Now that you know what foods your child should be eating on a daily basis, it's a good idea to try your hand at menu planning. Planning and shopping for a week's worth of meals will save you money and time and reduce the chance of impulse eating.

The best strategy is to see a registered dietitian (RD) first for guidance in setting your daily goals. If you haven't yet seen an RD or are waiting for your appointment, you can still do some general planning. Sit down and make a list of your family's favorites and those new dishes you'd like to try, and then consider how they fit within the food pyramid's daily serving guidelines. What sides can you add or substitutions can you make to bulk up the nutrient value? Remember that some foods may meet multiple requirements. For example, a soft taco fulfills servings in the grain, meat, vegetable, and dairy (if it includes cheese) groups. It's also a good idea to have your child's monthly hot-lunch schedule on hand if she eats at the cafeteria occasionally.

Once you have one day of a pyramid-friendly menu sketched out, see how it fits within the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and your child's calorie requirements. Remember that for each day, total fat should not exceed 30 percent of calories, and no more than 10 percent of that should be saturated fat. Total carbohydrates should not exceed 60 percent of calories, and total protein should not exceed 10 percent of calories. Don't forget to leave some leeway for healthy snacks, too. Then repeat the whole process for each day of the week.

Think about your family's schedule when deciding what meals to serve on what days. Extracurricular activities, appointments, and meetings at work may influence what you have and when you have it. It's also a good idea to have a few minimal muss-and-fuss options as backups should your schedule not go according to plan. Chapter 20 has tips for making the most of your money when menu-planning and food-shopping.

Consulting with a Dietitian

A family consultation with a registered dietitian (RD) is one of the best investments you can make in terms of your family's health. In addition to offering the latest nutrition education, an RD can help you with customized menu-planning strategies that fit your lifestyle and health goals and will appeal to a picky child or teen. For information on finding an RD, see Chapter 7.

Cookbooks, Software, and More

Even if you don't much like cooking, it will pay to stop by your local library or bookstore. Pick out several cookbooks with tasty-sounding recipes to add variety to your preparation of new dietary staples like fruits and veggies. The only requirements are that the recipes provide nutritional analysis, meet the needs of your family based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, use obtainable ingredients, and require a realistic amount of prep time for your lifestyle needs.

A printed guide that offers nutritional information on foods is also invaluable. Although the information is available for free online from the USDA, the published versions are much more manageable, portable, and readable. They frequently offer extra information on nutrients and cooking that makes them worth the extra dollars. Additionally, a growing number of chain restaurants are offering nutritional information on menu items either at their restaurants, online at company Web sites, or by request from corporate headquarters.

If there's a chef in your family, you may want to invest in a software program that offers nutritional analysis of a dish or an entire menu based on the recipes you use, such as AccuChef (Sivart), MasterCook ( ValuSoft ), The Living Cookbook (Radium Technologies), and Cook'n Software (DVO Enterprises). Many software packages have advanced features like scaling recipe yield for big crowds or small meals, generating an automatic shopping list, and long-term menu planning.