Managing Menu Costs in Long-Term Care

In most Canadian provinces, the Ministry of Health establishes a raw food cost allowance for long-term care facilities.  In Ontario, the current raw food cost allowance for long-term care facilities is $8.33 per resident per day, plus $.12 per resident per day for eligible therapeutic food supplements. This allowance must provide for three nutritious meals and three nutritious snacks per day. A small portion of this amount must also cover sample plates, second servings and food waste.

With the continual rising food costs, creating menus that fit within these raw food cost allowances can be challenging!

How do you ensure that your menus fall within the raw food cost allowance, while meeting the nutritional needs of your residents? Do you have a system in place to calculate the daily average cost of your menu?

With our mitrition software solution, you can easily generate a report to quickly analyse your menu costs. Each food item within the system has an associated cost based on the supplier. Therefore, each menu item and recipe has an associated cost, which is automatically generated. Simply click on the cost tab to quickly view the cost per serving, as well as the total cost of the item or recipe per yield.

As you build your menu within the system, the menu cost is automatically generated. Once your menu is built, simply run a cost report analysis on your menu to get a detailed cost report.

With this detailed menu cost information at your fingertips, you can quickly scroll through the document to find any meals or days where the cost may be too high. For any items or recipes that are too high in cost, simply search through the system for suitable substitutions. With just a few clicks of the mouse, you can make your menu substitutions, then generate a new menu cost report analysis.

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