- Adding Items to the Regular Diet Type/Regular Texture Type
- Serving Item for only a Specific Therapeutic Diet Order (i.e., not as a Regular Item)
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FAQs
- When attempting to add a menu item, I can't select a therapeutic label from the Recipe Box field? How do I search for therapeutic recipes?
- Can I add an actual vendor product that is an RTS/RTC to the menu? For example, Yoplait® Strawberry Yogurt cup?
- I'm searching for a vendor product (to add its associated prepared food item as a menu item), but cannot find it.
- I added a new menu item, but my therapeutic diets aren't receiving anything (i.e., no therapeutic substitutes are being served).
- I need to serve an item only on a therapeutic diet order without adding it as a regular item? For example, I want to serve gravy only for my puree.
- How do I add a canned food to the menu selection?
- I cannot find a recipe to add to the menu?
Adding Item to the Regular Diet Type/Regular Texture Type
- Open the menu to either the week-at-a-glance (WaaG) view (first screenshot below) or menu day view (second screenshot below).
- By default the Diet and Texture fields at the top right are set to Regular. Do not change. If required to add an item to a therapeutic (i.e., non-regular) diet order, see the instructions below: Serving Item for only a Specific Therapeutic Diet Order (i.e., not as a Regular Item)
- If adding items to a liquid menu, then from the Diet Liquid field at the top right, select the liquid diet type to which you want to add items.
- Click the Add New Item button at top left corner of screen.
or
- If you are in the menu day view, go to the appropriate meal period section (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack AM, Snack PM, Snack HS, or all day menu), and in the appropriate menu category click the Add New Item link.
If you are in the week-at-a-glance view, and an item does not exist for a day/meal service/category combination, scroll over the empty spot and click the Add New Item link.
- The Add Item slide-out panel appears.
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Select the Food & Non-Food Items option and use its filters as needed:
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Food Type - filter by recipe, prepared food, and non-food item.
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Categories - filter by recipe categories (if searching for recipes) and food categories (if searching for prepared foods). Note that if searching for both recipes and prepared foods, recipe categories are listed first in the drop-down, followed by food categories.
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Portion Cost Range - enter the cost range of the item (recipe cost, prepared food cost, non-food item cost) you are searching for. Note that this filter applies to items within your selections in the Categories field, the Recipe Box field, or at least three characters entered in the Search field (in step 5 below you are instructed to enter a description of the item in the Search field).
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Tags - filter by tags applied to recipes and prepared foods.
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Owner - this field lists your account and all parent accounts. Select one or more accounts whose recipes you want to select from.
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Recipe Box (available only if Recipe is selected from Food Type) - filter by the Recipe Box label (e.g., Entrees Poultry, Sides Vegetables) assigned to the recipe.
Note: Therapeutic labels (e.g., Dietary Low Salt, Texture Pureed, etc.) are not available from the Recipe Box field of the Add Item slide-out panel. The reason is that recipes assigned with therapeutic labels are typically therapeutic substitutes that are added to a regular recipe's diet order extension grid, and as such are not typically added directly to the menu. If required to search for a therapeutic recipe, you can do so by selecting the Include Therapeutic Recipes check box.
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My Recipes Only - searches for only recipes owned by your account (recipes owned by your account have the My Recipes label in the Recipe Box; see What is a "My Recipes" Recipe? for more information). Note that selecting the My Recipes Only checkbox also automatically selects your account, and only your account, in the Owner field.
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Include Therapeutic Recipes - allows therapeutic recipes (i.e., those with a therapeutic label assigned to the recipe in its Recipe Box field) to be included in the search results.
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Food Type - filter by recipe, prepared food, and non-food item.
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As another search option, the Vendor Products option is a means to select a prepared food associated with a vendor product. From the vendor products that are returned from the search results, you then select one, which in turns adds the prepared food item the vendor product is linked with (i.e., vendor product is verified for the prepared food item). In other words, the prepared food item the vendor product is linked with is added, and not the vendor product itself. For more information, click here.
- In the Search field, enter the description or ID of the item or product you are searching for and click Go. The search results are returned (maximum 100). Note that if you do not find the search results suitable, then change the above settings as needed, and rerun the search.
- By clicking the eye icon (
) of an item, the Item Preview window appears with the following tabs:
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Details - displays the recipe details.
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Nutrient Value - displays the nutrient values.
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Details - displays the recipe details.
- For an item you want to add, click its + icon. You can repeat the above steps to add other items. Each time an item is added, the Menu Items to Add section refreshes with a sub-section of the added menu item.
- For each added menu item, complete the fields below. Each field can contain more than one selection. Note that depending how you opened the Add Item slide-out panel, certain fields will be pre-populated.
- Portion Size - contains the original portion size of the item; you can change this if needed.
- Choice - select the choices to assign the item (for more information on using choices, see Choices for a Menu Item)
- Menu Category - select the menu categories to assign the item. Note that the menu categories available for selection depend on the meal periods selected in the Meal field.
- Week (only applicable for a weekly menu)
- Day (only applicable for a weekly menu)
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Meal (only applicable for a weekly menu) - select the meal services (breakfast, lunch, dinner) you want to add the item to.
- For a weekly menu, you can add multiple occurrences of when the menu item is served for week, day, and meal service. To do so, click the Add Occurrence link and the screen refreshes with the Week, Day, and Meal fields for you to select the occurrence.
- Click the Save button at the top right of the slide-out panel to add the item(s).
