Sage Graduate School Dietetic Internship

Menu & Theme Meal Project

Outline & Point Distribution

Turn in the following items as part of your theme meal. Please include all required items in one word

document and upload to Moodle. Detailed instructions and description of each item can be found in

your handbook.

1. Discuss findings/reasons for proposed changes to the menu and justification of theme meal

chosen. Discuss proposed ideas/changes to menu with include ways to reduce waste and

protect the environment. [10 pts]

In Pali Momi Medical Center (PMMC), it has been using the same menus and recipes for years and

never had a chance to make any changes. Food and Nutrition Services at PMMC has been constantly

receiving negative feedbacks from both the patients and department staff regarding the taste of foods.

Although it did receive positive feedback from the patients, all the dietitians believed there was a need

to make changes and implement new elements and nutritious items into a brand new weekly menu.

As a new intern at PMMC, would be providing extra help for the staff by brainstorming ideas,

menu items, recipes, and analyzing all newly created recipes and food items that were intended or

decided to be placed on the new weekly menu. By working with the dietitians on creating new menus

and recipes for the patients, I have learned the skills to create and complete my weekly menu and

“theme meal” project that were nutritious, sustainable, and meet the local hospitals’ food and nutrition

standards and criteria, such as PMMC.

Creating a weekly menu and theme meal for a hospital was challenging. A meal, either for

breakfast, lunch or dinner, should not be only meant to fulfill its nutrition requirements for a patient,

but also needed to be realistic and implementable, tasty, diverse and sustainable, as well as

environmentally friendly and less waste production. To meet all these requirements, more local grown

foods and vegetable-based vegetarian options were incorporated into the new menu. Seasonal foods

from Hawaii were also considered and only appeared in the right seasons, in order to bring down the

budget and cost on some particular seasonal foods. Throughout the new one-week menu, a majority of

the items and elements were non-processed foods and contained fresh produce that were sustainable, as

well as less meat entrées compared to the generic hospital menus. 1

Although an alternative one-week menu was created, whether it was realistic and implementable, is

still depending on the clients/patients, especially when there were lots substituting of meat-based items

from vegetarian-based. To avoid overwhelming the patients who are already sick and not interested in

adopting vegetarian foods and diets, meat-based entree will still be considered as the primary entrée.

However, the vegetarian entrées or vegetable-based options would be served as a alternative/secondary

items on the menu. At least two entrée options were provided in every meal, one main entrée and one

alternative vegetarian entrée.

2. Newly developed 1- week menu (include all meals served by your facility for your

specified population. i.e. breakfast, lunch and dinner or if they only serve breakfast and

lunch then only include those two meals) and Theme Meal Menu. [20 pts]

See the following Page for:

Table 1: One Week Menu

Figure 1: Theme Meal Menu

Table 1: One Week Menu

*Vegetarian Theme Meal

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

Breakfast - Entrée 1

Vegetable Egg Scrambles

House- scrambled eggs

Vegetable Omelet Egg Soft Tacos

House- scrambled eggs

Cheesy Egg Scrambles

Denver Egg Scrambles

Meat Sausage links Bacon Spam Sausage links Ham Lil Smoky Sausage Corn Beef Hash

Starch Rice Biscuit Rice Hashbrown French toast Rice Pankcake

Garnish Orange Orange Orange Orange Orange Orange Orange

Lunch - Entrée 1

Roast Pork Gravy

Oyster Sauce Chicken Miso Fish Teriyaki Meatball

Kalua Pork & Cabbage Shoyu chicken Beef Stroganoff

Entrée 2 Zucchini Patties

Tofu-Vegetable Stir-Fry

Grilled Mixed Vegetables

Eggplant Parmesan with Black Beans

Spinach Mashroom Pizza

Pineapple Curry w/ Vegetable & Tofu*

Teriyaki-Tofu steak

Starch 1 Mashed Potato Chow Mein

Grilled Red Potato Pasta Chow Fun X Noodle

Starch 2 Rice Rice Rice Rice Rice Rice Rice

Veg Green Beans zucchini Yellow Squash Carrots Cauliflowers Peas Broccoli

Salad Toss Green Toss Green Toss Green Toss Green Toss Green Toss Green* Toss Green

Soup Minestrone Egg Drop Soup Corn Chowder Sweet Potato Vegetable Tomato and Basil

Chicken Rice Soup

Dessert Canned Peach Fruit Cup Gelatin Haupia Canned Pineapple Almond Dofu Applesauce

