- About the Menu Item Extension Grid (Demo Video) (2:45)
- Opening a Menu Item Extension Grid
- Understanding the Menu Item Extension Grid
- Opening the Edit Extension Window for a Diet/Texture Extension Cell
- Extension Cell Options
- Changing Portion Size of Substitute Recipe on a Menu Item Extension Grid
- What are the Save Options on a Menu Item Extension Grid?
- Extending Regular Recipe Across All Texture Types for a Specific Diet Type
- Extending Regular Recipe Across All Diet Types for a Specific Texture Type
- Applying “Do Not Serve” for a Specific Diet Type
- Applying “Do Not Serve” for a Specific Texture Type
- Copying and Pasting
- Diet Type Restriction Warning on a Menu Item Extension Grid
- Opening Substitute Recipe from a Menu Item Extension Grid
- Removing (i.e., Hiding) a Diet Type or Texture Type from the Menu Item Extension Grid
-
FAQs
- How do I add a new diet type or texture type to use in my menu item extensions?
- When working in a new menu, there are no substitutes extended for certain diet types or texture types?
- I don't see a diet type or texture type on an extension grid?
- How do I move a diet type row or a texture type column in an extension grid?
- Why is the Create Substitute from Save As option not available?
About the Menu Item Extension Grid (Demo Video) (2:45)
Opening a Menu Item Extension Grid
Opening a Menu Item Extension Grid when on the Week-at-Glance (WaaG) View
To open the extension grid of a menu item wen on the week-at-a-glance (WaaG) view, complete the following steps:
-
Open the menu to the week-at-glance view.
- For the item whose extension grid you want to open, hover over it and click its Edit icon (
). The Edit Menu item pop-up appears (second screenshot below).
- Click the Extension Grid icon (
). The extension grid appears (second screenshot below), listing the substitutions that are currently assigned for the diet type/texture type combinations of the item.
Opening a Menu Item Extension Grid when on the Menu Day View
To open the extension grid of a menu item when on the menu day view, complete the following steps:
-
Open the menu to the menu day view.
- For the item whose extension grid you want to open, click its Settings icon (...), and select Edit Extension (first screenshot below). The extension grid appears (second screenshot below), listing the substitutions that are currently assigned for the diet type/texture type combinations of the item.
Understanding the Menu Item Extension Grid
- Layout
- Why is a Specific Extension Cell Grey?
- Why Does a Diet Type or Texture Type Have a Blue Header?
Layout
In a menu item extension grid, the diet types are displayed as rows and the texture types are displayed as columns. A recipe extended to a diet/texture combination (i.e., extension cell) is then available in the personal menu of a person who has been assigned that diet/texture combination.
(Right-click screenshot below to open and expand in new tab)
Why is an Extension Cell Grey?
If an extension cell is grey, it indicates that the diet type/texture type combination is unpublished, which means the people profile cannot be assigned that diet/texture combination. However, the extension cell remains available to extend a recipe to.
For more information on unpublishing/publishing a diet type/texture type combination, see Unpublishing or Publishing a Diet Type/Texture Type Combination.
Why Does a Diet Type or Texture Type Have a Blue Header?
The parent-child account hierarchy structure in the Mealsuite system allows diet types and texture types owned by a parent account to assign maintenance responsibility of those diet types and texture types to their child accounts.
What this means is that the parent account will no longer be responsible for extending a menu item with substitutions to those diet types and texture types. Instead, the responsibility for extending menu items to those diet types and texture types will be with each child account.
When a child account has been assigned maintenance responsibility for a diet type or texture type, then the header of such diet types and texture types are highlighted blue in extension grids (screenshot below; right-click to open and expand in new tab).
Warning! For diet types and texture types that continue to be maintained by your parent account, it is still the responsibility of your facility to review the substitute recipes for these diet type/texture type combinations to make sure the substitute recipes are appropriate for your facility standards that you have for diet types and texture types.
See also: Maintenance Responsibility of Diet Types and Texture Types.
Opening the Edit Extension Window for a Diet/Texture Extension Cell
To open the Edit Extension window for a diet type/texture type cell, complete the following steps:
- Hover your mouse over the diet type/texture type cell.
- Click the setting icon ( ... ).
