2.6 Cooking: Preparing a Balanced Meal

• Factors to consider in preparing a balanced meal: age, health status, occasion and gender
• Planning and cooking a balanced meal with proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals
• Serving styles: family service and blue-plate service
• Kenyan balanced menus such as ugali with sukuma and omena, githeri, chapati with beans

• explain factors to consider in preparing a balanced meal
• prepare a balanced meal for healthy living
• use various styles to present the meal
• adopt the use of a balanced meal in the day to day life

“How can we prepare a balanced meal for healthy living?”

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1. What a balanced meal is
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   A balanced meal includes protein, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals in amounts that fit the eater. Ugali alone or chips and soda is not the Grade 8 plate.
2. Age and the meal
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Age changes texture and portion. Toddlers need soft mixed food, adolescents need enough for growth, elders may need softer smaller plates that are still balanced.
3. Health status and the meal
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Illness, diabetes advice, blood pressure, allergies and recovery change the plate. Follow a clinician; still aim at the four groups in a form the person can eat.
4. Occasion and the meal
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Occasion changes time, cost and how festive the food looks. A school-day githeri and a visitor pilau can both be balanced if vegetables and protein stay on the table.
5. Gender and the meal
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Girls and boys both need a balanced plate. Gender is a real factor for iron and later pregnancy, not a myth that meat is for brothers only.
6. Protein on the plate
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Protein builds and repairs the body. Kenyan sources include omena, eggs, milk, meat, beans, ndengu and githeri - animal or plant.
7. Carbohydrate on the plate
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Carbohydrates give energy. Ugali, chapati, rice, githeri, sweet potato and banana are Kenyan staples. They should leave room for protein and vegetables.
8. Vitamins and minerals
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Vegetables, fruit, milk, omena and iodised salt supply vitamins and minerals. A pale plate of ugali and oil is the gap; sukuma from the kitchen garden is the fix.
9. Planning and cooking the meal
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Plan who will eat, the four food groups, budget and fire, then cook carbohydrate and protein and vegetables last. Taste lightly and cook through.
10. Family and blue-plate service
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Family service puts shared dishes in the middle. Blue-plate service gives each person a complete arranged plate. Both must still carry the four food groups.
11. Kenyan menus and adopting balance
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Present menus such as ugali with sukuma and omena, githeri, and chapati with beans. Adopting a balanced meal means eating that way on ordinary days, not only in the practical.