LESSON 5-MEAL PLANNING AND PATTERN

INTRODUCTION 

A meal pattern is a menu-planning tool used to develop menus for a specific age group. Meal patterns should include food from each of four food groups- meat/meat alternate, vegetable/fruit, bread/bread alternate, and milk/milk alternate. Patterns can incorporate standards including: low sodium, low fat, low saturated fat, and low cholesterol as designated by State Units of Aging (SUA) guidelines. Standardized menus and recipes are essential to the plan. 

Why people think meal planning is important might vary from person to person based on what they value the most but no question most people see meal planning as a good practice that if done properly will not have only positive practical results but also aspirational benefits.

 In this lesson, you will learn deeper about meal pattern. 

Time Frame: 15 hours 

Objectives: 

At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to: 

1.  The definition of a meal pattern 

2. discuss why meal planning is important; and 

3. differentiate the different course meals. 

EXPLAIN

1. What is a meal pattern? 

2. What are the benefits of using meal patterns? 

3. Why is meal planning important? 

4.  What are the different course meals? 

The meal pattern is a template for the menu planner. It provides a framework of foods to include. Proper food preparation and handling should also be addressed. Detailed guidelines help to assure inclusion of all macro nutrients.

 Meal patterns should include food from each of four food groups- meat/meat alternate, vegetable/fruit, bread/bread alternate, and milk/milk alternate. 

How is a meal pattern used to develop a menu? 

When developing a menu, each meal is required to include a variety of foods to assure that it contain at least 1/3 of the RDAs/AIs. The meal pattern is a template for the menu planner. It provides a framework of foods to include. Proper food preparation and handling should also be addressed. Detailed guidelines help to assure inclusion of all macro nutrients. Other guidance may be provided regarding meal accompaniments such as desserts, condiments including margarine, salad dressings and relishes, and beverages other than milk. 

What are the benefits of using a meal pattern to develop a menu? 

Meal patterns are simple and cost efficient tools that ensure the number of servings per food group are met at each meal. 

What is the best eating pattern? 

• a consistent daily eating duration of less than 12 h per day, 

• eating most calories in the earlier part of the day, and. 

• avoiding food intake close to bedtime, while sleeping, or very early morning, when melatonin levels are high. 

To plan a good menu you need to consider the following factors:

• food cost and budgetary goals of the foodservice operation. 

• production capability, including available equipment and personnel. 

• type of service and food delivery system. availability of food. 

• The philosophy of the business and foodservice operation. 

Why Meal Planning is important?

 Why would you include another activity like meal planning in your to-dos list if you were not thinking of having positive results? after all we want to see the benefits of planning our meals, particularly when we keep realistic goals in mind.

 Meal planning might seem structured, time-consuming or overdoing it but the reality is far from that. 

On the contrary, meal planning is important because it helps you with the practical aspect of meal preparation from knowing what to cook, saving you money, reducing food waste and more. 

REASONS: 

1. Saves you time

 Meal planning is important because it helps you save time, you will even notice it at the first week of planning your meals. When it comes to saving time, meal planning is a great tool, it helps you organize and being more efficient at time-consuming activities such as searching for recipes or creating grocery lists, not to mention the time you save by reducing the number of times you go to the shop.

 Time saving is a direct result of having things organized upfront. The few minutes you take to plan your meals in advance will help you save hours during the week. 

2. Saves you money 

Meal planning is a great way to save money on your food budget. People who plan their meals and cook at home could save between $10 to $15 per meal per person, which is equivalent to saving between $500 to $800 a year per meal per person. 

By planning your meals you organize and control your grocery expenses avoiding buying more than what you need or even spending money on ingredients you will not use at all.

 There are a few ways to approach your meal plan, for example, you can approach it by what you want to eat, how much time you want to spend in cooking, but also you can approach it by your weekly food budget. So, if shopping for groceries on a budget is important for you then meal planning is a must-try. 

3. Reduce food waste 

Meal planning plays an important role in helping you reduce food waste. Food waste reduction is important for an overall positive impact but as well because it has a direct impact on your financials. Food waste causes a big impact to our environment, and household food waste contributes to the problem. Of course we do not want to throw away food but most of the time we do it because lack of planning. 

