Food Trucks

ND State Standard
7.NO.O.3 Add, subtract, multiply, and divide non-negative decimals to the hundredth place in multi-step problems using strategies or procedures, including authentic problems. 

Learners should be able to reason using number relationships and logic to choose an efficient strategy to solve each problem. Procedures can include the standard algorithm. Division is limited to problems where either the dividend or divisor is a whole numer and the other is a decimal up to the hundredths place.

Nonnegative - either positive or equal to zero.

The Scenario: You've been tasked with organizing a lunchtime food truck festival for your school! Three popular food trucks are participating:

• Crepe Craze: Sweet and savory crepes with various toppings (priced individually)

• Burgerlicious: Build-your-own burgers with different patty sizes and add-ons (priced per item)

• Souper Salads: Fresh salads with a variety of ingredient options (priced by weight)

The Challenge: You need to create a budget and menu plan for the festival, ensuring there's enough food for everyone within a set budget. Put your math skills to the test by tackling these challenges from each food truck!

• Crepe Craze Chaos: Crepes come in two sizes: regular (⅓ meter) and large (½ meter). A Nutella filling costs $1.50 and a banana slice costs $0.75. If you plan to buy enough regular crepes for ¼ of the student body (200 students) and large crepes for another ¼, with half getting Nutella and half getting bananas on both sizes, what's the total cost for crepe fillings?

• Burger Bonanza: Burger patties come in three sizes: junior (¼ lb), regular (⅓ lb), and double (⅔ lb). Cheese slices cost $0.50 each and lettuce costs $0.25 per serving. You plan to offer a combo with a regular patty, cheese, and lettuce. If you expect ⅓ of the students to buy a combo burger, how many cheese slices and lettuce servings do you need to purchase?

• Souper Salads Surprise: Souper Salads charges by weight. Spinach costs $2.00 per pound, feta cheese costs $3.50 per pound, and tomatoes cost $1.75 per pound. You plan to offer a pre-made salad with ¼ lb spinach, ⅛ lb feta, and ⅕ lb tomatoes. If you expect the average student to consume ½ lb of salad, how much will each pre-made salad cost?

• The Leftover Dilemma: Based on past events, you estimate that ⅔ of the students will buy food. You also anticipate 10% of the purchased food will go uneaten. Considering a total student body of 200, how much leftover food (as a fraction of the total purchased) do you expect?

• The Budget Balancing Act: You have a set budget of $1,500 for the festival. Based on your calculations from the previous challenges, estimate the total cost for each food truck (considering the number of students and their expected purchases). Can you stay within budget while offering a variety of options? If not, how would you adjust your plan?

• The Perfect Portions: Some students may have dietary restrictions. You want to create a smaller portion option for the pre-made salads at Souper Salads. If the regular salad has ¼ lb spinach, ⅛ lb feta, and ⅕ lb tomatoes, what would be the ½ portion measurements for each ingredient (as a fraction of a pound)?

Wrap-up: After completing the planning, reflect on the problem-solving strategies you used. Discuss the following in a presentation of your choice:

• What were the most challenging aspects of planning the food truck festival?

• How did you break down the multi-step problems into manageable parts?

• How did using fractions help you calculate costs and portion sizes?

• Can you think of other scenarios where applying fractions in real-world contexts is important?