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
- Cooking With Plant-Based Protein — Benefits, sources, and suggestions
- Meal Planning Tips for Caregivers — Considerations for weekly meal prep
- Stealth Health — Chef-inspired suggestions for nutrient-dense dining
- Tips for Reducing Sodium — Reduce sodium without reducing the flavor
- Purchasing Foodservice Software Guide — Considerations around nutrient analysis software and comparison of software
- Plant-Based Diets — Overview and types of plant-based diets
Fact Sheets
- Herbs & Spices Poster Sheets— Basics on using dried and fresh herbs and spices from the Institute of Child Nutrition (ICN)
- Eat Well, Age Well fact sheets from the Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging (GWaar)
Presentations
- Menu Planning: The Basics ican! Module— Understand OAA nutrition requirements, how to create menus, and how to identify food safety practices
Tools & Toolkits
- Recipe Standardization Guide for the Child and Adult Care Food Program— Comprehensive guide, from the Institute of Child Nutrition for senior nutrition programs, that describes recipe standardization techniques
- Considerations for Creating Menus — Walkthrough of initial considerations when creating menus
- American Indian Traditional Foods in USDA School Meals Programs— Toolkit from Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
- Introduction to Food Production and Service— Penn State resource with a section on menus and recipes
- Iowa Emergency Guide for Menu Planning — Nutrition Guidelines and two-week sample shelf-stable menu and grocery list
- Menu Creation Toolkit — Menu examples using Meal Patterns and MyPlate
- Mississippi Recipes for Success— Database of standardized quantity recipes from the Mississippi Department of Education
- Partnering with Food Service to Reduce Sodium— NNPHI and NRiA resource to help food service providers decrease sodium in the foods they serve
- Plan and Shop for Simple Healthy Meals — Example meals, grocery list, and tips from GWaar
- Salad Bar Guide — Frequently asked questions and examples of successful salad bar programs
- Salad Bar Guide: FAQ — Guide to help nutrition programs successfully launch salad bars
Recipes
- Nutrition and Aging Resource Center Recipe Collections on Pinterest
- Recipes and Cookbooks
- Hawai'i Foods— Nutrient database and recipes from the Hawai’i Nutrition Center
- Older Indians Title VI Gardens — Older Americans Act Title VI Gardens and Recipes website
- Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) Recipes— Links to recipes for foods provided by the FDPIR
- Asian Recipe Cookbook— SNAP-Ed and California Department of Public Health cookbook of popular Asian food recipes with 25% less sodium
- Lunar New Year Recipes— Healthy low-cost recipes from SNAP-Ed
- East Harlem Village Legacy Cookbook: Recipes From the Heart— American South and Caribbean recipes collected from the East Harlem Village Project
- 10 Tips Cookbook— Maine’s Eating Better on a Budget SNAPEd recipes
- Child and Adult Care Food Program Recipes— Standardized recipes from the Institute of Child Nutrition for the Child and Adult Care Food Program
- Cooking with Lentils— Links to recipes
- Fast, Healthy Meal Ideas— Recipes from GWaar
- MyPlate-Inspired Dishes from Around the World— Recipes from Eat Smart, Move More
- Nutrient Dense Desserts— Recipe and tips for making more nutritious desserts from GWaar
- Snack Healthy— Recipes and tips for healthy snacking from the Ohio Department of Aging
- Sweet Potato Custard— Recipe from GWaar
- When Delicious Meets Nutritious— Recipes for heart health from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
- Eating Well: Farmers' Market Recipes— Recipe book from the Ohio Department of Aging (available in multiple languages)
- Eat Well, Age Well Cookbook, volume 1— Healthy recipes for home cooking from GWaar
- Everyone Eats Community Cookbook— Buy Fresh Buy Local Cape Cod (BFBLCC) and Cape Cod Cooperative Extension resource available in two versions: English and Portuguese or English and Haitian Creole
- Videos
- Video Recipes (YouTube)— Collection of recipe and food prep how-to videos from GWaar, American Heart Association, and MyPlate Kitchen
- Traditional Unangax^ Foods Nutritional Labels (YouTube)— Short animated videos for nutrition facts on traditional foods by Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association
- USDA Indigenous Food Sovereignty Initiative— American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) indigenous food cooking videos, recipes, foraging videos, and more
- Cooking with NYC Aging— Healthy recipes and cooking demo recordings in English, Chinese, Spanish, Russian, and Korean