Planning and preparing meals is often shared by all members of the family. There are a number of things to keep in mind when planning meals.
It’s important to plan nutritious foods needed for good health. If there is a good variety of foods served, chances are better that necessary nutrients will be included.
The age and activity levels of family members influence the kind of meals planned. How much time do you have to prepare meals? What is your cooking skill?
Certainly keeping the food preferences of the family in mind is important but also experiment with new foods. Just because one person in the family doesn’t like a food, don’t let that determine the menu for the whole family.
Food budgets can get out of hand easily. If your budget is limited, less expensive foods must be served.
There are many benefits to planning meals in advance. Some of these are:
eliminating last minute decisions on what to have for a meal
taking advantage of specials on food prices
reducing the number of trips to the grocery store
creating more variety in meals and snacks
Meal planning is fun because you can enter into helping your family have meals that are tasty, nutritious, and attractive.
Fill in the missing vowels to complete words or phrases that are important in meal planning:
N_tr_t_ _ n
act_ v_ty  l_v_l
t_m_
f_ _ d    b_dg_t
c_ _ k_ng  sk_ll
