MEAL
MANAGEMENT
PLANNING MEALS
Planning Meals
 Meal
management involves using
resources of skills, money, and time to put
together a nutritious meal.
 A meal manager must plan wellbalanced menus; shop for healthful,
economical foods; and prepare meals in
the time available.
Planning meals
 How
do you begin to plan great meals?
Meal planning
 Cookbooks,
magazines, and the food
sections of newspapers often give many
good menu suggestions
 You might also keep a collection of your
family’s favorite recipes and add to it as
you discover new favorites
Five factors when you meal
plan
 Nutritious
and appealing
 Meals that suit your cooking skills
 Food budget
 Available preparation time
Planning for nutrition
 You
must plan carefully to have meals
and snacks that will supply all the essential
nutrients.
Pyramid meal pattern
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A meal pattern is a guide that outlines the
basic foods normally served at a meal.
Two to three servings from the grains group
One to two servings from the vegetable
group
One to two servings from the fruit group
One serving from the milk group
One serving from the meat and bean group
Meal pattern
 Grain
products should be the foundation
of each day’s meal
 Vegetables are easy to include in meals
and snacks.
 Fruit should be include each day as a
drink, whole, or in a salad
 Milk as a beverage or foods made with
milk.
Variety in Meals
 Color,
flavor, texture, shape, size, and
temperature are important points to
consider in planning meals with variety.
 Keeping these factors in mind will help
you plan meals that are attractive as well
as delicious.
Color
 Color
adds eye appeal to meals, so plan
meals with a variety of colors.
 Garnishes can add color and variety to a
meal
flavor
 The
flavor of foods should complement
each other
 Use well-liked combinations of foods that
taste good together
 Vary the flavors of food items to avoid
repeating one flavor
Texture
 Textures
of foods should offer variety
 Crisp, tender, soft, creamy, smooth,
crunchy, and chewy describe common
food textures.
 Try to serve at least three textures in each
meal.
Shape and size
 Use
your creative flair to combine a
variety of shapes and sizes in your meals
 Avoid serving several foods at the same
meal that are the same shape and size
Temperature
 Plan
to include foods that differ in
temperature as part of the meal plan
Cultural and societal
influences
 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 since
prehistoric times.
 If you are like most people you tend most
often to choose foods that reflect your
culture.
When you are the Meal
Manager
 As
a meal manager, you need to
consider more than the nutrition and
appearance of the food.
 Consider your skills, your budget, and the
amount of time you have available
Your cooking skills
 The
meals you plan are often determined
by the preparation skills you have
developed.
 Little experience, simple meals
 Have patience with yourself as you learn
to cook
 With practice your cooking skills will
develop
Your food budget
 The
amount of money budgeted for food
is an important factor in planning meals
 Limited food budget
 Use care to select foods that are
economical as well as nutritious
 Weekly specials, coupons, seasonal foods,
Your preparation time
 Convenience
foods are food products
that have some preparation steps done
to them
 Usually ready to heat and serve
 Require some preparation, but they
require less time than made-from-scratch
foods.
 Plan foods that require no cooking
Preparation time
 Plan
meals that suit the time you have
available for preparation.
 A variety of eating schedules.
 Meals will have to be planned to meet
these various schedules
 Select food that taste good reheated
 Plan to have food items on hand for
family members to make their own meals.
15-2 Shopping for Food
 Plan
and organize a shopping list
 Describe different types of food stores
 List factors to consider when deciding
how much food to buy
 Explain how to recognize quality in foods
Shopping list
 Shopping
for food is an important part of
meal planning
 You must decide what to buy, where to
shop, and how much will meet your
needs
 As a smart shopper you must also be able
to evaluate the quality of food products.
Shopping list
A
shopping list is a detailed list of the kinds
and amounts of foo you want to buy.
 Save three valuable resources by
planning you shopping list
 Time
 Energy
 money
list
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Write you shopping list before you go grocery
shopping
Review your recipes you are planning to
prepare
List all the items you need for your weekly
menus and snacks
Add staples items
Save time and energy by organizing your
shopping list according to the grocery store
layout.
