Planning Nutritious Meals

To help you plan nutritious meals incorporating foods from the basic food groups, follows this seven-step guidelines, keeping in mind all the day's menus:

1. Plan the protein main dish from the meat group.

2. Add a bread or cereal product to complement the main dish.

3. Choose a hot or cold vegetable.

4. Select a fruit or vegetable salad to complement the main dish.

5. Add a desert that's appropriate to the rest of the meal. Fruits make a good dessert, as do milk-based desserts, such as pudding. Remember that a light dessert is best after a heavy meal and vice versa.

6. Choose a beverage. This is an excellent place for a serving from the milk group.

7. After the first four food group requirements are met, you can add extras from the fifth "fats-sweets" group to complement the meal and suit your family's tastes. Remember to include these foods in moderation.

Perhaps not every meal will include all seven steps. Make sure that all the day's menus include the proper amounts from the basic food groups, and that they include a wide variety of foods.

To you started with your own menu plans, use the generic three-meal plan or five-meal plan listed at right. The three-meal plan includes some snack that help round out the food selections.

Simply plug in a specific food for each food group serving listed. If five meals a day fit into your schedule, follow that plan. (Allowances for pregnant women or nursing mothers have not been included in the menu planner.)

Combinations foods -- those that include foods from more than one food group -- short-cut meal preparation. For example, a casserole may include a serving from the meat group, a serving from the vegetable group, and a bread/cereal serving, such as pasta or rice. Determine the foods in the dish, then determine what groups they come from to calculate the servings the Basic Five Food Groups.

Back to Healthy Cooking Tips