Garnish Parsley Sprig Parsley Sprig Parsley Sprig Parsley Sprig Parsley Sprig

Parsley Sprig/Green Onion Parsley Sprig

Dinner - Entrée 1

Teriyaki Baked Chicken Breast

Chinese Steamed Fish

Hamburger Steak

Parmesan Chicken Breast Beef Stew Baked Salmon

Herb Roasted Porkloin

Entrée 2 Vegetable Lasagna

Sauteed Spinach and beans

Caeser Salad w/ tofu

Fruit and Cottage Cheese Plate Potato Salad Vegetarian Pad Thai

Vegetable Adobo

Starch 1 Mashed potato Chow Mein Grilled Red Potato Pasta X Garlic Bread

Parsley Red Potato

Starch 2 Rice Rice Rice Rice Rice Rice Rice

Salad Toss Salad Toss Salad Toss Salad Toss Salad Toss Salad Toss Salad Toss Salad

Soup Corn Chowder Cream of Wild Mushroom

Portuguese Bean Italian Vegetable Beef Barley Egg Drop Soup

Turkey Rice Soup

Dessert Tapioca Pudding Cookie

Chocolate Pudding Strawberry Pies Banana Pudding Gelatin Brownies

Veg zucchini Green Beans Carrot Corn Lettuce yellow squash green peas

Garnish lemon slice lemon slice lemon slice lemon slice lemon slice lemon slice lemon slice

Vegetarian Entrée:

Tofu & Vegetable Pineapple Curry Regular - $6.49

2 Scoops Curry with 1 Scoop White/Brown Rice

Add 1 Scoop Vegetables

Mini - $4.99

1 Scoop Curry with 1 Scoop White/Brown Rice

Add 1 Scoop Vegetables

Ala Carte - $3.99

2 Scoops Curry

Figure 1: Theme Meal Menu

3. Nutrient analysis discussion (item # 5 in management handbook). 1-2 pages in length.

[Include all required components outlined in your handbook [20 pts]

Table 2: One Week Menu Nutrient Analysis

Kcal Pro (g) CHO (g) Sugar (g) Fiber (g) Total Fat (g) Sat Fat (g) Na (mg) K (mg) Phos (mg)

Sunday 1680.57 82.926 191.949 38.194 13.128 62.754 8.314 2283.48 2569.38 1924.23

Monday 1680.57 82.926 191.949 39.346 13.128 62.754 7.213 2283.48 2569.38 1924.23

Tuesday 1622.98 65.148 197.316 39.731 13.128 47.558 7.133 1858.87 2503.97 1557.44

Wednesday 1687.66 82.926 213.003 41.300 4.128 55.113 6.266 2297.67 2176.58 1586.41

Thursday 1630.89 69.787 253.029 45.302 13.965 39.534 4.930 1987.18 1830.09 1463.92

Friday 1499.73 74.898 207.216 40.721 12.735 49.072 6.360 1832.67 2308.11 1629.84

Saturday 1761.98 78.186 239.289 33.928 19.266 56.541 6.481 1744.40 3156.85 1621.77

Theme Meal: Pineapple Curry w/ Vegetable and Tofu

Ingredients: 10 cup Pineapple, 15 Cup tofu,

7 ½ cup Coconut milk, 5 oz Soy sauce,

5 oz Brown sugar, 5 oz White sugar,

5 oz Curry powder, 1 oz minced Ginger root,

1 oz Black pepper, 1 oz Cumin, 8 oz Cornstarch,

7 ½ oz Lime juice, 5 cup Water

10 lb mixed chopped Carrot, Green pepper, Red bell pepper, Cauliflower, Onion (2 lb each)

Serving size: 30 servings

Selling Price: $6.49

Table 3: Nutritional Value per Meal (data analysis based on food label and Nutritionist Pro)

Pineapple Curry w/ Vegetable and Tofu, serves w/ White Rice

Nutrition

Value

Thai Style Tofu and Vegetable Pineapple Curry

w/ White Rice

Kcal ~450 kcal

Protein ~15g

Carbs ~65g

Sugar ~20g

Total Fat ~15g

Saturated Fat ~10g

Cholesterol 0g

Sodium ~365mg

potassium ~400mg

Fiber ~6g

Calcium ~200mg

Phos ~130mg

Table 4: Nutritional Value per Meal (data analysis based on food label and Nutritionist Pro)

