Healthy Menu Planning
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Feel free to copy or distribute this resource, adapted from the NACCRRA online Initial Training course
© 2011 National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies
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Table of Contents
Considerations for Planning Menus .............................................................................................................. 3
Menu Planning Principles ......................................................................................................................... 3
Menu Cycling............................................................................................................................................. 5
Guidelines for Healthy Meals and Snacks ..................................................................................................... 6
Limit Salt and Sugar................................................................................................................................... 6
Limit Fat .................................................................................................................................................... 7
Avoid Processed Foods ............................................................................................................................. 7
Making Meal Times Pleasant ........................................................................................................................ 8
Serving meals ............................................................................................................................................ 8
Introducing New Foods ............................................................................................................................. 8
Age Considerations and Nutrition................................................................................................................. 9
Infants ....................................................................................................................................................... 9
Toddlers .................................................................................................................................................... 9
Preschoolers............................................................................................................................................ 10
School-agers ............................................................................................................................................ 10
Serving Sizes and Regulations ................................................................................................................. 10
Sample Menu Forms……………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………..11
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Considerations for Planning Menus
Menus for young children should:
Meet the nutritional needs of children
Comply with any funding or licensing requirements
Help children feel comfortable by serving familiar foods
Encourage healthy food habits by introducing new foods
Provide safe food prepared and served in clean surroundings
Stay within budgetary limits
Provide alternatives for children with food allergies
Consider children’s opinions about food they like
Consider the preferences of the families in your program
Menu Planning Principles
Menu planning for young children can be
exciting as well as challenging. Keep in mind
basic menu-planning principles as well as
your children’s preferences.
The five basic menu-planning principles
explained on the following pages are:
1. Strive for balance
2. Emphasize variety
3. Add contrast
Basic Food Groups
Grains
Meats
4. Think about color
Fruits and Vegetables
5. Consider eye appeal
Dairy
3
There are a number of ways to achieve these menu-planning goals:
Flavors
Be sure the meal is neither too bland nor too strongly flavored.
Remember that young children’s taste buds can be more
sensitive than yours. Think about whether the flavors of the
foods you are serving together make a good combination.
Fat
Balance higher-fat foods with foods that have less fat. Avoid
serving too many higher-fat foods within the same week. For
example, if you already have hot dogs and sausage pizza on the
weekly menu, do not include another higher-fat entrée. You
should also use low-fat side dishes to balance the meal. For
example, serve raw vegetable sticks like carrots or fresh fruit
with the hot dogs.
Variety
No one food or group of foods can give children everything they need. Avoid planning the
same form of food on consecutive days. To add variety, you could serve a casserole one day,
soup and sandwiches the next. Periodically introduce new items by adding a small amount to
the meal. For example, if you are serving raw carrot sticks, add some raw cauliflower too. Try
preparing familiar foods in a different way or in a new recipe.
Contrast
Provide contrasts in textures, flavors and methods
of preparation. Serve a crisp salad with spaghetti or
crunchy apple slices with yogurt. You can also use a
combination of different shapes and sizes of food.
For example, an appealing meal to a young child
might consist of cubed peaches, a slice of meatloaf
and a small mound of mashed potatoes.
Color
A variety of color not only makes a meal more appealing to look at, it also ensures that you are
getting a variety of nutrients. For example, orange and yellow fruits and vegetables like
apricots and sweet potatoes are high in vitamin A whereas green vegetables are rich in minerals
such as calcium, potassium and iron.
4
Menu Cycling
Cycling menus may be a good option for your program. “Menu Cycles” are planned for a period
of time and then repeated.
Some of the benefits of Menu Cycles are:
They offer variety, are flexible and allow for substitutions
They can save you time from doing repetitive tasks such as gathering information,
planning menus and selecting and pricing foods
It is easy to include seasonal fruits and vegetable and plan for special events
You can plan for special activities and events well in advance because you know what
your menu will be several weeks before the event occurs
If you choose to use Menu Cycles consider:
Planning four cycles - Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall - to take advantage of seasonal
foods
Planning 4- 6 weeks of menus for a cycle and then repeating. Make sure you compare
the first and last menus of the cycles so that you are not repeating foods too closely
together. For example, if you are serving spaghetti on Friday of the last week of one
Cycle Menu, make sure you do not have spaghetti on Monday of the first week of your
next Cycle Menu.
Noting substitution of foods on menus
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Guidelines for Healthy Meals and Snacks
Providing healthy meals and snacks provides children with the nutrition they need and helps to
develop good eating habits that will increase the likelihood that they will eat healthily
throughout their lives.
