Resources for Foods, Consumer Education, and Life Skills
from El Dorado High School Library

The sites listed here have been selected to assist students in Home Economics and Life Skills. You may go directly to any of the following sections:

General Information

Family and Consumer Science Resources Online

The links provided at this web site will give insight to the many resources available on the Internet in the field of Home Economics/Family and Consumer Science. Categories in apparel, career, child development, consumer and family economics, family living, food science, and housing and interior design.

Consumer Education

Finacial Literacy Webquest

"In this WebQuest you will determine why financial literacy is important for you. What do you want to do with your future? Are you planning on going to college? Do you want to buy a car? After high school, you will need to be ready to make many financial decisions in regards to the present and future. Along with your Financial Literacy course, this WebQuest will help prepare you for making imporant decisions that will impact you for the rest of your life! "

Reality Check

"After high school you will need to work to pay for housing, transportation, clothes....Find out how much money you'll need and which occupation will pay for all your needs."

UBUYACAR Student Manual

This problem-based learning manual for students starts with a problem statement: "You are interest in purchasing a new vehicle. What should your annual salary be to afford the car you want?" Students are coached through the problem-solving process and are provided resources to help them solve this real-world problem. A Tutor's Manual coaches the teacher in their role as facilitator. This online activity is part of Maricopa Community College's Problem Based Learning site.

The Home Improvement Toolbox

The Toolbox offers an array of interactive tools to helps consumers make energy-saving, cost-effective upgrades to their homes. The Home Energy Yardstick lends itself to a classroom exercise where students can bring in their home fuel use and costs for the year, then compare their average to other homes in their area. The Home Doctor addresses issues in homes (and schools) and provides possible solutions.

Consumer Jungle

Consumer Jungle features consumer education curriculum including printable classroom materials and interactive student activities (Credit Cave Activities include Find the Fees and the Credit Card Safari). Units include the Credit Cave, Surviving Solo (tips for living on your own), Esmarts (safe surfing on the web), Car-fari, and Jingle in the Jungle (the mysteries of phone, cell phones, and internet service).

Consumer Reports Online

The Consumers Union presents unbiased reports and information on products and services. Ratings and recommendations are based on independent testing of consumer products. There is no advertising on this site.

Better Business Bureau

The Better Business Bureau offers consumer and business guidance, and access to news alerts and consumer warnings. You can even file a complaint online.

IdealsWork

"Find out if the brands you buy pollute the environment, treat women fairly, discriminate against minorities, profit from tobacco, manufacture nuclear weapons, use sweatshop labor, support oppressive governments, or harm animals."

Fashion

The Stain Guide

Got a spot? Here's how to get spots and stains out of fabric. This site was assembled by a New Zealand chemist who knows his stuff. Ink stains, grass, or gum is a breeze with this advice.

Fabric University

Sections on fiber characteristics, history and production A great site to help you decide if a fabric will "work" the way you have in mind. Very interesting reading about the history of natural and man-made fabric and a good place to learn more about how that man-made fiber is made.

Textile Fabric Resource Guide

"...ultimate guide to cloth incorporating samples, guides to qualities, fabric types and a diverse range of textile information."

Fabric Care Guide Picks

Links to sites on clothing and fabric care, identification, terms, history, and more.

Clothing Care

Links to a wide range of sites including fashion and wardrobe planning, manufacturing, sewing, textiles, and vintage clothing.

American Vintage Blues: History of Fashion

...this site includes fashion information and photos for each decade from 1900-1990; bibliographic citations are included for the information.

Housing and Interior Design

Yahoo Interior Design and Home Decorating

Links to dozens of sites about home decorating.

About.com: Architecture

"This page is your starting place for exploring house styles, with links to facts, photos, diagrams, and building plans for the most popular housing styles in North America." The site includes a photo picture dictionary of house styles.

Within These Walls

This web site from the Smithsonian looks at a house in Massachusetts, and follows its inhabitants over two hundred years. Students can find out about the five families that lived there, artifacts from each time period, and how to uncover more information about your own house or neighborhood.

Victorian Style in San Francisco

Pictures of beautiful Victorian Homes including historical information.

Wild Style, Inc.

View futuristic freeform structures created through the use of sprayed concrete.

Styles in American Architecture

The following styles are illustrated by groups of examples: Georgian, Federalist, Neoclassic, Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, Egyptian Revival, High Victorian Gothic, II nd Empire Baroque, Richardsonian Romanesque, Academic Classicism or Beaux-Arts Style, Prairie School: FL Wright, and International.

English Architecture

Styles of architecture and design in Britain from prehistoric times to the Victorian period, including architect biographies. Included are Medieval Church Architecture, Romanesque, Gothic, Castles, Medieval Manor Houses, Tudor, and Elizabethan.

House Styles and Home Architecture

Links to information on styles from the Georgian colonial to the Cape Cod, California Mission style to the dome home, and everything in in between, including earthen homes.

REHS: Architecture Styles

This walking tour of architectural styles from Seneca, New York is actually a field guide to American architecture.

Architecture and Interior Design for 20th Century America

This collection from the Library of Congress American Memory web site is comprised of over 29,000 images primarily of architectural subjects, including interiors and exteriors of homes, stores, offices, factories, historic buildings, and other structures.