- Click Edit Extension. The Edit Extension window appears.
- From the Changes to drop-down, you have the following options (click on an option to see its specific instructions):
- Serve Regular Recipe
- Do Not Serve
- Search for Substitute
- Create Substitute from Template
-
Created Substitute from Save As (i.e., Copying the Regular Recipe) - only available for recipe and not a prepared food.
Extension Cell Options
Option: Serve Regular Recipe
Selecting this option serves one portion size of the regular recipe for the diet/texture combination. When the regular recipe is served for a diet/texture combination, the associated cell contains a green check mark.
Option: Do Not Serve Option
Select this option if there is no appropriate substitute for a diet/texture combination.
Option: Search for Substitute
Selecting the Search for Substitute option opens the Search for Substitute window for you to search for and select an appropriate substitute recipe for the diet/texture combination.
Option: Create Substitute from Save As (i.e., Copying the Regular Recipe)
If the item is a recipe and not a prepared food, then the Create Substitute from Save As option is available.
Selecting this option opens the Copy Recipe pop-up (screenshot below) for you to create a new recipe using the regular recipe as a base (i.e., copying an existing recipe). For the name of the recipe, add any texture identifiers to the name. For example “P.” for puree and “Mcd.” for minced.
Once the new recipe is saved, it will be available as a “my recipe” (i.e., a recipe owned by your account), which you can edit it accordingly. For example, replace milk with lactose-free milk (for the lactose free diet type). See Opening Substitute Recipe from a Menu Item Extension Grid below for more information.
Note that for a recipe that has been copied, the copied recipes appear as links above the image of the original recipe.
Option: Create Substitute from Template
An extension cell may have a template available as an option to quickly create a recipe for the designated texture (i.e., a therapeutic recipe). For example, if extending a recipe that belongs to the entrée category, then in the puree cells of the extension grid, there is Create Substitute from Template option.
For more on extension templates, see the separate article Using Extension Template from a Menu Item Extension Grid.
Changing Portion Size of Substitute Recipe on a Menu Item Extension Grid
To edit the portion size of a substitute recipe in a menu item extension grid:
-
Open the Edit Extension window for the substitute recipe.
- Select or enter the new portion size in the Portion field.
- Click the Update Extension button to apply your changes.
What are the Save Options on a Menu Item Extension Grid?
When working in an extension grid for a menu item, the following save options are available from the Save button.
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 item exists on menu more than once)
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.
Extending Regular Recipe Across All Texture Types for a Specific Diet Type
To extend the regular recipe across all texture types for a specific diet type:
- Hover your mouse over the diet type.
- Click the setting icon ( ... ).
- Click Set Row as Regular Recipe.
Extending Regular Recipe Across All Diet Types for a Specific Texture Type
To extend the regular recipe across all diet types for a specific texture type:
- Hover your mouse over the texture type
- Click the setting icon ( ... ).
- Click Set Column as Regular Recipe.
Applying “Do Not Serve” for a Specific Diet Type
To apply ”Do Not Serve” for a specific diet type:
- Hover your mouse over the diet type.
- Click the setting icon ( ... ).
- Click Set Row as Do Not Serve.
Applying “Do Not Serve” for a Specific Texture Type
To apply ”Do Not Serve” for a specific texture type:
- Hover your mouse over the texture type.
- Click the setting icon ( ... ).
- Click Set Column as Do Not Serve.
Copying and Pasting
Copying and Pasting a Single Extension Cell
- Hover your mouse over the extension cell to be copied.
- Click the setting icon ( ... ).
- Click Copy Cell. The cell turns light blue and states Copied.
- For the cell to be pasted with the copied extension, click into it. The cell turns light blue and states Pasted.
- Continue to click into the cells that you want copied with the extension.
- At the top of the screen, click Confirm to apply your changes.
Note: If not wanting to save the copied cells, click the Cancel button.
Copying and Pasting a Whole Diet Type Row
To copy the cells of a whole diet type row and paste it to another diet type row:
- Hover your mouse over the diet type row to be copied.
- Click the setting icon ( ... ).
- Click Copy Row. The row turns light blue and the text Copied appears beside the diet type (second screenshot below),
- For the diet type row to be pasted with the copied data, click into it. The row turns light blue and the text To Paste appears beside the diet type.