Some ideas to consider:
Offer fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables
Provide simple foods. Most children prefer
foods that are unmixed and easy to
recognize.
Limit unhealthy foods such as foods high in
salt, sugar or fat.
Find healthy recipes that are child-friendly
by searching the internet or checking out
books at your local library
Limit Salt and Sugar
Avoid adding salt when cooking meals
Check nutrition labels and choose foods with the lowest sodium content
Read labels to find “hidden” sugars in food
Limit sugar by avoiding processed desserts,
candy, canned fruits with syrup, soft drinks or punch
Use fresh fruit and fruit juice to add
sweetness to food. For example, offer
bananas instead of sugar with hot cereal
or applesauce instead of syrup with
pancakes.
Serve oatmeal cookies, preferably homemade, instead of pre-made cookies that
are frosted, contain chocolate or a
sweet, processed filling
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Limit Fat
Instead of frying foods like french fries, bake them in the oven
Limit the amount of butter or margarine when preparing foods. For example, do not
add butter or margarine to cooked vegetables.
When serving toast or bread, use only a very small amount of butter or margarine for
taste
Avoid putting butter on pancakes or waffles. Instead, offer applesauce or other fruit to
put on them to enhance the flavor.
Avoid Processed Foods
Processed foods are often high in sugar, fat and salt and low in nutrition. Some thoughts to
remember are:
If the cooking directions are “heat and eat,” it is probably a processed food
When selecting cheese, avoid American cheese foods that are labeled “processed
cheese food”. Instead, choose mild cheeses or American cheese made with milk.
Make your own chicken nuggets ahead of time. Start by looking for simple recipes on
the internet or in cook books in your local library.
Start a fruit or vegetable garden in your program and let the children eat the foods they
harvest.
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Making Meal Times Pleasant
Meal times should be a pleasant experience for young children. It is a great time for friendly
conversation, community-building, experiencing new foods and modeling habits of healthy
eating and social etiquette (“please” and “thank you”).
Serving meals
Young children should not go more than three hours without being offered something
to eat
Serve meals “family style”, sitting with the children and eating your food
Allow children to help with the meals whenever possible. Young children can snap
beans, tear lettuce for salads and serve themselves. They could spread cream cheese on
a bagel or mix a yogurt-based fruit dip.
Always offer water with snacks that do not include a drink.
Introducing New Foods
Serve new foods along with familiar foods
Serve as a model by tasting the food yourself
Talk about the taste and texture of the food
Offer new foods slowly and gradually, introducing only one new food at a time
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Age Considerations and Nutrition
Children of different ages have different nutritional needs. Depending on their age, they may
prefer different types of foods as well. Consider the ages of the children in your program when
planning menus.
Infants
Work closely with parents to make sure
you are meeting the needs of each infant.
Many infants are on an individualized plan
for introducing new foods that families
coordinate with their child’s health care
provider.
Hold infants when feeding them a bottle
Support mothers who choose to breastfeed
Infants should be fed on demand instead of
feeding them according to a clock schedule.
Get to know the infants in your care so that
you can recognize when they are hungry.
Toddlers
Toddlers are increasingly independent and
often love the word “no.” They may refuse
to try new foods, making it difficult to ensure
that they are receiving an adequate diet.
Toddlers need to have meals and snacks often
because of their small stomachs
Offer foods to toddlers from all food groups
at each meal
Toddler serving sizes are approximately ¼
that of an adult serving for each food (the
exception is the milk group)
Toddlers’ slower rate of growth causes a
decrease in appetite. Keep in mind that
children will eat when they are hungry.
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Preschoolers
Preschoolers grow in spurts. During active
growth periods, their appetites are usually
good, but remember that when growth rates
slow, so do their appetites.
The main difference between feeding a
toddler and a preschooler is the amount of
food you offer
Preschoolers should never be encouraged to
“clean their plates,” as this can often lead to
obesity later in life.
Offer smaller servings and let children ask for
more
School-agers
School-agers enjoy preparing their own snacks
When school-agers arrive at your program after
school, it may have been several hours since they
have eaten. Have a healthy, nutritious snack ready
for them when they arrive.
School-agers enjoy cooking. Cooking activities and
special projects are a great opportunity for talking
about healthy eating.
Serving Sizes and Regulations
State licensing agencies or your local Child Care Food Program (CCFP) may also have specific
serving sizes that must be offered to children at each meal based on their age. Be sure to check
with your local licensing agency or CCFP (if your program participates in the CCFP program) to
ensure that you are offering the correct serving sizes.
