PLANNING FOR MEAL

The general problem is to arrange the foods in the form of meals in such a way as not only to provide the necessary calories, proteins, minerals, vitamins, roughage and water, but to do so in such a way as to make them attractive, palatable, satisfying, digestible and economical.

The following rules may be helpful in planning the menu:
The whole day, or better still, the whole weak, should be regarded as the unit rather than each individual meal. Any deficiencies in one meal can be made up in the others.
The same food should not be served more than once in the same day without varying the form in which they are served. This does not apply to such staple food as milk, butter etc.
The same food should not be served twice in the same meal even in different form.
The color, form and texture of different courses should be varied as much as possible to avoid monotony. A soft food should be alternated with a crisp food that needs chewing; a bland food with a high seasoned one; cooked food with raw food and so on.
No meal should contain too great a concentration of any one type of nutrient, i.e., no meal should be predominantly protein and fat should be accompanied by carbohydrate at the same meal.
Serve the milk, dry fruits, cheese etc. in small quantities at each meal rather than concentrate them in one meal. In this way the body makes better use of their building material, particularly if accompanied by vegetable or cereal protein, e.g., pulses and oatmeal.
Decide upon the protein ingredients of the meal first; Next consider the protective materials such as the dairy foods, fruits and vegetables, and finally, sypply energy food such as bread, cereals, fats and sugar to satisfy appetite.