- Depending on the Extension Editor setting in menu properties, refer to the appropriate sub-section below for next steps:
If Extension Editor is Set to Auto
If the menu is an extended menu and the Extension Editor setting in the display options is set to Auto, the extension grid for the menu item automatically appears (screenshot below) for you to review or modify the extensions as needed (see Working in a Menu Item Extension Grid for more information).
(Right-click to open and expand in new tab)
When you click Save to apply your changes to the extension grid, you have the following options:
- Save extensions for this meal only - saves the extensions to the one menu item occurrence from which the extension grid was opened, meaning the meal period, day, week, menu category, and choice.
- Save for all occurrences on this menu - if there is more than one occurrence of the menu item on the menu, then the Save for all occurrences on this menu option is available. Selecting this option saves the extensions for each occurrence of the menu item. If the menu item is added to another occurrence in the future, then the existing extensions will also be applied.
- Save on menu & recipe - updates the original recipe extension grid with the content of the menu item extension grid, and saves the extensions across all occurrences of the menu item in the menu you are editing.
After saving via one of the above options, the menu item is added to the menu.
If Extension Editor is Set to Manual
If the menu is an extended menu and the Extension Editor setting setting in the the display options is set to Manual, then the menu item extension grid will not automatically appear and the menu item is added to the menu. It is expected at a later time that you will open the extension grid for the menu item and set the extensions if needed.
Serving Item for only a Specific Therapeutic Diet Order (i.e., not as a Regular Item)
The above instructions explain how to add an item to a regular diet type/regular texture type.
However, in certain scenarios you may want to serve an item for only a specific therapeutic diet order without serving it as a regular item on the menu. For example, assume you want to serve Gravy for only the puree texture (to accompany the substitute Mashed Potatoes served for puree instead of the regular item of French Fries), but not serve Gravy as a regular menu item.
The means to do so is explained below and involves working in the menu item extension grid (therefore see Working in a Menu Item Extension Grid):
- Add the item (e.g., gravy) to the regular diet/regular texture type for the desired week, day, and meal period (as per above steps).
- Open the extension grid for the item.
- For the diet type/texture type combinations you do not want the item to be served, set as Do Not Serve. This includes the regular diet/regular texture type.
- For the diet type/texture type combination you want to serve the item (e.g., puree texture for some or all diet types), set to Serve Regular Recipe.
- Save the extension grid as needed via the following options:
- Save extensions for this meal only - saves the extensions to the one menu item occurrence from which the extension grid was opened, meaning the meal period, day, week, menu category, and choice.
- Save for all occurrences on this menu - if there is more than one occurrence of the menu item on the menu, then the Save for all occurrences on this menu option is available. Selecting this option saves the extensions for each occurrence of the menu item. If the menu item is added to another occurrence in the future, then the existing extensions will also be applied.
FAQs
When attempting to add a menu item, I can't select a therapeutic label from the Recipe Box field? How do I search for therapeutic recipes?
Therapeutic labels (e.g., Dietary Low Salt, Texture Pureed, etc.) are not available from the Recipe Box field when attempting to add a menu item. The reason is that recipes assigned with therapeutic labels are typically therapeutic substitutes that are added to a regular recipe's diet order extension grid, and as such are not typically added directly to the menu. If required to search for a therapeutic recipe, you can do so by selecting the Therapeutic Recipes check box.
Can I add an actual vendor product that is an RTS/RTC to the menu? For example, Yoplait® Strawberry Yogurt cup?
No. You can only add the generic prepared food item the vendor product is linked with in the system and not the actual vendor product.
When searching for an item to add to the menu, there is the search option Vendor Products. This returns the vendor products, and when you select a product, the system adds the generic prepared food item the product is linked with--not the actual product itself. For example, Yogurt Strawberry PC 4z., as per screenshot below.
I'm searching for a vendor product (to add its associated prepared food item as a menu item), but cannot find it.
Check your vendor product list to confirm if the vendor product is available. See Searching for a Specific Vendor Product.
If you confirm that the vendor product is not on your list, see What If a Vendor Product is not on a Vendor Product List?
If you confirm the vendor product is on your list, then contact MealSuite Support.
I added a new menu item, but my therapeutic diets aren't receiving anything (i.e., no therapeutic substitutes are being served).
This indicates that the menu item is not extended with the therapeutic substitutions. You will need to open the extension grid of the menu item, and add the therapeutic substitutes to the diet orders.
I need to serve an item only on a therapeutic diet order without adding it as a regular item? For example, I want to serve gravy only for my puree.
See the above section: Serving Item for only a Specific Therapeutic Diet Order (i.e., not as a Regular Item).
How do I add a canned food to the menu selection?
If the canned food is identified as a prepared food in the system, then the canned food can be added directly to the menu. You can confirm this by selecting Prepared Food as the Food type when searching for an item to add to the menu. If the canned food is returned in the search results, it means it is a prepared food and can be added directly to the menu.
If the canned food is not returned in the search, then this indicates that it is identified as an ingredient in the system. As such, you will need to create a new recipe and add that canned food as the one-and-only ingredient in the recipe. Once the recipe is created, you can then add it to the menu, ensuring to select Recipe as the Food type when searching for the recipe.
I cannot find a recipe to add to the menu?
Ensure that the Food & Non Food Items option is selected, and the associated filters are set.
If you cannot find a recipe, it could be that it is unpublished. When a recipe is unpublished, it will be unavailable and unsearchable in the system. You can confirm if a recipe is unpublished via the following instructions: Locating Unpublished Recipes. To publish an unpublished recipe, see Publishing an Unpublished Recipe.