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In planning meals, include those foods that give a feeling of satisfaction that lasts nearly to the next meal. The staying quality is dependent upon the rate of digestion of the food and the rapidity of its passage through the digestive tract. The form and composition of the food determine its staying quality.

Protein foods and foods cooked in fat are high in their safety value or staying quality. Carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables and liquids are rather low.

Indoor workers such as housewives, teachers, students, and young children who stay at home need food that has a moderate staying quality. People who work outdoors or do manual labor indoors need food with a high staying quality.

Wise use of time spent in preparing meals can mean more time left for other activities and chores. Time is like money. It needs to be budgeted if you are to make the best use of it.

Here are some suggestions which may help:

1. When you make menus, make enough for the whole week. This will  also save marketing time for you.
2. Shop when the markets are less crowded so that you will not spend too much time in pushing and shoving around the stalls.
3. Plan simple easy-to-prepare meals which are suitable for all ages. Do not cater to the individual whims of each member of the family.
4. Plan a work schedule for each day. If you write down all of your activities you will notice that there are many instances where time can be saved.
5. Arrange your kitchen tools and utensils in the order in which you will use them. Keep the most used items nearest your work area. For example potholders should be near the stove as possible. Never mind if they look very cute over the sink; they are quite useless there.
6. Prepare similar items together. If you are planning on more than one recipe that calls for garlic, pound and peel all the garlic you need at one time. Just set the extra aside till you begin on the second recipe.
7. If you have only one measuring cup, measure your dry ingredients before the liquid or the shortening. The time you would have spent in the washing cup can be used for something else.
8. Wash your utensils and tools right after using so that they will be ready for using again. It is very irritating to find the frying pan full of water just when you need it badly. Also, if you allow your kettle to stand after using it, the food will dry in it and you will have to spend precious minutes in scraping.

One of the meals that needs the most careful planning is breakfast. Since it should be the heaviest meal of the day, the housewife should make sure that it contains all the necessary nutrients. One mistake that is very commonly committed nowadays is the skipping of breakfast or the eating of too light a breakfast. Too many people eat nothing but one or two pieces of bread with one cup of coffee for breakfast because they are in a hurry. Then when they feel run-down at about ten o’clock they wonder why.

There are two things that should be done so that an adequate breakfast can be had. (1) Wake up early and (2) plan simple, easy-to-prepare but balanced menus. Breakfast ashould include a protein food such as egg or milk, cereal or bread, or both, and beverage. If a good source of vitamin C is included, the day;s allowance is assured. Variety can be added in many ways. Cereals can be hot or cold and so can be the bread. Bread may vary from plain white griddle cakes to other forms of bread. For beverage you could have milk, cocoa, coffee and your vitamin C source can be anything from orange juice to pomelo sections.

variety is sometimes the biggest factor in determining whether a meal will be a success or not. There are several ways of adding variety to meals.

Here are some pointers toward that end:

1. Don’t repeat the same kind of food in one meal.
2. Try to avoid using only one type of foodstuff in one meal: A menu consisting of rice, macaroni salad, potatoes and cookies is bad because all of these foods are rich in carbohydrtaes.
3. Avoid serving more than one strong-flavored food in one meal. To many bland foods taken together are unappetizing.
4. Combine flavors. A contrast in flavors is always good and certainly add to the variety of the menu. Try using bland foods to compliment tangy ones, sweet foods to contrast sour.
5. Use sauces and relishes to add to a flavor of a dish, but do not mask its original flavor. Just the right amount of catsup can do wonders for a meat loaf, but too much catsup can drown it.
6. Be particular about serving-temperatures. If the soup is meant to be hot, serve it HOT, and if ice cream is on the menu, serve it COLD. Nothing is more unappetizing than lukewarm soup or runny ice cream. Read the rest of this entry »
   
   
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Palatability is another factor to consider in menu-making. This included both the taste and the appearance of the food. For example, brewer’s yeat contains many B-vitamins but it tatses horrible to many people. The palatability of brewer’s yeast can be improved by masking its disagreeable flavor with fruit juices, milk,  or cocoa. It can also be added to mock meat loaf or patties.

One of the most important things to consider in meal planning is economy. We need to realize that expensive foods are not necessarily the most nutritious, and neither are cheap foods necessarily lacking in proper nutrients. For example, instead of buying strawberries, at prohibitive prices, for your vitamin C, why not use oranges instead. A glass of orange juice for breakfast certainly is cheaper than a bowl of strawberries. Wise substitution in foods will leave you more money with which to buy other foods. In planning your menu, use fruits and vegetables which are season. This way, you will be getting the best quality for the least money. If you have any leftover food, try to serve it in a different form so that the family will have no qualms about eating it. Do not serve too many kinds of foods at one meal. Rice, two vegetables and one protein dish plus milk or some other beverage is enough. Dessert should be optional.

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The planning and preparation of meals is a very important subject for housewives and other people who work with food. The way in which a food is prepared can determine wether or not it will be eaten.

Depending on how you look at it, menu making may be lots of fun or lots of hard work. The truth is, it is just as easy to serve attractive, tasty meals as it is to fix the same old dreary meal day in and day out. In planning meals, there are several points to consider. They are (1) nutritional value, (2) palatability, (3) economy, (4) sanitary quality, (5) variety, and (6) the individual likes and dislikes of each member of your family.

Nutritive value is an important point to consider in meal planning. We eat mainly for health, not for pleasure alone. Therefore, care should be taken that all of the necessary nutrients are present in our food. In making menus, it would be well to use the “Basic Six” as a guide.

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