Shoyu Chicken Thigh (Skinned), serves w/ White Rice

Nutrition

Value

Shoyu Chicken (skinned)

w/ White Rice

Kcal ~550 kcal

Protein ~30g

Carbs ~45g

Sugar ~25g

Total Fat ~25g

Saturated Fat ~10g

Cholesterol ~200g

Sodium ~650mg

potassium ~400mg

Fiber ~2g

Calcium ~100mg

Phos ~250mg

Nutrient Analysis Discussion:

Table 2 summarized and determined the nutrient values provided for each day, including Kcal,

Protein, Carbs, Sugar, Fiber, Total Fat, Sat Fat, Sodium, Potassium and Phos. Nutritional values on

Food Labels were collected and inputted for Nutrient Analysis. When particular Items’ food labels

were missing or unavailable, Nutritionist Pro was the main source/program for accessing nutritional

information on those items. According to the results from the nutrient analysis, regular diet with regular

portion will provide for approximately1600 kcal per day with 60-80g protein. However, these

estimations were only based on patients selected for Entrée Option 1 for lunch and dinner or patients

who did not select an option (would automatically provide entrée 1 as the final choice). For the patients

who selected either one or both of their entrées as Entrée 2 (the vegetarian options), their energy intake

would still be about the same, whereas, protein intake was reduced to approximately 45-65 g per day.

As a result, they needed extra protein supplements depending on their protein requirements and disease

status.

Table 3 summarized the nutrition findings for the Theme Meal: Tofu & Vegetable Pineapple Curry,

including Kcal, Protein, Carbs, Sugar, Fiber, Total Fat, Sat Fat, Cholesterol, Calcium, Sodium,

Potassium and Phos. Table 4 analyzed the meal (Shoyu Chicken Thigh with Skin) served

simultaneously with the theme meal. The Shoyu chicken entrée contained higher calories and protein,

but also high in Fat, Sat fat, Cholesterol, Sodium, Phos and low in Fiber, which may not be suitable for

patients who have heart and/or renal disease. However, Shoyu Chicken is a very popular item in the

population which will be addressed in the later sessions (#8 and #9)

4. Inclusion of waste reduction and/or protection of the environment as part of your theme

meal: Discuss the aspect(s) you included, challenges encountered, was facility receptive,

costs incurred/saved, etc. [5 pts]

The director and the dietitians at PMMC are always trying to reduce food waste. One thing they

worked on reducing the food waste was decided to order pre-cut vegetables and fruits rather than

“whole” fruits and vegetables. Therefore, most vegetables and fruits ordered for the theme meal

preparation were pre-cut vegetables and fruits. The merits for ordering pre-cut vegetables are reducing

food waste and increasing edible portion (~100%) in the kitchen. However, it only meant that foods

were wasted before they even came in the hospital. Moreover, pre-cut vegetables and fruits required

labors and process works. As a result, the prices would be slightly higher than raw and non-prep.

products.

To truly reduce food waste and protect the environment, most ingredients used to make the theme

meal are locally grown fresh produce, such as pineapples grown in Mililani, Hawaii. Moreover, the

theme of the meal was “vegetarian”, which meant all the ingredients were non-meat items, protecting

the environment since livestock production somehow was more harmful and polluted to the ecosystem

than growing vegetables and fruits. Using fresh produces also fulfilled the sustainable rule, because

non-processed food often required less energy in different areas, such as processing, and packaging and

delivering, resulting in less consumption of natural resources and improving the sustainability in menu

developing. A theme meal should be nutritious and healthy, but also need to be tasty, implementable

and sustainable. 1

5. Any marketing materials/advertisements created for your theme meal. Also include

photos of your final product, display of food, decorations, etc. [10]

See the following Page for:

Figure 2: Theme Meal Advertisement

Figure 3: Theme Meal Recipe Advertisement

Vegetarian Theme: Let’s go Meatless Today!!

Pineapple Curry with Vegetable & Tofu Serve with White/Brown Rice “Full” of Ingredients

Pineapple, Tofu, Coconut milk, Olive oil, Curry, Carrot, Green pepper,

Broccoli, Red bell pepper, Cauliflower, Onion, Ginger Root, Cumin

Figure 2: Theme Meal Advertisement

Figu

Addition of

healthy

components

Cutting back on

salt, sugar and fat

by “CURRY”?

Hint of pineapple

sweetness and

natural flavor!

