes.
With some guidance and hints for healthy meal planning, grocery shopping, kitchen organization, and food storage, we can all make positive changes in the kitchen.
Back in 1994 the name "home economics" evolved into family and consumer sciences, and through the decades the teaching of traditional home ec for individual life skills has been replaced by, or competed with, vocational culinary classes.
In these economic times, when purchasing decisions have changed as shoppers spend less in the supermarket, running a home and its kitchen really has an impact on the pocketbook.In a phone interview Ms. Duyff said that in a Rutgers University study, "moms identified kitchen clutter and not organizing space as an impediment to getting dinner on the table."
"Especially when you have limited resources and limited physical energy, you need kitchen management skills and culinary skills," she said. "You have to know what your kitchen is set up to do and how, and how you've set up your pantry."
That's how you can get a meal on the table in less time and with less money.
There is still a need for consumers to integrate the basics of home ec into their daily meal planning and preparation for more healthy eating.
Ms. Duyff writes that as issues have evolved and science advanced, consumer skills have declined. Today's food and nutrition issues include obesity, food safety, agricultural techniques, food processing, and distribution systems that have made foods more available.
Yet, with limited cooking skills and family budgets, it's harder to use food dollars wisely. You don't want to waste food, let it spoil, cook too much, or pay for ingredients for a recipe that doesn't turn out the way you expected.
Let's encourage home economics classes in schools.
Those past school age can invest in a good basic cookbook with a glossary of cooking terms. When cooks don't know how to cream, blanch, or saute, following recipes can be dicey.
"Kitchen literacy doesn't mean making the perfect souffle or preparing sourdough from scratch," writes Ms. Duyff, who is a spokesman for Canned Food Alliance. "Just the basics" can help families, singles, and any age or employment status to prepare nourishing, tasty, and inexpensive meals.
Ms. Duyff notes that it's a myth that nutrient-rich foods are more costly. "It's really the foods chosen that make the difference." When fresh or frozen foods are too expensive, shop the "center store" where canned goods are often very affordable.
Follow MyPyramid guidelines, the USDA's Thrifty Food Plan and take the time to read more about Ms. Duyff's Shopping Skills in the Tool Kit.
Kathie Smith is The Blade's food editor.
Contact her at:
food@theblade.com
or 419-724-6155.
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