Daycare Center Menu Planning - Essay Example

Day care center menu plan Customer name: Customers course: Supervisor: Date of submission: Introduction Nutrition is a branch of science that deals with the study of how food is obtained, processed and how and why is eaten, all processes involved in food metabolism in the body such as ingestion, digestion, absorption,assimilation and egestion and the diet one takes. The amount of diet, texture, chemical and physical composition that each person takes is determined by cultural and lifestyle background, activity level, general health, gender and age and development of stage (Clark, Holt, & Sofka eds, 1998). Task 1 The preparation of the menu that need to be tried and that will be used during the time Phan is on leave with new cateress, call for a need to work in collaboration with Phan, staff, parents, cooks and children as well as the new cateress to come up with weekly menu (Clark, Holt, & Sofka eds,1998). Dietary requirements Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Tea break Milk Fruit scones Snack attack bag (cheese cubes, celery, carrots) Milk+ blue berry muffins ( made with all-bran) Milk+ Lebanese whole meal Grated low fat cheese Milk+ whole bread Turkish Fruit salad e.g watermelon, orange syrup and straw berry salad Milk +whole bread pita wrapping for salad and ham lunch Stewed skinless Chicken breast Steamed brown rice GreenVegetables Mango whole fruit Vanilla yoghurt Plain water Lean beef stew Shallow fried pasta+ olive oil Green Vegetables Red apple (skin on) Custard and warm fruit soup Plain water Lentils Noddles Spinach Warm apple and custard Oranges Plain water Tuna burger, lettuce, celery, carrots, lemon, pasta Reduced fat cheese Green Vegetables Green apple(skin on) Plain water Shallow fried Lamb Boiled + salted potatoes Green Vegetables Whole fruit Pineapple Glass of yoghurt plain water After noon Milk +milo Two whole meal bread slices+ spread with avocado peelings Vegetable salad Including: Tomatoes, carrot grates, cucumber slices and grated beet roots spread with mayonnaise A straw berry muffin water Toasted sandwich containing cheese with tomato and ham or baked beans Milk +milo Low fat Milk +milo Purple and yellow seedless grapes and dried apricots Low fat Milk Vanilla yoghurt Two whole meal bread slices/ margarine Diluted 100% mango pulp juice Modification for children with special needs Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Isabella Dietary requirements Milo, Fruit scones with no milk additives, Snack attack bag (lentil burger, celery, carrots) Dutch chocolate biscuits, and no eggs or milk additives Milo, Lebanese whole meal, salad and ham sandwich whole bread Turkish, a hole orange fruit juice, Fruit salad e.g watermelon, orange syrup and straw berry salad Dutch chocolate, whole bread pita wrapping for salad and ham Skinless Chicken stew breast Steamed brown rice Green Vegetables Warm apple and coconut custard Mango whole fruit Plain water lean beef stew Shallow fried pasta+ olive oil Green Vegetables Red apple (skin on) Pineapple Custard and warm fruit soup Plain water Lentils Noodles Spinach Warm apple and custard Oranges Plain water Tuna burger, lettuce, celery, carrots, lemon, pasta Coconut Custard Green Vegetables Green apple(skin on) Plain water Shallow fried lean Lamb Boiled + salted potatoes Green Vegetables Pineapple custard plain water Dutch chocolate,Two whole meal bread slices+ spread with avocado peelings Vegetable salad Including: Tomatoes, carrot grates, cucumber slices and grated beet roots spread with margarine A straw berry muffin with no egg or milk additives water Toasted sandwich containing tomato with tomato and baked beans milo Milo, Purple and yellow seedless grapes and dried apricots Milo , fruit kebab, Diluted 100% mango pulp juice Sally Dietary requirements - - Replace whole meal Lebanese with white Lebanese bread Replace whole bread Turkish with white bread Turkish Replace whole bread pita with white pita - Replace beef stew with chicken stew Add a cup of vanilla yoghurt - Replace shallow fried lamb with poached scotched eggs cooked under low fat/ heat Replace whole meal bread with white bread - Use baked beans rather than ham - - (Good nutrition for preschoolers). Figure 1 Beef stew Ingredients Four chunks of lean beef A single unpeeled potato and cut into four cubes Two peeled carrots chunks One teaspoon tomato sauce A teaspoon salt or add to taste 500ml water 400gm tomatoes (peeled) Three coarsely chopped cloves of garlic Three coarsely chopped red onion Two tablespoons of olive oil Two red and two green sweet peppers Green leafy parsley Preparation Preparation 15 minutes and cooking 0120hrs Heat oil in a large saucepan, add garlic and onion, and