Food and Health Guidelines - Torfaen Family Information Service

6. Menu Planning
Involving children and
parents in planning
menus
When planning menus it is good practice to
discuss the food likes and dislikes of children
with parents so that the menu plan can
be altered accordingly. Children’s cultural
background has to be respected and any
special dietary requirements should be taken
into account.
Children should be encouraged to try
different food tastes on a regular basis.
However, they may not accept meals
containing too many different or new flavours
so try and introduce new tastes to your menu,
one at a time.
If children have made suggestions for the
menu it will give them a sense of pride and
may also encourage them to eat.
Healthy cooking guidelines
• Home-made dishes will generally be
healthier than ready meals because you
can select your ingredients carefully and
the salt content is likely to be lower.
• Uses of salt - avoid adding salt in cooking
and at the table. Restrict the use of packet
soups, stock cubes, packet sauces and
other processed foods as they often have
a high salt content. A high salt intake is
linked to high blood pressure later on
in life.
• Use of fats - use monounsaturated
oils (rapeseed/canola/olive) or
polyunsaturated oils (sunflower/ safflower)
in cooking, but try not to fry foods more
than once a week. Bake or grill rather than
frying or roasting.
Purchasing Food Ingredients
Getting a balance between ‘value for
money’ and providing ‘quality’ food
can be a challenge. When buying food
consider the following:
• Pasta, rice and bread are economical;
as are eggs, pulses and tinned fish.
Lean meat is often better value than
cheaper fattier varieties.
• Check the list of ingredients - the longer
the list, the poorer the quality in general.
• The ingredient list on food labels starts
with the main ingredient and is in
weight order.
• Compare foods and choose those that
are lower in salt or sugar.
• If salt, sugar, or additives come high on
the list it may be best to avoid.
• ‘Value food’ may not be good value if
it is not acceptable to children or not
good nutritionally.
• Sugar may appear on labels under
different names: sucrose, maltose,
lactose, dextrose, fructose, glucose,
glucose syrup, xylitol, sorbitol, mannitol,
raw sugar, brown sugar, molasses,
and honey.
For advice on understanding food labels
refer to the leaflet, ‘Food using traffic
lights to make healthier choices’.
(See section 10)
• Trim visible fat from meat and skin from
poultry before cooking.
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