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SAMPLE Menu
Week of: January 24, 2011
Monday
Breakfast
Bread & Cereal
Fruit/ Vegetable
Milk
Morning Snack
(choose two)
Fruit/vegetable
Grain
Milk/Dairy
Meat
Week in Cycle: 1
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
1
Banana muffins
Apple slices
Milk
2
English Muffin
Peaches
Milk
Pancakes
Strawberries
Milk
3
Oatmeal
Bananas
Milk
Oat rings (cereal)
Grape juice
Milk
4
Carrot sticks
(peaches for
infants/toddlers)
crackers
Pears
Fish crackers
Ground beef
Spaghetti noodles
Tomato sauce
Romaine lettuce and
tomatoes
Milk
7
Peanut butter
Whole wheat bread
bananas
Fish sticks
Biscuits
Green beans
Tangerines
Milk
5
6
English muffin
Tomato sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Pita bread
hummus
Cheese
Whole wheat bread
Broccoli
Pineapple
Milk
Chicken nuggets
Whole wheat bread
Cucumber
Fruit cocktail
Milk
Ground beef
Whole wheat bun
Potatoes
Peas
Milk
Rye crackers
Cream cheese
Apple Juice
Yogurt
Berries
Cheese cubes
Yellow and red
peppers, cucumbers
Lunch
Meat
Grain
Fruit/Vegetable
(Choose two)
Milk/Dairy
Afternoon
Snack
(choose two)
Fruit/vegetable
Grain
Milk/Dairy
Meat
8
Celery
Raisins
Peanut butter
(oat rings cereal)
raisins, milk)
9
10
Oranges, pineapple
and bananas
Oatmeal cookie
Planning Form
Week of_________________________________________
Monday
Breakfast
Bread & Cereal
Fruit or
Vegetable
Milk
Morning Snack
(choose two)
Fruit/vegetable
Grain
Milk/Dairy
Meat
Lunch
Meat
Grain
Fruit/Vegetable
(Choose two)
Milk/Dairy
Afternoon
Snack
(choose two)
Fruit/vegetable
Grain
Milk/Dairy
Meat
Tuesday
Wednesday
Week in Cycle # ________
Thursday
Friday
Explanation of Sample Planning Menu
Color Coding Fruits and Vegetables
Get out your highlighters or colored pencils and markers. It is important to vary the color in
your menu in order to add interest and, even more importantly, to ensure a well-balanced diet.
When you highlight the red, yellow/orange, green and purple fruits and vegetables, it becomes
easier to see if you are getting a good balance of different kinds of fruits and vegetables.
Planning Menus vs. Menus to Post for Families
When developing your menus, it is helpful to separate each component or food group so that
you can easily see if you have met all nutritional requirements. While it is a great tool for
planning, it is not very interesting and attractive to post. Once you have completed planning,
create a nicer-looking, postable menu that will appeal to families and children.
Notes on Sample Planning Menu (above):
1. You can bake the muffins the night before (family child Care providers).
2. Children will probably want to pour the milk on their dry cereal. By serving grape juice,
you can provide a drink to go with the cereal and, as a added benefit, grape juice is a
“purple” fruit, high in many nutrients.
3. When serving carrot sticks to a mixed-age group, that may be a choking hazard for very
young children, include an appropriate alternative, such as peaches.
4. Red and yellow peppers may be a new food for many children. Offering them as a snack
with two other familiar foods such as cucumbers and cheese cubes allows children to try
a new food without having it be the only option on the menu.
5. Children can make their own “mini pizza” as part of a cooking activity. Additionally,
when you are shopping, you could buy the english muffins in a larger, and possibly
cheaper, quantity.
6. Pita bread and hummus are healthy foods and are good ways to introduce foods from a
possibly different culture. Some children may be reluctant to try the hummus (which is
a good meat alternative). By serving it for a morning snack instead of a main meal, a
child who does not want to try it will not be missing a major component of a meal.
7. Instead of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, try a peanut butter and banana sandwich.
Children will enjoy slicing up the banana and placing it on their bread.
8. Children can make “Ants on a Log” by spreading the peanut butter on the celery and
adding raisins on top. Because this would not be an appropriate snack for very young
children, an alternative is offered (cereal, raisins and milk).
9. This can be another cooking activity by allowing children to make yogurt sundaes.
10. Purchase enough bananas, oranges and pineapples so that you can use the leftover fruit
from meals earlier in the week for a fruit salad. You can slice up the fruit before snack
time and allow the children to mix their own salads. The oatmeal cookie will be a
“treat” but, if you allow children to mix up their own salad, the focus will be on the
healthier fruit. This is also a great opportunity to talk about eating treats in moderation.