Meal Planning Guide

Use this Meal Planning Guide on the bottom of this page to plan meals for one week. Determine how many servings from each food group on the Pyramid it provides each day. There's a place at the bottom of the guide for you to do this. As you plan, think of ways to incorporate sale items into your meals, also ways of storing and using leftovers.

Eat a Variety of Foods

Choose the recommended number of servings of foods from each different food group daily. Learn what a serving size is. Examples of serving sizes within each food group are given.

Vegetables 1 to 4 cups  1/2 cup cooked or raw 1 cup leafy greens 1/2 cup vegetable juice

Fruits 1 to 2.5 cups 1medium fruit 1/2 cup canned, fresh or frozen fruit  1/2 cup juice 1/4 cup dried

Milk 2 to 3 cups 1 cup milk or yogurt 1 ½ ounces cheese

Grains 3 to 10  equivalents 1/2 cup pasta or rice 1 slice bread 1/2 bagel

Meats 2 to 7 equivalents 1 ounce of cooked meat, poultry or fish 1 egg 1/2 cup cooked dry beans 1 Tbsp peanut butter

Use The Thrifty Food Plan, 2005

The Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) is a fundamental part of the U.S. food guidance system. It provides a healthful and minimal cost meal plan to show how to have a nutritious diet using a modest budget or food stamp benefits. It is possible to obtain a healthful diet meeting current nutritional standards at a constant real cost. The Thrifty Food Plan has been revised to reflect current dietary recommendations, food consumption patterns, food composition data and food prices while maintaining the cost at the level of the previous baskets.

The cost of the Thrifty Food Plan food or market basket for what is termed "the TFP reference family" (male and female ages 20 to 50, and two children ages 6 to 8 and 9 to 11) was $102.50 per week in 2005. The TFP is one of four official USDA food plans (the others being the Low-Cost Plan, the Moderate-Cost Plan and the Liberal Plan maintained by the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion). The TFP market baskets specify the type and quantity of foods that people could consume at home to obtain a nutritious diet at minimal cost. There are 12 market baskets for 12 specific age-sex or gender groups.

Learn more about the Thrifty Food Plan by visiting the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion's Web site. Click on the USDA Food Plans. After that, click on two other sections - Official USDA Food Plans and Cost of Food at Home at 4 Levels.