Assess a long day care menu

How to:

Use FoodChecker to plan healthy menus according to the Victorian Menu planning guidelines for long day care. You can review one week of your menu at a time.

After entering all of the foods and drinks that you provide, you will get instant results on screen, and a PDF report to download and save. Your report will contain feedback on where your menu is doing well, and provides recommendations for healthy changes.

We recommend that you learn more about the Victorian Menu planning guidelines for long day care before using FoodChecker. We have provided a summary here.

What to enter in a FoodChecker long day care menu assessment

Meal time

What to include

Breakfast

INCLUDE all foods and drinks that you provide at breakfast time. 

Morning tea
+
Lunch
+
Afternoon tea

INCLUDE all foods that you provide at morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea.

DO NOT INCLUDE any drinks that you serve at morning tea, lunch or afternoon tea.
Enter these in the ‘Drinks’ category instead.

Late snack

INCLUDE all foods and drinks that you provide as a late snack.

Drinks

INCLUDE all drinks that you provide with morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.

 

Instructions

Before you begin an assessment, we suggest you have the details of every recipe, food and drink provided on the menu, including each ingredient, and exact quantities. We recommend measuring weight in grams or kilograms, and measuring volume in teaspoon, tablespoon, millilitres or litres).

 

Start new assessment

  1. Sign in
  2. Click START NEW ASSESSMENT.
  3. Select the organisation type you want to assess (Victoria - Long day care)
  4. Select “Assess one week”.
  5. Select the organisation to assess, and confirm the details
  6. Enter a name for the menu (eg, “Summer Week 1”), and enter the number of children the menu caters for each day, then click SUBMIT.
  7. In assessment screen, click ADD ITEM.
  8. Select the time of day it appears on the menu. A pop up box will appear.
  9. Enter the recipe or item name, such as “Chicken stir fry” or “Apples”.
  10. Select “Day of the week” if asked, and answer any other questions on screen.
  11. Start typing the first ingredient. A list of matching options will appear. Click on the option that best matches your ingredient. You can type a little or lot of the name. For example, “chick”, “chicken”, “thigh” or “chicken thigh”. 
    NOTE: use generic item names only, not brand names. Eg, enter “wholemeal bread”, not “Tip Top wholemeal bread”. 
  12. Enter the amount and unit of measurement.
    For example for 500g type “500”, then select “Grams” from the list. For 6 apples type “6”, then select “Whole” from the list.
  13. To add another ingredient, click ADD MORE INGREDIENTS and repeat the steps above.
    NOTE: Include all condiments, seasoning or finishes used in the recipe, including salt, sugar and oils/butter.
    TIP: Click SAVE TO RECIPE BANK to store this recipe/item for future menus.
  14. Once you have entered all the ingredients, click ADD TO ASSESSMENT.

To add a saved recipe or use a recipe template

  1. Click RECIPE TEMPLATES or MY RECIPE BANK.
  2. Find the recipe you want, click ADD.
  3. A recipe will appear and you can edit the name, day, mealtime, ingredients and quantities.
  4. Click ADD TO ASSESSMENT when finished.

To finish assessment

  1. Continue adding foods and drinks until your menu is complete, then click NEXT OR FINISH ASSESSMENT. 
  2. (One week assessments only: Answer a few more questions on the next page and click FINISH ASSESSMENT.)
  3. Your results summary will appear on screen. 
  4. Click SAVE ASSESSMENT AS PDF view the details results, and  save a copy of this report.

 

If you require any assistance, click here to contact us.