- At the top of the screen, click Confirm to apply your changes.
Note: If not wanting to save the copied cells, click the Cancel button.
Copying and Pasting a Whole Texture Type Column
To copy the cells of a whole texture type column and paste it to another texture type column:
- Hover your mouse over the texture type column to be copied.
- Click the setting icon ( ... ).
- Click Copy Column. The column turns light blue and the text Copied appears beside the texture type (second screenshot below),
- For the texture type row to be pasted with the copied data, click into it. The row turns light blue and the text To Paste appears beside the texture type.
- At the top of the screen, click Confirm to apply your changes.
Note: If not wanting to save the copied cells, click the Cancel button.
Diet Type Restriction Warning on a Menu Item Extension Grid
A diet type can be configured to restrict items from a likes & dislikes group, allergen group, or a menu category (see Configuring Diet Restrictions ). For example, assume the vegetarian diet type has been configured to restrict the dislike group “Pork Derived Products”, which then means items in that dislike group are restricted for the vegetarian diet type.
When extending a menu item with substitutions in a menu item extension grid, and you select a restricted recipe for a diet type, the system triggers a warning message about the conflict (screenshot below). You have the option of cancelling the menu item to honour the diet restriction or ignoring the warning and keeping the restricted menu item.
If you ignore the warning and keep the restricted recipe, then when viewing the menu items for the diet order (either from week-at-a-glance view or menu day view) extension cell displays a red triangle “diet conflict” alert () to indicate that the selected recipe conflicts for that diet type, as per screenshot below.
Hovering your cursor over the diet conflict alert displays the details of the conflict.
Opening Substitute Recipe from a Menu Item Extension Grid
You can open a recipe being used as a substitute by searching for it via the Recipes Listing screen. However, a quicker means to access the recipe is via the menu item extension grid to which it belongs. To open a substitute recipe via an extension grid:
- Hover your mouse over the diet type/texture type cell.
- Click the setting icon ( ... ).
- Click Edit Extension. The Edit Extension window appears.
- Click the Go To Recipe link. The recipe opens in a separate browser tab for you to make your edits.
Removing (i.e., Hiding) a Diet Type or Texture Type from the Menu Item Extension Grid
If a diet type or texture type is unpublished in the system, it can be removed from the menu extension grids via the Diet Orders Setting screen (Tools & Setup > Diet Orders). See the following articles for specific instructions: Hiding/Showing an Unpublished Diet, Texture of Fluid Type on Extension Grids.
FAQs
How do I add a new diet type or texture type to use in my menu item extensions?
A new diet type or texture type can be requested from the MealSuite Nutrition Services team. See the following article: Requesting a New Diet Type, Texture Type or Fluid Type.
When working in a new menu, there are no substitutes extended for certain diet types or texture types?
This most likely means the maintenance responsibility for extending those diet types/texture types with substitutes is the responsibility of your account, and not the parent account. If the diet type or texture type has a blue header, it indicates that your account has maintenance responsibility. See Why Does a Diet Type or Texture Type Have a Blue Header? above for more information.
I don't see a diet type or texture type on an extension grid?
If you do not see a diet type or texture type on an extension grid, it indicates that it is configured to be hidden from extension grids.
To show a diet or texture type on extension grids, open the diet or texture type and select its Include in Extension Grid check box (screenshot below). Click here for specific instructions on showing/hiding a diet or texture type on extension grids.
More Info: A diet or texture type can be configured to be hidden from extension grids only if the diet or texture type is unpublished. A diet or texture type is unpublished to prevent it from being assigned to residents/patients, but can still be available in recipe extension grids and menu item extension grids to allow you to extend the recipe with therapeutic substitute recipes.
How do I move a diet type row or a texture type column in an extension grid?
The sort order of diet types and texture types in the system determine the sort order of the diet type rows and texture type columns, respectively, in an extension grid. To sort a diet type or texture type, see the following article: Sorting How Diet Types and Texture Types Appear in the System.
Why is the "Create Substitute from Save As" option not available?
The Create Substitute from Save As is an option for a recipe and not a prepared food. When you open the Edit Extension window for a prepared food, it does not have the Create Substitute from Save As option from the Change to drop-down.