The problem of compiling the menu has to face every housewife. Everyone knows that buying products every day is a very expensive procedure. At the same time, you can easily pick up a lot of superfluous in the supermarket. Of course, this will ultimately affect the budget.
But before heading to the store, it’s important to make an exhaustive list of products. To do this, we need a menu layout. Having mastered this skill, you will greatly facilitate the task of distributing finances and optimizing nutrition. After spending a few hours once, you will get rid of painful discussions about what to cook for dinner. It will be enough to open ready-made schemes and choose one or two recipes from them.
Who is used
The menu layout is widely used in all sectors of catering. These are canteens and buffets, snack bars and kindergartens. Each hostess can make a menu for the coming week. For this, the menu layout is also used. Another area of practical application is hiking. It is imperative to bring along so many foods that they are enough to power the group.
The layout of the menu makes it possible to plan the dishes that will be prepared. Accordingly, it will be possible to calculate the number of products required for each of them. As a result, you can make a general calculation.
Diet
This is the first thing to consider when you are composing a menu layout. Proper diet promotes the normal development of the child and improve human health. It is usually recommended to eat 4-5 times a day. For a small child and a sick person, these numbers change. But this is not the only requirement that must be respected.
- Human need for nutrients. During the day it changes, this must be remembered in the event that you are making a menu of set meals or a daily menu.
- The amount of food.
- Taste addictions.
- Age features.
- The cost of each meal.
As a result of the work done, a balanced, optimal nutrition will be obtained. The layout of the menu allows you to make a list of products that you need, and to describe the recipes used. Mistresses note that such work can greatly facilitate the task of preparing food for the family. If it concerns the technologist of a dining room or cafe, then here such planning is simply necessary.
Compilation and layout of products in a simplified way
Start with the menu. The layout of dishes according to their components begins with the fact that you have to come up with what you will cook. It is recommended to make a cycle for 5-7 days, make more options to diversify the menu even more strongly, there is no point. You can immediately lay the holidays and especially significant days, the menu in which will be especially bright.
Now you need to take the norms of products per person and multiply by the number of people. It remains to calculate how many times the same menu option will be repeated for a certain period of time. So you determine the amount of products needed.
As a result of the work done, you have everything for cooking the selected dishes and a ready-made recipe. So, it remains only to sort the selected recipes into categories: breakfast, lunch, dinner.
Sample breakfast layout
Let's say we have to cook for a small group of four people. With this menu, we will plan for 6 days. To do this, it is necessary to plan the layout of dishes for three days. The menu will be repeated twice during this time.
A set of products for three different breakfasts.
| Buckwheat - 200 g | Rice - 200 g | Oatmeal - 200 g |
| Meat - 60 g | Meat - 60 g | Condensed cream - 40 g |
| Salt - 10 g | Salt - 10 g | Sausage - 80 g |
| Sunflower oil - 10 g | Spices - 4 g | Cheese - 50 g |
| Dried vegetables - 20 g | Oil - 60 g | Bread - 100 g |
| Butter - 60 g | Fresh vegetables - 100 g | Tea - 80 g |
| Rusks or bread - 100 g | Sausage - 80 g | Sugar - 40 g |
| Cocoa - 20 g | Bread - 100 g |
| Condensed cream - 40 g | Tea - 8 g |
| Spices - 10 g | Sugar - 40 g |
By this principle, you can plan lunch or dinner. A sample menu layout will simplify this process.
We will make purchases
Now you need to determine how many products you need to cook for four people for six days. This will require:
- Buckwheat - 800 g.
- Rice - 800 g.
- Oatmeal - 800 g.
- Meat - 480 g.
- Vegetables - 160 g
- Sausage - 640 g.
- Butter - 120 g.
- Cheese - 100 g.
- Bread - 1 kg.
- Tea - 40 g.
- Cocoa - 80 g.
- Sugar - 240 g.
- Condensed cream - 320 g.
- Salt - 80 g.
- Spices - 16 g.
From this, it is already possible to derive a cost estimate for the acquisition of all menu components. Errors are now excluded when an excess amount of cereals or oil is purchased to the detriment of truly needed products.
The layout for all the rules
So far we have considered a simplified version. Every housewife can use it in her kitchen. Drawing up the layout of the menu for catering requires a more detailed disassembly of the components of the dishes. The main difference is that in this case it is necessary not only to take into account the norms of products, but also to strictly maintain the calorie content, weight and ratio of fats, proteins and carbohydrates. Most often, special programs are used for this, which will independently adjust the menu for every day.
What is required for this
You can’t do without special tables, because you need basic data on what substances are contained in a particular product. Therefore, you will need:
- food calorie table;
- calculator;
- kitchen scales;
- notebook.
Therefore, to make the right menu you need to use only the most useful products. They must fill the body with the necessary substances. At the same time, the dishes should be tasty and appetizing. The ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates should be 1: 1: 4. This is exactly the ratio that is necessary for normal human life.
Be sure to design your layout in the form of a table. For this, Exel is suitable. You will need to create several columns: a dish, a set of products, calorie content and nutrients contained per serving. Since it can be used for a long time, it is best to take thick paper or laminate it.
Breakfast menu
It must be easy. Avoid overconsumption of fats and carbohydrates. They lead to a sharp increase in blood sugar. As a result, a surge of activity gives way to fatigue and drowsiness. Do not miss the morning meal. But you should not eat too much. In this case, closer to dinner, a strong feeling of hunger will wake up.
When compiling the layout of the menu, you need to consider that the morning meal should account for about 25% of the daily diet. When counting, you need to focus on your height and weight, as well as lifestyle. It is best to opt for porridge with fruits and nuts. Be sure to accustom yourself to a second breakfast, which is best to include fruit.
Dinner menu
Nutritionists warn against excessive food intake in the evening. It is good if dinner will consist of low-calorie and easily digestible dishes. Include poultry and fish, vegetables and fruits, low-fat dairy products in the evening diet. The exception is the restaurant. The layout of the menu here is built taking into account the fact that most often people come here in order to have a delicious dinner.
How to diversify the menu
The main tool will be a prepared menu layout. You need to prepare 3-7 options per day, so that you can choose the one that will be well suited to date. In addition, you can replace rice with barley grits, chicken with fish. Similarly, you can replace vegetables and fruits, drinks. So you increase variability without completely redoing all the work. By adding different desserts, you can brighten up even the often repeated menu.
Instead of a conclusion
Today there are many programs that can facilitate the task. Special calculators already contain the content of nutrients in a particular product per 100 g. All you have to do is choose the right dishes and arrange them according to the days of the week, as well as for different meals. If the program does not perform the final calculation, then you need to do this manually.