Meal planning helps you be more efficient at deciding the quantities of meals you and your family will consume, and this keeps you from throwing away food. Planning your meals is a great way for you to reduce food waste and save on your grocery bills while helping the environment. 

4. It's associated with food variety 

We cannot understate how important meal planning is in facilitating a broader range of healthy meals in our menu, a range of healthy meals is necessary for a well-balanced diet.

 You can enjoy the benefits of a balanced diet by adding food variety in your meal plan. You'll find it's simple and easy to do once you create a broad list of favorites healthy and balanced meals you can rely on. 

5. Helps you share workload 

Yes, you read it, meal planning is important because it helps you share the workload, the fact that you plan your meals by yourself, it does not mean that other people cannot help you with activities such as grocery shopping, meal preparation or cooking. 

Meal planning makes it easier to share those tasks, what you need is to create a plan and share it with whoever can help you. For example, as part of your weekly meal plan you will create a grocery list you can handover to a family member to help you with shopping.

Another example is that you can ask for help if for a reason you cannot cook a meal during the week. As long as everyone know which meal needs to be cooked and the ingredients are available, it will be easier to share the task. As you can see meal planning is a very useful tool to organize and share with family members asking for help. 

6. Makes it easy to improve cooking skills 

Many people have different reasons to start meal planning, but no doubt that planning your meals is especially important when you are just starting cooking and your skills are not that good. 

Improving cooking skills, as any other skill, is about practice, so you need to adopt a conscious but simple approach to go about it and planning your meal is the perfect way to do this. How? You could ask. Start at what you know best and expand from there. 

For instance from knowing how to cook white rice, you could learn how to cook risottos. What about stir-fries? You could change the mix and change vegetables creating different meals, the point here is that you are using a cooking technique you are familiar and consciously choosing to cook different meals while improving your cooking skills.

 Choosing consciously your meals based on your cooking skills and organizing what you need to cook them requires help and here is where meal planning is important. It makes it easier for you to schedule those meals so you can cook them at the most convenient time which at the end of the day you improve your cooking skills. 

7. Reduce stress 

It's time to cook and you don't know what to prepare, or even worst you don't have the ingredients you need in your pantry or fridge but you need to put dinner on the table in the next hour. You are feeling frustrated and stressed.

 Regardless whether you need to cook for your family or just for yourself, cooking, when you are not prepared, can be stressful. That is why meal planning is the favorite approach for many people who wants to have things organized and get rid of the stress that comes from not being ready.

 You may think meal planning is too structured, but it does not have to be. It is a simple and a great way to organize meals, grocery lists and recipes and as a result. 

8. Helps with decision fatigue 

Trying to come up with new healthy recipes every week can be daunting. Wouldn't it be great to have an approach to organize a list of meals you will cook during the next two weeks?

 That approach exist, and it's called meal planning. Meal planning is a set-and-forget approach that is important to eliminate the decision fatigue of what to cook. Create a list of meals once a week or fortnightly, so you don't have to constantly decide what to have for dinner. 

9. Allows you to learn progressively 

Learning in the kitchen is not just about learning how to cook. Whether you are a new or experienced cook, meal planning is important because it helps you with the whole meal preparation. 

From discovering and planning meals, organizing grocery lists, managing your food budget, getting better at choosing the right ingredients, balancing your food and more, meal planning helps you gain the skills you need to be more efficient at providing healthy meals for you and your family. 

10. Helps you with aspirational diets 

Meal planning is particularly important if you are about to start an aspirational diet, such as the Paleo diet. 

 To find common ingredients and cook healthy meals is sometime cumbersome as it is. Now imagine trying to do the same while following a specific diet and still providing food for your family. Now that calls for some planning. 

Poor planning is the main reason we find it difficult to follow diets, and that includes having unrealistic goals. 

So, if you want to have better chances to succeed in your diet then meal planning is the way to go because it helps you address realistic goals into specific actions, like identifying the meals you need to prepare, creating a calendar when you want to cook them, creating a grocery list, scheduling your grocery shopping,  creating a list of favorite meals aligned with your diet.

