Food, cloth and a house that works
Home Economics · BECE · JSS (BECE)
What you need to know
- Food groups: body-building (protein), energy-giving (carbohydrates, fats), protective (vitamins, minerals, water, fibre). A meal should touch all three.
- Kitchen hygiene: wash hands, cover food, separate raw and cooked, keep water safe. Cholera and typhoid travel in dirty water and dirty hands.
- A balanced diet is about proportion, not about expensive food. Beans and garri can be balanced; meat every day is not required.
- Textiles: cotton breathes, wool warms, nylon is strong and dries fast. Care labels are not decoration.
- A home needs light, air, drainage, waste disposal and a place to sleep that is not the kitchen.
- Family resource: time, energy, money, skill. Management is deciding which of those you will spend on this problem.
The mistake to avoid
Protein deficiency (kwashiorkor) is not “not eating meat”. It is not eating enough body-building food — beans, fish, eggs, milk, groundnut all count.