Chapter Fifteen
Menu Planning and Food Safety
Reading Time: 38 mins
Breakfast
Lunch
Snacks
Aesthetics and Variety
Cost
Nutrition and Balance
Food Groups
Individual and Cultural Preferences
Cultural and Religious Considerations
References
Chapter 15 Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
- Outline the meal patterns for infants and children.
- Create nutritious menus that follow the meal patterns.
- Describe factors to consider when menu planning.
- Identify a variety of sources of food for each food group.
- Examine individual and cultural food preferences.
- Discuss the benefits of family-style meal service.
- Relate ways to support families by providing well-balanced foods from home.
- Outline important considerations for buying, storing, preparing, cooking, and serving food safely.
Introduction
Knowledge of menu planning is essential to providing appropriate nutrition to young children. Early care and education programs must have staff who plan and prepare food that are aware of individual preferences, including vegetarianism, and cultural and religious differences in food choice, preparation, and service. To protect children’s health, proper hygiene and sanitation processes must be followed closely. Only safe food should be purchased. And how that food is stored, prepared, and served must follow proper protocol to prevent foodborne illness.
Menu Planning
Let’s examine several important factors for menu planning, including the meal patterns, licensed programs must follow, the importance of variety and balance, and aesthetics.
Meal Patterns
Taken from the Menu Criteria Backgrounder in the ELCC Home Child Care Provides Nutrition Grant.
Breakfast
Table 15.1 – Infant Breakfast Meal Patterns[1]
| Meal or snack | 0-5 Months | 6-11 Months |
| Breakfast | 4-6 fl oz breastmilk or formula | 6-8 fl oz breastmilk or formula
0-4 tbsp infant cereal, meat, fish, poultry, whole eggs, cooked dry beans or peas; or 0-2 oz cheese; or 0-4 oz (volume) cottage cheese; or 0-4 oz yogurt; or a combination* 0-2 tbsp vegetable, fruit or both* |
Solid foods are required when the infant is ready. All serving sizes are minimum quantities of the food components that are required to be served.
Table 15.2 – Breakfast Meal Pattern for Children[2]
| Food Item | 1-2 Years | 3-5 Years | 6-18 Years |
|
Milk |
½ cup whole | ¾ cup low-fat or fat-free | 1 cup low-fat or fat-free |
| Vegetables, fruit, or both | ¼ cup | ½ cup | ½ cup |
| Grains | ½ ounce equivalent | ½ ounce equivalent | 1 ounce equivalent |
Here is what breakfasts that follow the meal pattern might look like:
Pause to Reflect
| Create your own breakfasts that follow the meal plan for each age. |
Lunch
Here are the lunch meal patterns for infants and children:
Table 15.3 – Infant Lunch Meal Patterns[6]
| Meal or snack | 0-5 Months | 6-11 Months |
| Lunch or Supper | 4-6 fl oz breastmilk or formula | 6-8 fl oz breastmilk or formula
0-4 tbsp infant cereal, meat, fish, poultry, whole eggs, c