Price:

$6.49

Figure 3: Theme Meal Recipe Advertisement

6. Budget, Equipment order and Recipe Cost for Theme Meal [10]

Table 5: Budget for the Theme Meal Food

/Ingredients

Specifications

/Brand

Market unit

Size

Quantity

Needed

Market unit

Cost

Edible

portion (%)

Total Cost (price

per amount used)

Pineapple Local, diced/DOLE

6 cans/case 1 can $35.28/case 100% $5.88

Coconut milk Canned/Chaokoh

24 cans/case 5 can $32.78/case 100% $6.85

Carrot

Local, pre-cut (Julienne)/HPC Ltd. 2 lb/bag 2 lb $2.8/bag 100% $2.8

Green pepper

Local, pre-cut (Julienne)/HPC Ltd. 2 lb/bag 2 lb $3.4/bag 100% $3.4

Red Pepper

Local, pre-cut (Julienne)/HPC Ltd. 2 lb/bag 2 lb $4.65/bag 100% $4.65

Onion

Local, pre-cut (Julienne)/HPC Ltd. 2 lb/bag 2 lb $1.95/bag 100% $1.95

Cauliflower Local, pre-cut (Buds)/HPC Ltd.

2 lb/bag 2 lb $4.45/bag 100% $4.45

Soy sauce Local, Low Sodium/ALOHA 128 oz/bottle

4 bottles/case

5 oz $30.02/case 100% $0.30

Brown sugar Pure cane sugar/C&H 1 lb/box

24 boxes/case

5 oz $29.17/case 100% $0.40

White sugar Granulated/ C&H 50 lb/bag

5oz $23.33/bag 100% $0.15

Tofu Local, baked, diced/ 1 pack 8 pack

$1.813/pack 100% $14.504

Curry powder ground/ Durkee 17 oz/bottle 5 oz

$12.24/bottle 100% $3.60

Ginger root Local, minced/HFM 1 lb 1 oz

$1.84/lb ~98% $0.115

Black pepper Ground/Durkee 18 oz/bottle 1 oz

$16.21/bottle 100% $0.9

Cumin Ground/Durkee 15 oz/bottle 1 oz

$11.41/bottle 100% 0.76

Corn starch Pure, gluten free/ARGO 1 1b/box

24 boxes/case

8 oz $23.15/case 100% $0.48

Lime juice Local, bottle/HFM 32 oz/bottle 7 ½ oz

$4.074/bottle 100% $0.96

White rice Medium grain/ 50 lb/bag 8 lb

$26.67/bag ~98% $4.267

Total Cost ~$56/30 servings

Total Cost per meal: $1.9; Sell at $6.49; estimated ~30% food cost percentage.

Table 6: Equipment Order

Equipment

Standard cooking equipment available in kitchen supply

Table 7: Recipe Cost Ingredients Amount Purchase size Cast Cost Unit cost = Cast

Cost/Amt in Case

Total Cost =Amount x

Unit Cost

Pineapple

1 can 6 cans/case $35.28/case $5.88/can $5.88

Coconut milk

5 can 24 cans/case $32.78/case $1.37/can $6.85

Carrot

2 lb 2 lb/bag $2.8/bag $1.4/lb $2.8

Green pepper

2 lb 2 lb/bag $3.4/bag $1.7/lb $3.4

Red Pepper

2 lb 2 lb/bag $4.65/bag $2.33/lb $4.65

Onion

2 lb 2 lb/bag $1.95/bag $0.98/lb $1.95

Cauliflower

2 lb 2 lb/bag $4.45/bag $2.23/lb $4.45

Soy sauce

5 oz In Stock

Brown sugar

5 oz In Stock

White sugar

5oz In Stock

Tofu

8 pack

1 pack $1.813/pack $1.813/pack $14.504

Curry powder 5 oz

In Stock

Ginger root 1 oz

1 lb $1.84/lb $1.84/lb $0.115

Black pepper 1 oz

In Stock

Cumin 1 oz

In Stock

Corn starch

8 oz In Stock

Lime juice 7 ½ oz

32 oz/bottle $4.074 $0.13/oz $0.96

White rice 8 lb

50 lb/bag $26.67 $0.53/lb $4.267

Total ~$49.8/30 servings

Total Recipe Cost = $49.8

Total Recipe Cost/person = $1.66

7. Planning Schedule [2]

- Brought in required food items (not in stock) on 10/15/13 at 2 pm under Chef’s supervision.

- Pre-cut Tofu on 10/17/13 morning 1-hour prior to starting cooking.

