Best Practices in Menu Planning
You can use the CACFP meal pattern to meet many aspects of best practices in menu planning, such as:
- Balance, variety, contrast, color, and eye appeal.
Many whole grain-rich foods are great for providing balance to strong flavors. Whole-wheat bread with chili, whole grain-rich crackers or pita bread with hummus and other flavorful dips, and brown rice with stir-fry, are all examples of how whole grains can be used to balance flavors in a meal. This will help make sure that the meal does not have too many strong flavors.
Balance also means serving heavier dishes and entrees with lighter side items. One example might be a grilled cheese sandwich, which tends to be on the heavier side, with fresh blueberries and steamed broccoli to lighten up the meal.
Variety
Serving whole grain-rich foods once per day means that you can offer variety throughout the week by:
- serving different kind of whole grain-rich foods,
- serving whole grain-rich foods at different meals or snacks during the week, and
- preparing whole grain-rich foods in different ways.
Some examples include using whole grain-rich tortillas to make quesadillas or using brown rice to make red beans and rice. Serving meat and meat alternates at breakfast up to three times per week can also help you add variety to the menu. Different cooking methods can be used to add variety. For example, just as the whole grains are prepared in different ways, you can also try serving vegetables prepared in different ways, such as raw, roasted, steamed, or broiled, throughout the week. You can also serve a vegetable by itself, such as a side of roasted broccoli, or with other foods, such as the spinach in the quesadilla.
Color
Vegetables and fruit can be used to add color, contrast, and eye appeal. Try adding some color to your meals with a pop of fresh, colorful fruit, such as a topping for pancakes or hot and cold cereals. Or, you could mix and match different colors in a fruit and veggie-filled Tropical Bean Salad, serve vegetables and fruits as a side dish like Gingered Carrots, or use fun, colorful vegetables in a chicken dish or stew like Chicken Ratatouille.
Contrast
Add contrast to textures to your meals and snacks by serving different tastes, textures, and temperatures. This could include pairing crunchy vegetables with a smooth, creamy yogurt dip.
You can also add contrast in textures, temperatures and tastes by serving savory scrambled eggs, which are warm, with yogurt and fruit, which are cold. The fruit chunks also adds a nice “bite” and difference in texture from the softer eggs and yogurt.
Eye Appeal
Since we “eat with our eyes”, add eye appeal to meals by cutting or arranging foods into different shapes, leaving space between foods as you are putting them on a plate, and using different kinds and colors of serving containers, plates, cups, bowls, spoons, etc.
On this slide, you see that the Baked Cod Ole’, Mashed Whipped Potatoes, and Tabbouleh are arranged on plates or in and bowls of different sizes and colors, and paired with colorful utensils and placemats, all of which can help show off the food and add visual appeal.
Team Nutrition developed a series of 40 standardized recipes especially for CACFP settings. These recipes come in yields of 6, 25, and 50 servings, and include crediting information.
