Purpose

This article walks through how to create a meal plan.

Process

Navigate to the New Meal Plan Page

1. Click the + New meal plan button at the bottom-right of the Meal Planning Dashboard to go to the New Meal Plan page.
   
2. Here, the default is 1 week, 7 days, and 3 meal services.
   
   

Rename Days or Meal Services

Click the pencil icon in the upper-right, then click RENAME to rename the days or the meal services.

• Example - Can rename Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 to Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. 
  
  
• If there is no service on a certain day, please do not delete the day. Instead, rename days that aren't in service to something like N/A or not applicable.
  
  
• Any renaming should occur prior to adding on any additional weeks, because then the renaming carries over to the next week.
  Otherwise, the renaming process would need to be done for each individual week.
  
  
• There is no limit to the number of weeks that can be added, but on average, meal plans tend to run 4-6 weeks.

When finished, click the Finish Editing button at the center of the screen to save changes.

Delete a Meal Service

To delete a meal service:

1. Click the pencil icon in the upper-right, then click DELETE.
   
   
2. From here, click on the desired meal service to delete. It'll ask you if you're sure. If sure, click Yes, Delete.
   
   
3. Then click Finish Deletion in the center of the screen once finished to finalize changes.
   
   

Add New Meal Service

To add an additional meal service, click + Add New Meal Service in the bottom-right of the New/Edit Meal Plan page. 

The default is 3 meal services - Breakfast/Lunch/Supper, but adding an additional meal service, like Brunch for example, can be done through the Add New Meal Service functionality.

Add Dishes / Recipes to a Meal Plan

1. Click Add New Section on the desired day to add the recipe for.
   
2. Here, a pop-up window will appear with the option to select Everyone receives or Options.
   
   
   
   1. Everyone Receives: To be used for items that every diner will receive.
      
      
   2. Options: To be used for optional items that diners can choose from.
      
      
   3. Ultimately, if there is no choice, set it as everyone receives. If there is a choice, set it as Options. These are key for the calculations as to how the software works with nutrition and costs.
      
      
3. Once a selection is chosen, type a title for the Section, and click Save.
   
   
4. After Adding a new section, the section title will display on the day the section was created for, and a + button will now appear.
   
5. Clicking that + button will pull through all the recipes that are available to add.
   
   
6. On the lefthand column of this page, there are various search filters to search for recipes. The search can be filtered by any of the following criteria:
   
   
   1. name
   2. List
   3. Menus
   4. Without allergens
   5. Dietary Requirements
   6. Medical Requirements
   7. Nutritional Preferences
   8. Cost
      
   Once the desired search criteria has been set, click the Search button to search through all the recipes matching the scope of the search.
   
   Clicking on the info sign in the upper-right of the recipe will open up the recipe spec sheet.
   
   
7. To then add the recipe to a meal plan, click on the recipe (Ex. Porridge) to show a plus sign next to the section it can be added to. Click the plus sign to add the recipe to that section.
   
8. The plus sign will then turn into a checkmark, confirming the recipe has been added. Once all of the desired items are selected, click Back to edit meal plan in the bottom-right. This will navigate back to the New/Edit Meal Plan page, showing the recipe in the section.
   
   
9. From here, click on the section to edit it. If desired, click the Copy button to copy the section across multiple days.
   
   
10. Repeat this process for any other sections that may be desired to add for different days.
    
    

Set Nutrition Targets

1. Clicking the Nutrition widget towards the bottom of the New/Edit Meal Plan page.
   
2. Click the Edit targets button to open a window, where there is the option to change and set the sliders/checkboxes to the desired selections.
   
   
   1. The Key Target and Enabled checkboxes sets the traffic light colors in and around the dials.
      
      
3. Once finished, click the Save button to save changes, or the Cancel button to not make any changes. Either one will navigate back to the New/Edit Meal Plan page.
   
   

Set Cost Targets

1. Click the Cost widget towards the bottom of the New/Edit Meal Plan page.
   
2. Click the Edit targets button to open a window, where there is the option to change and set the costs/checkboxes to the desired selections.
   
3. Once finished, click the Save button to save changes, or the Cancel button to not make any changes. Either one will navigate back to the Edit Meal page.
   
   

Save Meal Plan

Once the meal plan is set as desired, click on Save as draft at the bottom, then rename if desired, and click the Save button to save changes.

This will then navigate back to the Meal Planning Dashboard with the new meal plan now visible under the Saved Meal Plans section.

Make the Meal Plan Active

Once the meal plan is created as desired, it can then become active. For information on how to make a meal plan active, please visit the How to Make a Meal Plan Active Guide.

Delete Meal Plan

From the New/Edit Meal Plan page, click the Delete meal plan button at the bottom of the page. A pop-up will appear, asking if you are sure. To proceed with deletion, click Yes, Delete to confirm or Cancel to go back.

Once deleted, the meal plan is permanently removed from the software and there is no way to recover.