Deciding where to shop
 Four
types of food stores are supermarkets
 Discount supermarkets
 Specialty sores
 Convenience stores
supermarkets
 Sell
a wide range of food and household
products
 Charge lower prices because they do a
high volume of business
 Convenience services
 Check cashing
 Home delivery
Discount supermarkets
 Sell
foods and household items at
discounted prices
 Offer less variety
 Fewer customer services
Specialty stores
 Specialize
in carrying one type of food
item
 Prices are often higher
 Quality and personalized service
Convenience stores
 Offer
convenient locations
 Longer hours
 Fast service
 Product selection is limited
 Prices are higher
 Is the added cost worth the convenience.
Evaluating store features
 Does
the store offer courteous service and
helpful employees?
 Is the sore clean and well maintained?
 Are meats, produce, and dairy products
always fresh?
 Does the store stock a variety of foods in
various packages sizes to meet you
needs?
 Is the checkout fast and efficient?
Deciding how much food to
buy
 Your
decision should be based on your
food budget
 Serving sizes
 Storage space
 Shelf life
Recognizing quality in foods
 Wise
buying includes knowing which
quality is best suited to your needs
 Stores stock various brands of products;
 National brands
 House brands
 Generic products
National brands
 Advertised
nationwide
 Generally of high quality
 Cost more
House brands
 Brands
that are sold by a store or chain of
stores
 Quality is similar to national brands
 Usually cost less
Generic products
 Plain
labels containing only the names of
the products and other required label
information
 Nutritionally equivalent to national and
house brands, but the quality may not be
the same.
Quality Foods
 For
best quality avoid buying damaged
packages.
15-3 Buying Information
 Use
unit pricing to compare the cost of
food products
 Describe four types of open dating used
to indicate the freshness of food products
 Identify the types of information found on
food product labels and tell how it can
be used to make wise purchase decisions
 List three sources of consumer information
about food products
Unit pricing
 Unit
pricing shows the cost per standard
unit of weight or measure.
 Unit pricing to compare prices among
brands, package sizes, and products form
 Unit pricing labels are usually posted on
the shelves beneath food items.
Open dating
 Process
gives you information about the
freshness of foods
 Appears in four forms:
 Pack date-tells you when the food was
processed
 Pull date-last day a store should sell the
product. Usually found on dairy and cold
cuts.
Open dating
 Freshness
date-it indicates the end of the
products quality peak, but the product
can be used beyond this date.
 Expiration date-last day a product should
be used or eaten.
Food Label Information
 According
to government regulations
certain information must appear on
labels:
 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
manufacturer, packer, or distributor
 A list of ingredients
Label information
 Ingredients
must be listed on the label in
descending order by weight
 Food additives are substances that are
added to food for a specific purpose
 May be added during and phase of
production
 Subject of concern to some people
Nutrition Facts Panel
 By
law, almost all packaged food
products are required to include nutrition
labeling
 The panel includes the following nutrition
facts:
 Serving size
 Servings per container
 Calories per serving and calories from fat
Nutrition Label
 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
 Universal
product code is a group of bars
and numbers that contains price and
product information.
 Automatically records the information
about the product
 Customer’s receipt list the items
purchased and their prices, along with
the total.
15-4 Storing Foods
 Describe
general guidelines for storing
foods
 Identify two examples of technology in
food packaging
Storing Foods
 Storing
food properly is just as important
as selecting it.
 Should be stored at home as they were in
the grocery store
 Will help maintain the quality of food
storage
 Refrigerator
perishable foods
 Freezer
 Tightly
wrap foods in heavy duty foil and
freezer wrap or place in airtight
containers.
 Label
 Date
 Practice FIFO
storage
 On
a shelf
 Food rotation-store the freshest food at
the back of the shelf use the oldest first
Technology in food
packaging
 These
packaging methods allow some
perishable foods to be stored on pantry
shelves .
 These methods also allow for improved
flavor and nutrition at a reduced cost
 Aseptic packaging foods and containers
are sterilized separately, then the food is
packed in the container in a sterile
chamber. Juices, soups, tofu
Technology
 Retort
packaging
 Foods are sealed in foil pouches and then
sterilized.
 This type of packaging is used for some
shelf-stable entrees
 Stored for up to six months