1. Meal Planning and Management
Chapter 9

2. Meal Planning Challenges
Eating a meal together is an important family activity
Planning meals involves making decisions about what foods to include and how to prepare them
The needs of your guests, and family need to be taken into consideration.

3. Factors to Consider The primary purpose of eating should be nutrition
Other than nutrition there are other factors that influence meal planning.
Schedules
Likes and dislikes
Food allergies
Special diets
A persons activity level
Cultural or religious dietary laws
Stage in lifecycle (Child, Adult, Elderly)
Knowing the needs of the people your are preparing for makes them feel like you care about them.

4. Nutrition and Energy Requirement
When planning a meal use the food guide to make sure that the meal helps the person meet their daily nutritional needs
Keep in mind that different people have different energy requirements
Males need more energy than females
Activity level
Age

5. Toddlers and Preschoolers
Children are hard to plan for
You should still use Canada’s food guide
Some tips for planning for children include
Plan moist meals that are easy to chew
Get children involved in the planning and prep of meals
Plan fun and interesting meals
Serve new foods with old favorites.

6. Older Adults Older people are often required to change their diets
Some tips for planning for older people include
Include nutrient dense foods
Plan foods high in milk and milk products (calcium)
Plan colorful tasteful foods to stimulate sense of taste
Plan for food to be easy to chew
Include lots of fiber.

7. Special Diets
Acquire recipes and cook books to suite the people in your life
Many people have special diets for medical or personal, cultural reasons.
You should respect a persons diet choices, and plan to include them

8. Busy Schedules
School, work, and extra curricular activities often make it hard for families to plan meals
Family meetings can be used to decide food planning, cooking, cleaning, and shopping responsibilities.
Some tips for busy schedules include
Have quick and easy recipes available
Use the microwave
Make use of one dish meals
Combine convenience food with nutritious foods
Cook for the freezer

9. Unpredictable Schedules
Plan meals that can be cooked early, and reheated when ready to eat
Use a slow cooker
Set up a breakfast bar near the fridge with cereals, fruit, milk juice.

10. Healthy Choices for When you Don’t Want to Cook
Find restaurants in your are a that offer healthy choices
Purchases food from the prepared food section of your local grocery store
Take turns cooking with others in your house, or even with groups of friends or family.

11. Basic Meal Planning There are many aspects of meal planning
Time and energy
Food choices and availability
Money
Preparation skills
Equipment

12. Meal Appeal When selecting a main course, think about meal appeal:
Meal Appeal: the characteristics that make a meal enjoyable.
Factors that infuence meal appeal include:
Colour: the more the better
Shape and size: Vary the shape and size of foods, use interesting cuts.
Flavour and aroma: Avoid using foods with similar flavours, aromas, and intensities. Chili and garlic bread is not a good idea
Texture: meals should have a variety of textures
Texture: the way a food feels when you chew it
Temperature: Keep in mind the environmental temperature, cold foods on hot days, hot foods on cold days. Hot food should be served hot, cold food should be served cold.

13. Food Cost and Budget Budget: Plan for managing money
To plan a meal you must look at how much money you have to spend on food.
Most Canadians spend roughly 11% of their income on food.
Lower income families spend a greater percentage on food

14. Factors Affecting Food Expenditures
The total family income.
The number of family members.
Larger families are more expensive to feed.
The age of the family members.
Growing teens cost the most.
Food prices.
Amount of food eaten outside of home.
Time and skill available for food preparation.
The amount of food wasted.
Type of foods or meals that are eaten.

15. Using a Food Budget
There are several things that can be done to help prepare a budget
Keep a spending record
Set a budget amount
Stick with your budget
Evaluate the food budget over several weeks

16. Reducing Your Spending
You can save money before you even spend it by planning your meals with your budget in mind. Some things to keep in mind are:
Look for supermarket advertisements.
Choose economical main dishes.
Reduce food waste.
Prepare simple meals at home more often.
Allow some flexibility in meal planning.
Choose less expensive forms of food.

17. Weekly Meal Planning Tips for weekly meal planning
Aim for balanced nutrition and variety in meals and snacks over the course of the week
Set aside a regular time and place for meal planning
Ask family members about their plans for the week
Check the refrigerator, freezer, and kitchen cabinets to see what foods you have on hand
Check newspaper ads, and online ads to see what foods are on sale
Plan nutritious snacks as well as meals

18. Costing Menu Items
Some important things to consider about the cost of food items when purchasing them.
Cost per serving: How much product will you need to buy to make a serving.
1lb of oranges… is that before or after they are peeled?
Converting measurements: Converting items measured by number into volume measurements can be tricky. Use a buyers guide to help
1mushroom = 50ml
500 ml of mushroom =10 mushrooms
Cost per unit: Amount of money each unit costs
12 wieners in a pack for $1.50 = 12.5 cents a wiener.
Ingredient cost: The amount of all units of an ingredient in a recipe
Calls for 4 wieners= 4 x 12.5 cents= 50 cents
Ingredient cost total: The total cost of menu items in a recipe
4 wieners 50cents
4 30cents a bun = 1.20
4 hotdogs = $ $1.20 = $1.70

19. Time Management In the Kitchen
Some tips for working efficiently
Organize the kitchen
Learn to use the equipment properly
Look for ways to simplify
Father all equipment and ingredients first
Dovetail tasks
Clean as you go