 Meal planning organize things for you upfront which helps you stick to your diet when willpower is not at its best. 

11. Allows you to experiment with fresh recipes 

We all like to try new recipes, we aspire to create that perfect cake, roasted beef or risotto. Why not? After all, cooking is more of an art than a science and if that is something that appeals to you then you want to give yourself a chance to experiment with fresh recipes. 

Now, new recipes will take more time in preparation and cooking. But you can make the best of it by meal planning, in that way you ensure you choose the right day of the week and also when you have the necessary ingredients you are going to use. 

12. Reduce the risk of making poor food choices 

We've been there before, a busy day left us with no time and energy and now it is time to cook. We just want to get it done, but with no idea of what to cook we "treat" ourselves with processed or fast food meal. 

Whether because you feel tired or because you do not have time, making poor food choices can get into a bad habit and affect your health and the health of your family. 

So how to avoid or reduce the risk of poor food choices? The key is planning. We know we'll have those situations where we'll not have the time and energy, so a simple strategy like meal planning is important to ensure you'll always have the ingredients you need to prepare healthy meals at home. 

Meal planning begins deciding the meals you need and want to eat during the week. By knowing in advance the meals you will prepare, and having the ingredients to prepare them, you'll set yourself to make healthy meal choices and avoid poor food choices that can compromise your health. 

If you expect a busy week ahead, you could plan quick meals, or share the cooking workload. There are plenty of quick but healthy meals you can prepare in less than 20 minutes, as long as you have planned and stoked the ingredients you need in advance. 

WHAT IS A FULL COURSE MEAL? 

What Is a Meal Course? 

A meal course is a single food item or a set of food items served at once, such as a sandwich, soup and crackers, or steak and mashed potatoes. An average meal consists of one or more meal courses. 

How Many Courses Are in a Meal? 

Many meals only contain one course. The most basic full course meal is made up of 2 or 3 of the following courses: an appetizer, a main dish, and a dessert. However, meals can feature up to 12 or more courses. 

Sample Sequences for Up to 12 Meal Courses 

A common and logical way for your full course meal to proceed is by starting with light plates, continuing with richer dishes, and finishing off with small and delicate items. Below are sample full course meal sequences, but you can choose which meal courses you would like to include on your menu. 

12 Course Meal 

A 12- course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, amuse-bouche, soup, appetizer, salad, fish, first main course, palate cleanser, second main course, cheese course, dessert, and mignardise.

10 Course Meal 

A 10 course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, soup, appetizer, salad, fish, main course, palate cleanser, second main course, dessert, and mignardise. 

9 Course Meal 

A 9 course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, soup, appetizer, salad, fish, main course, palate cleanser, dessert, and mignardise. 

8 Course Meal 

 An 8 course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, soup, appetizer, salad, main course, palate cleanser, dessert, and mignardise. 

7 Course Meal 

A 7 course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, soup, appetizer, salad, main course, dessert, and mignardise.

 6 Course Meal

 A 6 course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, soup, appetizer, salad, main course, and dessert.

 5 Course Meal

 A 5 course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, appetizer, salad, main course, and dessert. 

4 Course Meal 

A 4 course dinner menu includes an hors d'oeuvre, appetizer, main course, and dessert. 

3 Course Meal

 A 3- course dinner menu includes an appetizer, main course, and dessert. 

12 Course Meal Menu 

Below are explanations of the courses that may comprise a 12 course meal as well as dish suggestions for each course. 

1. Course One - Hors d'oeuvres (ordevrs). Since this course is typically served during a cocktail hour or as guests are arriving, hors d'oeuvres are usually finger-foods that can be held in the hand. 

• Goat cheese crostini with fig-olive tapenade

•  Zucchini Fritters 

• Shallot and pancetta tortilla crisps 

2. Course Two - Amuse-bouche. This can be translated from French to mean "amuse the mouth" or more generally, to please guests' palates with a small flavorful taste. Frequently, this might serve to stimulate the appetite or simply hint at flavors to come in the next meal course(s). In restaurants, this is normally a complementary item specifically chosen by the chef. 

