Menu Planning for Picky Preschool EatersWritten by Nicole Brekelbaum
Create nutritional menus that kids can enjoy using these quick tips. Sort Foods into Five Main Groups: Start by creating a list of foods that you would like to serve to your child. For each food listed try to sort it into a Milk, Bread, Fruit, Vegetable, or Meat group. These are main food groups identified by USDA’s Child and Adult Care Food Program. Place yogurt, for instance, in milk group, pancakes and enriched tortilla in bread group and eggs and beef in meat group. Choose foods carefully to ensure a variety of tastes, textures, and colors. Create a menu for each meal serving: So you have in mind three main meals per day consisting of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Try to understand that some preschoolers may just eat two meals a day, sometimes eating a light dinner or skipping dinner altogether. There is no need to worry if your child eats everything on his plate. Over course of week variety of foods he eats will supply him with nutrients he needs. Referencing your food list again, create a breakfast menu. Choose a bread, milk, and fruit/vegetable item from your food list such as pancake, milk, and peaches. Presto! You have just created your first breakfast menu. For lunch choose a bread, milk, meat and two fruit /vegetable foods. For example milk, meatballs, tomato sauce (vegetable equivalent), spaghetti (bread equivalent)and banana. Do same for dinner. If want your child to try new foods, place an old favorite in mix to encourage his taste buds. Here is a sample weekly menu with a breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snack. | Sample Menu | | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Breakfast | Milk, Orange Juice, Cereal | Milk, Apples, Toast | Milk, Pancake, Bananas | Milk, Orange Juice, Cereal | Milk, Bananas, Toast | Milk, Cereal, Orange Juice | Lunch | Milk, Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, Bananas, Apples | Milk, Turkey, Bread, Apples, Bananas | Milk, Chicken, Macaroni, Beans, Pineapples | Milk, Chicken, Bread, Corn, Potato | Milk, Fish Sticks, Beans, Potato, Bread | Milk, Ham, Bread, Corn, Banana | Afternoon Snack | Yogurt, Bananas | Orange Juice, Cheese Crackers | Yogurt, Peaches | Orange Juice, Crackers | Orange Juice, Crackers | Fruit Juice, Crackers | |
| | How To Avoid Scam Artist When Donating To Tsunami Relief Written by Richard A. Chapo
Millions of people have shown their true character by making cash donations to charitable groups providing relief to those devastated by Tsunami. While your actions are a shining example of best traits of people, a few unsavory groups are trying to make a profit off of tragedy. You can avoid these scam artists by taking a few simple steps. Charitable organizations rely on tax- deductible contributions as their primary funding source. Before an organization can offer benefit of a tax deduction for donations, it must be classified as such by Internal Revenue Service. The process is arduous and effectively acts as an informal investigation of legitimacy of charitable organization in question. Fortunately, IRS makes this information available to public. You can check legitimacy of a charitable organization by either contacting IRS or accessing agency list of charitable organizations on Internet as follows: IRS Customer Service: 1-800-829-1040 http://apps.irs.gov/app/pub78 The above link to IRS takes you to a page where you can conduct a publication 78 search. Publication 78 is a list of all charitable organizations that have qualified for tax-exempt status with IRS. Scam artist and unsavory characters are not going to be listed with IRS. If organization you are considering does not appear in Publication 78, you may wish to consider another organization that is on list. E-mail Scams You should be cautious if you receive an e-mail requesting money for relief effort. The e-mail may not be from a legitimate organization. Fraudulent e-mail campaigns are at an unbelievable level. If you are determined to make a contribution because of an e-mail you received, make sure that you check out organization with IRS as indicated above.
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