Menu Reviews

Childcare Centres

Childcare centres play a vital role in developing healthy eating behaviours for young children, many of which persist throughout life. Under the Education and Care Services National Regulations, ‘if a service provides food and drinks, the food and drinks must be nutritious and adequate in quantity, and take into account dietary requirements appropriate to each child’s growth and development needs, and any specific cultural, religious or health requirements.’ Policies and procedures about nutrition, food and beverages, and dietary requirements must be in place throughout early childhood education and care services. 

Our dietitians provide services to assist Child Care centres in meeting these regulations, these include:

• Menu and recipe development 

• Menu and recipe assessment or review 

• Development or review of nutrition policies

NDIS Group Homes

We understand many group homes have a diverse range of individuals with varying nutritional needs, chronic conditions, dietary requirements, food preferences and cultural backgrounds. We understand this can make meal planning difficult for support staff. 

Our Dietitians can provide consultation to supported living facilities to ensure menus are well balanced and planned to meet the unique nutritional needs of your residents. We will consult with both staff and residents to provide services, including:

Dietitian Designed Menu Plan

Our Accredited Practising Dietitians will provide you with a nutritionally balanced menu plan (2, 4 or 6 week cycles) suited to the needs and preferences of residents living within a group home. Our dietitians will consult with residents and support staff within your assisted living facility and work with you to tailor a menu plan that encompasses the cultural needs, dietary requirements, food preferences, eating patterns, cooking skills, health status and nutritional requirements of each individual resident. 

We can design a menu suited to specific health, nutritional and medical needs, for example diabetes, coeliac disease, heart disease, malnutrition, obesity, specific allergies, food intolerances, vegetarian/vegan diets and texture modifications. Having a dietitian designed menu plan can ensure variety and flexibility for residents and staff whilst optimising the nutrition status, health and safety of consumers. 

Recipe design & modification 

Our dietitians can provide specific individualised advice on adapting current menus and recipes to the varying health needs and goals of each resident. We can develop or modify recipes to suit the nutrition needs and dietary requirements of each resident. For example, tailoring recipes to suit individuals with food allergies or intolerances. 

Nutrition education and training for support staff

Our dietitians can provide education and training to support staff regarding healthy food choices, menu planning, meal preparation, cooking methods, label reading and grocery shopping. As well as managing nutrition related health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, food allergies, food intolerances, coeliac disease, gastrointestinal conditions, malnutrition and dysphagia. This will ensure as a service you are optimising the health and safety of consumers whilst providing and promoting healthy options to enable participants to achieve their maximum physical potential and maintain independence.

Aged Care Facilities

Diet, nutrition and hydration are critical to the health of older populations and food plays an important role in enhancing the quality of life of individuals in residential care. Our Accredited Practising Dietitians can provide a range of services to assist Aged Care Facilities to achieve excellence in quality of care and meet Government Accreditation standards through their food service provision. 

We will work with chefs, food service managers, facility managers, care staff and residents to ensure menus and food service provision meet the nutritional needs, dietary requirements, texture modification standards, therapeutic dietary requirements, cultural values and food preferences of residents.

Services we provide: 

• Whole food service menu development 

• Comprehensive menu reviews & reports 

• Practical recommendations for service delivery

• Staff education & training