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PLANNING MEALS

PLANNING MEALS

• Meal management involves using resources of skills, money, and time to put together nutritious meals.

• A meal manager must plan well-balanced menus; shop for healthful, economical foods; and prepare meals in the time available.

Planning meals

• How do you plan great meals?

• Cookbooks• Magazines • Food sections of

newspapers• Recipe collection

Meals

• Five factors when you plan meals

• Nutritious and appealing

• Suit your cooking skills

• Food budget• Available preparation

time

• Foods you eat provide your body with carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins, and water.

Using a pyramid meal pattern

• A meal pattern is a guide that outlines the basic foods normally served at a meal.

• Currently pattern is:• Grains 6 oz.• Vegetables-2 ½ c• Fruits 2c• Milk 3c

• Meat/bean-5 ½ oz.

Using a Pyramid Meal Pattern

• Use a meal pattern based on the Pyramid. This will help you make sure you get your total recommended number of servings each day.

• Write down everything you ate yesterday. Then evaluate whether or not your meals and snacks followed the meal pattern described in Pyramid Meal Pattern.

Nutrition

• Do you eat enough vegetables?

• What are some ways you could work more vegetables into your diet?

• Fruit drinks and punches are not the same as fruit juice. They may contain much more sugar.

Variety in Meals

• Color, flavor, texture, shape, size, and temperature are important points to consider in planning meals with variety.

• Attractive meals• Delicious

• Choosing foods that appeal to the senses (sight, smell, and taste) will make meals enjoyable.

Variety in Meals

• Color adds eye appeal to meals

• Garnishes can add color and variety to a meal

• Vary the flavors of food items to avoid repeating one flavor

• Flavor of foods should complement each other

• Use well-liked combinations of foods that taste good together

Variety in Meals

• Plan to include foods that differ in temperature as part of the meal plan

• Use your creative flair to combine a variety of shapes and sizes in your meals

• Texture of foods should offer variety.

• Crisp, tender, soft, creamy, smooth, crunchy, and chewy

• Serve three textures

Variety in Meals

• Variety in colors, flavors, textures, and shapes plays a role in foods of all cultures

• Culture and society have been influencing people’s food choices

• Regional and cultural influences

When You are the Meal Manager

• Cooking skills• Food budget• Energy cost• Preparation time• Eating schedules

• Convenience food are food products that have some preparation steps done to them

• Frozen dinners

15-2 Shopping for Food

Planning and organize a shopping list

• Shopping for food is an important part of meal planning

• Must decide what to buy, where to shop, and how much will meet you needs

• Must be able to evaluate the quality of food product

• Shopping list is a detailed list of the kinds and amounts of food you want to buy.

• Save three valuable resources time, energy, and money

Preparing a Shopping List

• Write shopping list before you go grocery shopping

• Review all the recipes you are planning to prepare

• Use store ads to write a shopping list that will save you money by taking advantage of advertised specials

• Organizing your shopping list according to the grocery store’s layout

Deciding Where to Shop

• Most common types of food stores

• Supermarkets• Discount

supermarkets• Specialty stores• Convenience stores

• Supermarkets sell a wide range of food and household products

• Lower prices

• Services offered check cashing, home delivery

Shopping

• Discount supermarket warehouse supermarkets sell foods and household items at discounted prices

• Less variety and fewer customer services

• Specialty stores specialize in carrying one type of food items

• Seafood store• Bakery

Shopping

• Convenience stores offer convenient locations, longer hours, and fast service

• Selection is limited, and prices are higher

• Conveniences are worth the cost

• Does the store offer courteous service and helpful employees?

• Is the store clean and well maintained?

• Are meats, produce and dairy products always fresh?

Shopping

• Does the store stock a variety of foods in various package sizes to meet your needs?

• Is the checkout fast and efficient?

Deciding How Much Food to Buy

• Food budget• Three other factors

you will want to consider are:

• Serving sizes• Storage space• Shelf life

• how have some supermarkets included “specialty stores” within their stores? Why do you think they do this?

Recognizing Quality in Foods

• To be a good shopper, you must be able to recognize quality

• One way to select the best value in meats is to compare quality.

• Look for the quality best suited to your needs

• Wise buying includes knowing which quality is best suited to your needs

Quality Foods

• National brands are often advertised nationwide

• High quality• Cost more

• House brand are brands that are sold by a store or chain of stores

• Quality is similar to national brand

• Generic products have plain labels containing only the names of the products and other required label information

Quality foods

• Products are nutritionally equivalent to national and house brands

• Often cost less than branded products

• Damaged packaging can affect the quality of any food product

• For best quality avoid buying damaged packages

• Generic products are characterized by their plain labels

15-3 Buying Information

Buying Information

• Resources available to help you get the most for your food dollars

• Resources• Unit pricing• Open dating• Package labeling

• Unit pricing shows the cost per standard unit of weight or measure

• Unit pricing labels are usually posted on the shelves beneath food items

Unit Pricing

• Open dating this dating process gives you information about the freshness of foods

• Four forms• Pack date tells you

when the food was processed

• Pull date is often used on dairy products and cold cuts

• Is the last day a sore should sell the product

• Freshness date the end of the product’s quality peak, product can be used beyond this date

Unit pricing

• Expiration dates appear on products such as yeast or baby formula

• Is the last day a product should be used or eaten

• Unit pricing allows you to compare prices of various products

Food Labeling

• Can learn a great deal about the foods you buy by reading labels.

• Food label must include

• The common name of the product and its form, such as whole, sliced, or diced

• The net contents or net weight

• The name and address of the

Food Label

• Manufacturer, packer, or distributor

• A list of ingredients

• Ingredients must be listed in descending order by weight

• Storing, or packaging• Additives must be proved

safe for their intended uses

• Food additives are substances that are added to food for a specific purpose

• added during any phase of producing, processing

Nutrition Facts Panel

• Designed to help consumers choose healthful diets

• Serving size• Servings per

container• Calories per serving

and calories from fat

• Nutrients per serving, including total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrate, dietary fiber, sugars, and protein

• Percent Daily Values of nutrients based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Universal Product Code

• This is a group of bars and numbers that contains price and product information

• Other Sources of Information

• FDA• USDA• Extension agent• FACS teacher• Web sites

15-4 Storing Foods

Storing Foods

• Storing food properly is just as important as selecting it.

• Types of foods you buy will determine the proper storage method

• Refrigerator• Freezer• Shelf

Storing Foods

• Most foods kept in the refrigerator should be packaged in airtight wraps or containers

• Frozen foods should be labeled and dated so they can easily identify them and avoid storing then too long

Storing foods

• Food rotation store the freshest food at the back of the shelf, use the oldest foods stored at the front of the shelf first

• Aseptic packaging in this type of packaging, foods and containers are sterilized separately then the food is packed in the container in a sterile chamber

• Retort packaging foods are sealed in foil pouches and then sterilized

• Shelf-stable entrees• Shelves for up to six

months