stir until onion become flabby. Add tomatoes, water and liquefied tomato sauce, add salt, red and green pepper to season Add potatoes and carrots cut chunks Place beef chunks in contact with the vegetables Bring to boil at high heat, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 25 minute to tenderize the beef chunks as you turn once in a while Preheat oven to 200 0c Take out the beef chunks from the stew and pour the stew on the baking dish and place the beef chunks in the stew Bake until soft and flesh attains crispy color Serve while hot and garnish with the green leafy parsley with shallow fried pasta. Factors considered during cooking: Hygienic conditions were followed to the later as outlined in task2. The cooking method was also considered as healthy way for retaining and concentrating nutrients required for children Color and texture was also considered to ensure the food is much appealing to the children The seasoning materials and spices from natural plants were considered to ensure that they are children friendly and nutritive (Good nutrition for preschoolers). Infants are children aged 1-2 years. These children have not fully adapted to feeding pattern in the family and also they have a small stomach volume. Their diet, therefore, should be rich in iron, fiber, protein and carbohydrates. This will ensure the desired nutrients demands needed by the fast growing body are catered for (Nutrition for toddlers). Toddlers on the other hand will require nutritional equivalent as infant but the RDA is much higher as compared to the infants. This is because, they are proactive and the energy needs are also increasing. The iron needs are quite high at this time. They still have small stomach volume to accommodate the amount of food liable to meet their RDA. It is therefore recommendable that they be provided with main meals three times a day sandwiched in between with a balanced diet snack after every 2-21/2 hours of a meal. Water should be provided in high amount since they do lose a lot of water through perspiration. At this stage, parents may be tempted to give empty calories snacks, juices and other junk foods but they need to be cautioned to teach the children to eat healthy from childhood. In addition, junk food may contribute to future obesity and other overweight and obese related conditions and diseases. They are also known to lower the appetite of the child (Nutrition for toddlers). Meal menu chosen: Tuesday lunch Lean Beef stew Shallow fried pasta+ olive oil, Green Vegetables, Red apple (skin on), Custard and warm fruit soup, Plain water. Both for infants and toddlers lean beef stew is advisable to be replaced with liver. The liver has been chosen because of its digestibility and palatability in children. It is also rich in haem-iron of high biological value capable of meeting the demands of iron in the infants and toddlers. The best method for cooking for infants will be boiling because it can be easily pureed; however, for toddlers both boiling and stewing method of cooking is advisable. Addition of olive oil during cooking is advisable to increase the energy quotient in the general diet that is able to meet the infant and toddlers’ energy needs (Nutrition for toddlers). During holidays, school going children need a change of the normal school menu to accommodate the feeling of home like diet setting. Also the fact that they do not follow the usual school time table which in turn is replaced with long hours of play and games it is advisable that the diet be energy dense both main meal and snacks. This will ensure it caters both for the mental demands and physical activities. The dishes should also be appetizing and prepared with welcoming colors as well as being delicious (Clark, Holt, & Sofka eds, 1998). Task2 Hygiene during food handling is a mandatory to all food handlers and the places where any food material deemed for consumption is supposed to be hygienically right. Those places include and not limited to the kitchen, hotel dinning rooms, food stores children service and food stores. The main objective in food hygiene is to prevent food contamination and poisoning. While some practices of both personal and environmental hygiene seem usual, phan should not take assumption that the new cateress still knows them. Therefore, the new cateress need to know and be reminded about the following (Clark, Holt, & Sofka eds, 1998). During food handling it is possible to have Cross contamination. This occurs when food materials especially raw animal products or fluids come into contact with vegetables and fruits. The cross contamination can be as result of either the physical contact between raw animal products or the use of the same chopping board for the