How to make a menu layout: a sample

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Every hostess has to deal with the problem of compiling a menu. Everyone knows that buying groceries every day is a very expensive procedure. At the same time, you can easily collect a lot of excess in the supermarket. Of course, this will eventually affect the budget.

But before you go to the store, it is important to make a comprehensive 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. Having spent several hours once, you will get rid of painful arguments about what to cook for dinner. It will be enough to open ready-made schemes and choose one or two recipes from them.

Used by

Menu layout is widely used in all branches of public catering. These are canteens and buffets, snack bars and kindergartens. Each hostess can make a menu for the next week. This is also what the menu layout is for. Another area of practical application is hiking. It is essential to bring enough food with you to feed the group.

Menu layout allows you to plandishes to be prepared. Accordingly, it will be possible to calculate the number of products needed for each of them. As a result, it will be possible to make a general calculation.

Eating mode

This is the first thing to consider when you are laying out your menu. Proper nutrition contributes to the normal development of the child and the improvement of human he alth. 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 met.

• Human need for nutrients. It changes during the day, this must be remembered if you are compiling a menu of set meals or a daily menu.
• Number of people eating.
• Taste preferences.
• Age features.
• Cost of each meal.

As a result of the work done, a balanced, optimal nutrition will be obtained. The menu layout will allow you to make a list of products that you need and describe the recipes used. The hostesses note that such work greatly facilitates the task of preparing food for the family. If it concerns a canteen or cafe technologist, then 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 constituent components begins with the fact that you must come up with whatyou will cook. It is recommended to make a cycle for 5-7 days, to make more options in order to further diversify the menu, there is no point. You can immediately lay down holidays and especially significant days, the menu on 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 in a certain period of time. This will determine the amount of food you need.

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 parse 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, you need to plan a layout of dishes for three days. The menu will be repeated twice during this time.

Set of products for three different breakfasts

Buckwheat – 200 g	Rice – 200g	Oatmeal - 200g
Meat - 60g	Meat - 60g	Condensed cream – 40 g
S alt - 10g	S alt - 10g	Sausage – 80 g
Sunflower oil - 10g	Spices - 4g	Cheese – 50g
Dried vegetables – 20g	Butter – 60g	Bread - 100g
Butter – 60 g	Fresh vegetables– 100g	Tea - 80g
Crackers or bread - 100g	Sausage – 80 g	Sugar - 40g
Cocoa - 20g	Bread - 100g
Condensed cream – 40 g	Tea - 8g
Spices - 10g	Sugar - 40g

You can plan your lunch or dinner according to this principle. A sample menu layout will make this process a bit easier.

Let's make purchases

Now you need to determine how much food you need to prepare to feed four people for six days. For this you will need:

• Buckwheat – 800g
• Rice – 800 g.
• Oatmeal - 800g
• Meat - 480g
• Vegetables - 160g
• Sausage - 640 g.
• Butter – 120g
• Cheese - 100g
• Bread - 1 kg.
• Tea - 40 g.
• Cocoa - 80g
• Sugar - 240g
• Condensed cream – 320 g.
• S alt - 80g
• Spices - 16

From this you can already deduce the cost estimate required to purchase all the menu items. Now errors are eliminated when an excess amount of cereals or oil is purchased to the detriment of really needed products.

Layout according to all the rules

So far we have considered a simplified version. It can be used by every housewife in her kitchen. Drawing up a menu layout for catering requires more detailed disassemblyfood components. The main difference is that in this case it will be 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 independently adjust the menu for every day.

What will be required for this

You can't do without special tables, because you need initial data on what substances are contained in a particular product. Therefore, you will need:

• food calorie table;
• calculator;
• kitchen scale;
• notebook.

Consequently, 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 look 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 format your layout as a table. Excel is suitable for this. You will need to create several columns: a dish, a set of products, calorie content and useful substances 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 light. Avoid excess consumption of fats and carbohydrates. They lead to a sharp increase in blood sugar. As a result of this surgeactivity is replaced by fatigue and drowsiness. The morning meal is not to be missed. But don't eat too much. In this case, a strong feeling of hunger will wake up closer to dinner.

When compiling the menu layout, you need to consider that the morning meal should account for about 25% of the daily diet. When calculating, 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 get used to the second breakfast, which is best to include fruit.

Dinner menu

Nutritionists warn against eating too much 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 menu layout here is based on the fact that most often people come here to have a delicious dinner.

How to diversify the menu

The main tool will be the prepared menu layout. You need to prepare 3-7 options for a day so that you can choose the one that will be well suited for today. In addition, you can replace rice with barley groats, chicken with fish. Similarly, you can replace vegetables and fruits, drinks. This way you will increase the variability without completely redoing the whole work. By adding different desserts, even a frequently recurring menu can be brightened up.

Instead of a conclusion

Today there are many programs that can facilitate the task. In special calculators already incorporatedthe content of useful substances in a particular product per 100 g. You just have to 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 costing, then you need to do this manually.