Are your meals at the end of the month as good as they are at the beginning? Or do your food dollars run out before the month is over? Learning to plan your menus and shop only for what you need will help you have good food throughout the month. You will also save both money and time!

What You Will Learn!

• The six types of nutrients in foods and why they are important in the body.
• The six groups in the MyPyramid and why you should eat foods from each one.
• Tips to help you plan a healthy meal.

A sample seven-day menu also has been included, along with a shopping list, recipes for most foods on the menu and a list of common serving sizes for different foods.

What is Food? Why Do We Need It?

Food is made of six important nutrients.

Carbohydrate, protein and fat -- called macronutrients. (Macronutrients are nutrients needed in large amounts.)

Vitamins & minerals -- called micronutrients. (Micronutrients are nutrients needed in smaller amounts.)

Water -- Yes, water is a drink, but it is also in most foods. Your body needs water to live, so it is considered a nutrient. Fruit is a good example of a food that has lots of water in it. Water is what makes the fruit so juicy. The juicier a food is, the more water it contains.

Carbohydrates give you energy and are especially important for fueling your brain. Carbohydrates are found in most types of foods, except meats and pure fats (butter, oil). About half of your daily diet should come from carbohydrate.

Protein is found mostly in meats and dairy products. Protein is used to build your body parts. Cells, organs, tissues and muscles – all are made with protein. Most Americans have no problem getting their daily protein requirement, which is about 15 %-20 % of your daily diet.

Fats are not all bad! You need some fat to keep your body functioning. Fat helps your body use vitamins and minerals (the micronutrients) and provides you with extra energy. If a person does not use the extra energy, the body can store it as fat. You should eat fat in moderation – 30% or less of your total calories each day should come from fat. Many foods contain fat, so read the Nutrition Facts labels to see what you're getting!

Menu Planning with MyPyramid

Remember when everyone used the four food groups to plan a balanced diet? Now we use MyPyramid to help people follow a balanced diet consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

MyPyramid is a tool to help us get all the nutrients we need for good health. You can use the pyramid as a basis for planning healthy meals. Use more of the whole, unrefined foods in each group to plan your meals.

The pyramid is divided into six groups:

1. Grain Group

2. Vegetable Group

3. Fruit Group 

4. Milk Group

5. Meat and Beans Group

6. Oils

Let's Review Each Group

The Grains Group. This is the largest section of the pyramid -- so these foods should make up the largest part of your daily diet. It is suggested that you should eat between six to 11 servings of bread and grain products each day, which means you should have one to three servings with each meal or snack.

This may sound like a lot of bread, but it is easy to get six to 11 servings during the day. A bread or grain serving is:

• One slice of bread
• Half of a bun or bagel
• One-half cup of cooked cereal
• Three-fourths cup of dry cereal
• One-half cup of cooked noodles or rice

If you were to eat a sandwich for lunch, you would be eating two servings from the bread and grain group.

Vegetables are the next largest group on MyPyramid. You should eat from 2 to 2.5 cups of vegetables each day on a 2,000-calorie diet. This may be harder to do, especially for kids who do not like many vegetables, but they provide lots of good nutrients, so try to eat some each day.

A typical serving size is one-half cup of cooked vegetable or one cup of raw vegetable. Purchasing seasonal vegetables (and fruits) from the produce market can be a way to stretch your food dollars.

Fruits are in a separate category from vegetables in MyPyramid, and they make up the third largest group. It is recommended that you eat between two to two and a half cups of fruit each day to get all the important nutrients. A medium-size piece of fresh fruit provides one equivalent. So does one-half cup of canned fruit or half-cup of juice.

A person who drank some juice with breakfast, had an apple at lunch and one-half cup of peach slices with yogurt for a snack would meet all fruit requirements for the day.

Milk Group. Milk and dairy foods are important because they provide calcium, protein and other nutrients. Foods such as milk, ice cream, yogurt and cheese are included in this group.

Because some milk and dairy foods tend to be high in fat, you should try to eat the lower-fat varieties, such as 1% or skim milk, non-fat or low-fat yogurt and low-fat cheese. You should get two to three cups or its equivalent each day. Most people don't eat enough foods from the dairy group, our most important source of calcium. If you're pregnant or nursing, be sure to get three or more cups of this group daily. An equivalent from this group is one cup of milk or yogurt or one and one-half ounces of cheese.

Meat and Beans Group. Foods in this category are not all meats! Beans, nuts, eggs and peanut butter are called meat alternates because they contain high amounts of protein, like meats do.

It is recommended that we eat 7 to 8 equivalents daily. The equvalents are equal to:

• One ounce of cooked meat, poultry or fish
• One eggs
• One tablespoons of peanut butter
• One-fourth cup of cooked dry beans

This is also a food group that contains fat, so you should try to find lower-fat choices, such as beans, lean meats, skinless chicken or fish (including water-packed tuna fish).

Oils make up the smallest part! It is recommended that we get about 6 tablespoons of vegetable oils daily. Soft margarine, vegetable oils, mayonnaise and salad dressings all fall into this group, but you should also remember that there is fat, oil and or sugar in most meats, dairy foods and processed or prepackaged foods (such as muffins and cookies). Pay attention to what kinds of foods you eat and keep track of the amount of these nutrients that you are consuming.

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