Decorating Studio

Thousands of interior design links, decorating articles and advice on Decorating.

Foods and Nutrition

Food & Agricultures of the World

"Agropolis-Museum is a Science Center dealing with topics such as food, nutrition, agriculture, with an historical approach on a worldwide scale."

Resources for Food History Lessons

...a fun site to use in support of social studies, culinary arts, or foods and nutrition. It includes a food timeline, food customs, and a whole lot more! You can go directly to the Food Timeline or the Culinary History Timeline.

Tufts University Nutrition Navigator

This online guide is designed to "help you sort through the large volume of nutrition information on the Internet and find accurate, useful nutrition information you can trust. " Search the site or browse links for kids, parents, and educators. Sites are reviewed by Tufts nutritionists and are updated quarterly.

Food Finder

Food Finder provides nutritional information about fast food items. You can use this site to find the fat content of their favorite burger or list low calorie items from one or more restaurants

Food and Nutrition Information Center

As a part of the U.S. Department of agriculture, the mission of the Food and Nutrition Center is to collect and disseminate information to the public.

The Bad Bug Book

Foodborne Pathogenic Microorganisms and Natural Toxins Handbook from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition. "This handbook provides basic facts regarding foodborne pathogenic microorganisms and natural toxins."

CDC Health Topics A to Z

Health Topics A to Z provides a listing of disease and health topics found on the CDC Web site. Use the alphabetical listing to get to your area, then click on the

CDC Food Safety Office

This "gateway" will provide you with links to more than a dozen websites and databases dealing with the prevention of foodbourne illnesses.

DBMD Disease Information Listing

This CDC site provides an alphabetical listing of bacterial and mycotic diseases with links to information about each of the diseases.

Food Safety Project

"Food Safety Project [provides] educational materials that give the public the tools they need to minimize their risk of foodborne illness."

MicrobeWorld

This searchable site provides information on what microbes are, what microbiologists do, as well as in depth look at topics related to microbiology.

Fight Bac

The Partnership for Food Safety Education is "dedicated to educating the public about safe food handling to help[ing] reduce foodborne illness." The "Links" page is especially useful for finding additional information from a variety of organizations.

Resources for Foods Class and ROP Culinary

All Recipes -"Find trusted recipes and advice online..."

Asia Food -Asian food resource.

Authentic Foods -100% Natural & No Preservatives Gluten-Free Foods

Tokoyo Food Page -"a complete guide to Japanese cuisine and eating in Japan. With great recipes, tours of Japanese markets, and tips on the best places to eat in Tokyo and Yokohama. "

Better Homes and Gardens -Recipes, menu planners, calorie charts, and more.

ChefDesk -"the online resource for managing your kitchen ... and your career! "

Recipes at Cooking.com

Cooking Schools 101.com -Cooking Schools 101 is an independent resource for future culinary school students to research and compare the diverse world of Cooking Schools and Culinary Institutes.

Delia Online -Recipes and information about food and cookery from the UK.

Epicurious - An online food magazine.

Food & Wine - Recipes, menus, cooking, wine, and entertainment.

Food Channel -"...global food news and resources. From recipes to book reviews to food trends to pop culture commentary..."

Food Network - Cooking, recipe collections, entertaining, travel, etc.

Foodrecipes.net - This is an index to other recipe sites.

Foodservicedirect - A souce for food and restaurant supplies.

Meals For You - Thousands of delicious recipes and meals.

MomsMenu - An online newsletter with recipes, tips and tricks, and articles about food.

Mr. Food - "...creative ideas and fool-proof, tasty recipes that use only readily available ingredients."

PastryWiz Food Resource Center -1000's of pages of food related information both for the professional and the consumer.

Cooks Recipes- "A recipe and cooking site offering free recipes, articles on entertaining and menu planning, helpful cooking tips and charts, ... "

Culinary Cafe - A searchable recipe archive with in-depth information about ingredients.

Recipe Goldmine - Thousands of free recipes.

Recipes.com - "We show you where to find better recipes, cookbooks, schools and ways to eat better through comprehensive, search-friendly indexes."

Lipton Recipe Secrets - Hundreds of simple recipes using Lipton products.

RecipeSource - Searchable Online Archive of Recipes including a comprehensive collection of ethnic cuisines by region .

RecipeRewards - Browse recipes for any occation.

Soul Food Cookbook - "a collective cookbook of Recipes, for all to enjoy culinary delights born from the Black/African American, Jamaican and Caribbean cultures. Many are easy to use."

That's My Home Recipes, conversion tables, substitution lists, and a culinary dictionary.

VegWeb - Recipes for the vegetarian cook.

Worldly Recipes - Quick and easy,t raditional and contemporary recipes from around the world.

911 Chef Eric - Online cooking classes with a French chef.

Family Life

The WholeFamily Center

The WholeFamily Center is an award winning interactive site which addresses the concerns of modern families. Featuring an on-line magazine and separate marriage, parenting and teen centers, sensitive topics like infertility, anorexia, infidelity and teen suicide are discussed. WholeFamily uses RealAudio and Drama to portray problems and solutions. Psychologists comments add authenticity to the many subjects dealt with in an honest, straight-forward way.

The National Parenting Center

Founded "with the intention of providing the most comprehensive and responsible parenting advice to parents everywhere."