Menus & Recipes
Well-planned menus can help participants get the nutrients they need, keep chronic conditions under control, and so much more. New ingredients and flavors may encourage participants to expand their palettes and enjoy a wider variety of foods, while familiar ones can spark a feeling of nostalgia and create a sense of belonging. Discover new recipes and spark inspiration for your program’s menu.
Quick Guides
- Culinary Enhancements — Simple techniques to elevate food (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center, 2023)
- Cooking With Plant-Based Protein — Benefits, sources, and suggestions (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center)
- Meal Planning Tips for Caregivers — Considerations for weekly meal prep
- Stealth Health — Chef-inspired suggestions for nutrient-dense dining (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center)
- Tips for Reducing Sodium — Reduce sodium without reducing the flavor (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center)
- Purchasing Foodservice Software Guide — Considerations around nutrient analysis software and comparison of software (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center)
- Plant-Based Diets — Overview and types of plant-based diets (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center, 2022)
Fact Sheets
- Herbs & Spices Poster Sheets— Basics on using dried and fresh herbs and spices (Institute of Child Nutrition)
- Eat Well, Age Well fact sheets (Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging)
- Chia Seeds(2019)
- Protein Breakfast Foods 2019)
- Healthy Breakfast(2019)
- Eggcellent(2019)
- Benefits of Slow Cookers(2022)
- Healthy Holiday Eating(2021)
- Salt Free Cooking, Spice it Up!(2022)
Tools & Toolkits
- Recipe Standardization Guide for the Child and Adult Care Food Program— Comprehensive guide that describes recipe standardization techniques (Institute of Child Nutrition)
- Considerations for Creating Menus — Walkthrough of initial considerations when creating menus (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center)
- Introduction to Food Production and Service—Resource with a section on menus and recipes (Egan, 2015)
- Iowa Emergency Guide for Menu Planning — Nutrition guidelines and two-week sample shelf-stable menu and grocery list (Iowa Department of Health and Human Services)
- Menu Creation Toolkit — Menu examples using meal patterns and MyPlate (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center)
- Mississippi Recipes for Success— Database of standardized quantity recipes (Mississippi Department of Education)
- Partnering with Food Service to Reduce Sodium— Resource to help food service providers decrease sodium in the foods they serve (National Network of Public Health Institutes and Health Resources in Action)
- Salad Bar Guide — Frequently asked questions and examples of successful salad bar programs (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center)
- Salad Bar Guide: FAQ — Guide to help nutrition programs successfully launch salad bars (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center
- Healthy, Thrifty, Holiday Menus— Recipe ideas for holidays throughout the year (USDA)
Recipes
- Nutrition and Aging Resource Center Recipe Collections on Pinterest
- Recipes and Cookbooks
- Hawai'i Foods— Nutrient database and recipes (Hawai’i Nutrition Center)
- Older Indians Title VI Gardens — Older Americans Act Title VI Gardens and Recipes website (The Office for American Indian, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian Programs)
- Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) Recipes— Links to recipes for foods (USDA)
- Lunar New Year Recipes— Healthy low-cost recipes (USDA)
- East Harlem Village Legacy Cookbook: Recipes From the Heart— American South and Caribbean recipes collected from the East Harlem Village Project (Public Health Solutions, 2022)
- 10 Tips Cookbook— Maine’s Eating Healthy on a Budget recipes (Maine SNAP-Ed, 2022)
- Child and Adult Care Food Program Recipes— Standardized recipes (Institute of Child Nutrition)
- Cooking with Lentils— Links to recipes (Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, 2021)
- Fast, Healthy Meal Ideas— Recipes (Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resource, 2019)
- Nutrient Dense Desserts— Recipe and tips for making more nutritious desserts (Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resource, 2019)
- Snack Healthy— Recipes and tips for healthy snacking (Ohio Department of Aging)
- Sweet Potato Custard— Recipe (Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources and University of Wisconsin-Stout, 2019)
- When Delicious Meets Nutritious— Recipes for heart health (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 2015)
- Eating Well: Farmers' Market Recipes— Recipe book available in multiple languages (Ohio Department of Aging)
- Eat Well, Age Well Cookbook, Volume 1— Healthy recipes for home cooking (Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources and University of Wisconsin-Stout, 2020)
- Everyone Eats Community Cookbook— Resource available in two versions: English and Portuguese or English and Haitian Creole (Buy Fresh Buy Local Cape Cod and Cape Cod Cooperative Extension, 2021)
- Videos
- Video Recipes (YouTube)— Collection of recipe and food prep how-to videos from Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources, American Heart Association, and MyPlate Kitchen (Nutrition and Aging Resource Center)
- Traditional Unangax^ Foods Nutritional Labels (YouTube)— Short animated videos for nutrition facts on traditional foods (Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, 2022)
- USDA Indigenous Food Sovereignty Initiative— American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) indigenous food cooking videos, recipes, foraging videos, and more (USDA)
- Cooking with NYC Aging— Healthy recipes and cooking demo recordings in English, Chinese, Spanish, Russian, and Korean (New York City Department for the Aging)