•  Sweet potato chips with goat cheese and caviar 

• Caprese bites with basil vinaigrette 

• Pea soup served in a shot glass or espresso cup 

3. Course Three - Soup. As with all of your courses, a classic idea is to relate your soup course to the season. It's always smart to avoid soups that are too hearty so guests don't fill up for the rest of the meal.

• Cold melon and basil soup 

• Pumpkin sage bisque 

• Tuscan white bean and roasted garlic soup 

4. Course Four – Appetizer. In many parts of Europe, this course is referred to as the "entree" because it introduces the main courses in the meal. It is usually served on serving trays or small appetizer plates and features small cuts of meat, seasonal vegetables, starches, and sauces. 

• Charred broccoli with shishito peppers and pickled onions 

•  Mushrooms stuffed with Pecorino Romano, garlic, and bread crumbs 

• Candied carrots with honey, cumin, and paprika 

5. Course Five - Salad. This course is usually an assortment of raw vegetables with a flavorful dressing. In some parts of Europe, salad is served after the main course, but it is also common to serve salad before. 

• Garden salad with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and tart vinaigrette 

• Chopped Thai salad with peanut dressing 

• Greek salad with olives, lettuce, red onions, and feta cheese 

6. Course Six – Fish. This dish is a flavorful light protein before the main courses. 

• Grilled salmon with a soy sauce marinade 

• Lemon Garlic Tilapia 

•  Crispy trout with a parsley-caper vinaigrette 

7.  Course Seven – First main course. The first main dish is often a white meat, such as chicken, duck, or turkey. 

• Spicy Thai basil chicken 

• Roasted duck with an orange-ginger glaze 

•  Deep-fried turkey with a honey bourbon glaze

8.  Course Eight – Palate Cleanser. This is like a reset for your taste buds. Its purpose is to remove residual tastes from the mouth before the next course. 

• Sorbet (lemon, melon, or mint) 

•  Prosecco 

• Water with lemon

9.  Course Nine - Second main course. Typically, the second main course is a red meat, such as premium beef, lamb, or venison. 

• Stuffed lamb breast with lemon, ricotta, and oregano 

• Grilled flatiron steak with rosemary potatoes 

• Herb-crusted venison medallions 

10. Course Ten - Cheese course. Create a platter of different cheeses along with items to accompany them. 

• Include a variety of cheese textures and flavors, such as aged, soft, firm, and blue cheeses 

• Choose a selection of breads and crackers 

• Provide companion items, such as jams, chutneys, spicy mustards, caramelized onions, candied nuts and pistachios 

11. Course Eleven - Dessert. Usually accompanied by a glass of dessert wine or coffee and tea, this is a sweet and decadent course. 

• Rich flourless chocolate cake with a glass of sweet port wine 

• Lemon crème brulee with dry white wine

• Fruit tarts and berries with champagne 

12. Course Twelve – Mignardise. (miniadis) At the end of the meal, you can serve a mignardise, which is a tiny, bite-sized dessert or pastry served with tea, coffee, port, brandy, or scotch. 

• Miniature butter madeleine biscuits 

• Small pieces of chocolate 

• Bite sized macarons 

1972 Meal Pattern 

Revised Meal Pattern 

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005 and a new Food Guidance System, My Pyramid, were recently released. In addition, the DRIs, including the RDAs/AIs, continued to be revised. Below is the USDA Food Guide for a 1600 kcal/day diet. It is designed to be in accord with the 2005 Guidelines. It emphasizes nutrient-dense foods, lean meats, low fat dairy products, and whole grains. Overall this meal pattern is designed to provide a variety of foods low in saturated fats, cholesterol, sodium (salt) and alcohol. The Guidelines allows for discretionary calories in addition to the nutrient-dense foods. 

USDA Food Guide 

DASH stands for the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. This food plan promotes fruit, vegetable, and low fat dairy foods and limits meat, fish, and poultry. Other high fat and super sweet foods are limited along with sodium, which is especially important for those with high blood pressure. 

DASH Diet

References:

 https://nutrition.fiu.edu/creative_solutions/meal_patterns.asp

 https://www.google.com/search?q=menu+patterns&oq=Menu+Patterns&aqs=chrome.0.0j0 i22i30l7.9863j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/blog/2578/full-course-meal.html