- Scheduled with the AM Cook on 10/17/13 at 9:30 am to cook for 30 servings.

8. Any pre/post satisfaction surveys created and analysis of results in table format [3]

Figure 4: Theme Meal Survey Card

This Theme Meal Survey Card was developed and planned to implement on the Theme Meal

Day. However, PMMC has recently developed its own Customers Survey Card, Theme Meal Survey

was therefore never being used. Nevertheless, the result from Customers Survey Card was also not

available at that time. Data on the number of servings served throughout the day has become the sole

information for customers’ satisfactions and preferences.

Table 8: Analysis of Result Based on the Number of Servings sold

Lunch Entrée Total Servings Prepared Total Servings Sold

Competitor: Shoyu Chicken

60 servings All sold

Theme: Pineapple Curry w/ Vegetable

and Tofu

30 servings 25 servings

9. Summary/Individual reflection – details explained in items #11 & #12 in your

management handbook [20]

Based on the results, sixty servings of the Shoyu Chicken plate were sold, while a total of twenty-

five servings of the Theme Meal plate sold in the dining room. This indicated that customers tended to

choose Shoyu Chicken over the theme entrée Pineapple Curry with Vegetable and Tofu. However,

overweight and obesity have become a significant problem in the United States, often affecting long

term health. 2 In fact, weight management from balancing between the caloric intake and energy

expenditure was the main key to prevent becoming overweight and reduce obesity-related health

complications. Increasing the consumption of fruit and vegetable and reducing the intake of high

calorie/fat/sodium tended to be the indicators of healthy lifestyles and eating habits in the future.

Therefore, a vegetable- and fruit- based theme was created to promote healthy eating.

Creating a theme meal was challenging because I did not want to just simply go on the internet and

randomly pick a generic “healthy vegetarian” recipe. I wanted to create my own healthy recipe.

However, I am neither a vegetarian nor a chef. This gave me extra difficulties on figuring out how

vegetarians like their foods or how to promote more “omnivore” selecting vegetarian entrees over

meats. Therefore, I looked up many recipes online as references. Then, I developed my unique recipe

for pineapple curry with vegetable and tofu as the theme meal. Not only was the theme meal vegetarian

and low in calories, it also limited the sodium, total fat and saturated fat contents as well.

Other than the nutrition values, I considered several other factors such as the cost, the time and the

steps spent on cooking a dish. Therefore, the recipe that I have developed not only improved its

nutrition contents, but also kept the food cost as low as <30% and the recipe was very easy to

understand, and did not require any high level literacy.

“A good start is half way to success”

In the whole theme meal production, I developed the recipe; planed on the schedule with

corresponding staff; involved in the purchase/procurement of all required food items; last but not least,

I cooked with the cook/chef and decorated the foods on the plate as well as promoted and adverted this

vegetarian theme meal. Based to the results, a total of thirty-servings of Pineapple Curry w/ Vegetable

and Tofu were prepared, and a total 25 servings were sold. Making thirty-serving of Pineapple Curry

w/ Vegetable and Tofu required a total of $56 which is about $1.9 per serving. A total of $162.25

revenues were made from the 25 servings sold and a total of $106.25 profit. Although it did not make

as much money as the Shoyu chicken plate, at least it made profits.

According to the staff working at the kitchen, “most of the patients/visitors at PMMC were meat

eaters!” It created an “invisible wall” blocking the implementation of vegetarian entrees to the patients

and the visitors. On the other hand, I have also asked all the coworkers to test taste the pineapple curry.

However, their feedbacks were inconsistence, which some of them like it and some of them believed

there were improvements on the taste. Nevertheless, in my own point of view, when customer was

selecting their options, it was not about the taste of the theme meal itself because they have never taste

it yet. The main factors affected their selecting process were their past experience (whether they like

curry or not, and/or whether they like the shoyu chicken more, etc), or, if they like vegetarian entrees.

Therefore, promoting vegetarian entrees should neither be too fast nor too slow. It required that we take

a little step by step. If I have a chance to develop a theme meal again, I may still choose “vegetarian” as

the primary theme.

Reference:

1. Mary, B. G. Foodservice Organizations. A Managerial and Systems Approach. 8th. ed. The Menu.

2013

2. Mahan, L. K. Escott-Stump, S. & Raymond, J. Krause's Food & the Nutrition Care Process. 13th.

ed. Nutrition in Weight Management. W B Saunders Co. 2012.