different activities in the kitchen, failure of the food handler to wash hands with running water after cutting meat, using the same knife for both animal products and fruits and vegetables, using the same packaging used on raw foods to package cooked foods (Australia new Zealand food standards code). Personal hygiene is of paramount importance, this will include and also not limited to proper washing of hands with soap and clean running water after visiting the toilet, washing hands after sneezing or pinching the nose, washing hands when you start handling foods and every time when handling cooked food after you have handled raw foods. Wearing clean clothes daily and changing soiled attires during food preparations. Food handler should avoid scratching hairs and head when handling foods and wiping sweats with clean clothe while carrying any food preparation practices. Keeping nails short, without nail polish and clean all through when handling food stuffs is a mandatory. Environmental hygiene the cateress should make sure that there is a clean bin each time in the kitchen and outside the kitchen to ensure all droppings is dropped in the bin. The bin should remain covered all the time not to attract flies, cockroaches and other insets as well as the rodents. The bin should be emptied daily or when the dust bin fills up in the course of the day. After emptying the bin, they should be washed with detergent and disinfectant and left in open or under the sun to dry. All kitchen clothes should be washed regularly disinfectant and sterilize and hanged on the sun to dry. The kitchen should be swept and washed with detergent and disinfectant regularly every moment is dirt no matter the number of times per day (Australia New Zealand food standards code). Waste disposal from the kitchen should be well disposed in the right places as allocated in the child care center. It should be burnt to avoid flies and other insects from the waste visiting the kitchen and contaminating the food while stepping on it. The surrounding environment should also be swept and any tall grass cut short either through the cateresses directions or the cateress doing it herself. During cooking all the food stuffs should remain covered if they are made to be eaten while hot should be covered immediately after they are taken from the heat source. If they are made to be eaten while cold or at room temperature they should be covered after the intended initial preparations are done e.g. washing of fruits and vegetable salads (Australia New Zealand food standards code). Incase of illnesses, the cateress should ensure that she visit the approved clinic by MOH in order to put the infection under control and also to be diagnosed so as to ensure the disease or condition is not food and water borne. In addition, any cuts and open skins should be sterilized and covered with appropriate and approved clinical cover. Pest control is of a paramount importance in all food handling places. The cateress need to know the modes of pest control and when it is safe to use the pesticide to prevent food poisoning. Food spoilage should be looked into. This ensures that there is less food wasting. This is achieved through right food preservation and right food storage method for the different food stuffs which should be observed. In addition, the cateress must understand different food odor that indicates food spoilage, physical change and chemical alterations of food stuffs e.g. Moulds in food, rotten smelly food or any unfamiliar taste and colour are an indicator of spoiled food and hence the food should be disposed. Other forms of contamination may include dust particles spread on food, chemical contamination such as pesticides (Australia New Zealand food standards code). The cateress should observe proper storage of food bearing in mind factors that favor microorganisms’ growth such as PH, moisture content of food, type of food, chemical composition of food and enzymatic factors within the food substance. To conclude health food classification, preparations and eating leads to healthy body. References Australia new Zealand food standards code: food safety standards- heath and hygiene: responsibilities of food handlers. Retrieved from http://www.health.gov.au/ 23rd August, 2012 Clark M., Holt K., & Sofka D. eds (1998). Early Childhood Nutrition Guide. Arlington VA; National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health Good nutrition for preschoolers. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/serve-up-good-nutrition-for-preschool-chidren, 23rd August, 2012 Nutrition for toddlers. Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/parent/nutrition-centre/healthy-eating/toddler.html , 23rd August, 2012 Read More