Menu Planning Tools

Girl eating lunch at school Tools for School Food Service

Planning menus for your school or district? View these helpful resources!


Boy eating at child care Tools for Child Care Providers

These menu planning tools were specifically created for child care providers in homes or centers.


Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs

USDA. FNS. Team Nutrition.

This tool will help you buy the right amount of food most economically. It will help you determine the specific contribution each food makes toward the meal pattern requirements.


Food Buying Guide Calculator for Child Nutrition Programs

National Food Service Management Institute; Team Nutrition

NFSMI and Team Nutrition have developed an online calculator to be used with the USDA Food Buying Guide (FBG). The interactive and simple to use calculator allows child nutrition professionals to build shopping lists of foods from the FBG and determine how much of each item to purchase to provide enough servings for the children in their program.


Healthy Cuisine for Kids

National Food Service Management Institute.

A hands-on training program designed for food service staff to be presented by the manager or other trainer. Focus is on the development of culinary techniques that support the implementation of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.