Texts provide general information about nutrition and food items. Information is presented in tables, diagrams or photographs. For example, the common plate model illustrates the composition of a healthy diet. Many textbook texts can be easily changed into diagrams, tables or mind maps.

Home economics texts cover also other household tasks than cooking. These texts are typically instructions. They contain new concepts to learn (textile or care label), which are often clarified through hands-on activities and exploration during lessons.

Most textbooks have an index at the end that helps in understanding new concepts and directs you to the correct page for information. Terms in the index are listed alphabetically. Which words from the text are in the index? It is useful to learn them!