NS410 Unit 7 Menu and Session Plan Example

Seventy-Five Minutes and One Burner: A Unit 7 Menu and Session Plan for Family Table

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

NS410: Integrative Nutrition Planning and Management

Unit 7 Menu and Session Plan

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The program, the kitchen and the session are composite; the dietary guidelines, the food code and the choking policy statement cited are real.

The Menu as Six Frames

After the Unit 6 seminar, the menu was rebuilt around methods rather than fixed recipes, because the pantry cannot choose what the food bank's Thursday truck brings. A frame pairs a constant base and a single-burner technique with whichever listed vegetables happen to arrive. Every frame works on one burner or in one skillet, since roughly two in five parents surveyed in Unit 2 could not use an oven at home. Three frames build on dishes focus group parents already cook.

1. Session 1: black bean and vegetable skillet with warm tortillas. Fits zucchini, peppers, cabbage, sweet potato, greens.

2. Session 2: one-pot vegetable soup with lentils. Fits squash, carrots, potatoes, celery, tomatoes.

3. Session 3: egg and vegetable scramble. Fits spinach, peppers, onions, mushrooms, broccoli.

4. Session 4: rice and vegetable stir-fry. Fits cabbage, carrots, green beans, bok choy, eggplant.

5. Session 5: no-cook slaw and bean salad. Fits cabbage, carrots, kohlrabi, cucumber, apples.

6. Session 6: chicken or bean and vegetable stew. Fits winter squash, potatoes, turnips, greens.

Each frame keeps half the plate as vegetables and fruit, beans or eggs as the protein, and a whole grain where the pantry stocks one, in line with the federal dietary guidelines (U.S. Department of Agriculture & U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2020). The dietitian analyzed the base of each frame for energy, sodium and fiber per serving, with the vegetable given as a range.

Why the First Session Uses the Skillet Frame

The first session teaches the frame most families can use most often. The black bean skillet needs one pan and no oven, takes about 20 minutes, uses canned beans the pantry always stocks, and works with almost any vegetable on the truck. Tortillas were named by several parents as a food they already buy, so the dish starts from something familiar.

Session Plan: Black Bean and Vegetable Skillet

The session runs from 10:00 to 11:15 in the church kitchen upstairs. Twenty households attend, each with one adult cooking. Children go to the childcare room next door.

1. 9:15 to 9:55, setup. The coordinator and cook set five cooking stations, each with a burner, skillet, cutting boards and the produce from Thursday. Volunteers fill 20 take-home bags.

2. 10:00 to 10:10, welcome. The coordinator greets families by name, collects sign-ins and hands each adult a recipe card in English or Spanish. The interpreter stands beside the coordinator.

3. 10:10 to 10:20, handwashing and knife safety. The cook shows handwashing and a safe grip, and families wash hands before touching food, as the food code requires of anyone preparing food (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2022).

4. 10:20 to 10:35, demonstration. The cook dices an onion, a pepper and a zucchini, then shows the same cuts on a sweet potato to prove the frame works with a harder vegetable that needs a lid and a splash of water.

5. 10:35 to 10:55, families cook. Four families share each station and cook one skillet together. Volunteers move between stations.

6. 10:55 to 11:05, tasting and toddler portions.

7. 11:05 to 11:15, take-home bags and close.

The demonstration deliberately cooks the dish twice with two different vegetables, because the skill the session teaches is the method, not the recipe.

Tasting and Toddler Portions

During tasting, the dietitian or the extension educator shows how to make the skillet safe for a child under three. Beans are mashed lightly, vegetables are cooked until soft, and pieces are cut no larger than half an inch. Round, firm foods such as whole beans for very young children are named as a choking risk, following the pediatric guidance on choking prevention (Committee on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention, 2010). Parents practice cutting one portion and take a picture card home.

The Take-Home Bag

Each bag holds what a family needs to cook the dish again within the week: two cans of black beans, a package of tortillas, an onion, a small bottle of oil, a packet of cumin and garlic powder, and the recipe card. Fresh vegetables come from the pantry's regular distribution, so families choose the vegetable they will use. The coordinator reminds families that any vegetable on the card will work.

Roles During the Session

The coordinator leads the welcome, keeps time and handles the referral list. The cook leads the demonstration and supervises the stove at each station. The interpreter repeats each instruction and answers questions. Four volunteers manage stations, restock and cleanup.

If Something Goes Wrong

If the Thursday truck brings little fresh produce, the cook uses frozen mixed vegetables from the pantry shelves, which keeps the frame intact. If fewer than ten families arrive, the stations are combined so each family still cooks. If a burner fails, two stations share one, and the cook demonstrates the second batch.

References

Committee on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention. (2010). Prevention of choking among children. Pediatrics, 125(3), 601-607. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2009-2862

U.S. Department of Agriculture & U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2020). Dietary guidelines for Americans, 2020-2025 (9th ed.). https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov

U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2022). Food Code 2022. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://www.fda.gov/food/fda-food-code/food-code-2022