All recipes and food preparation

1. Follow recipes, weighing or measuring all ingredients with standardized equipment and utensils.

2. Serve menu items with standardized serving utensils.

3. Purchase and use foods that are lower in fat and/or sodium (vendor products and recipe ingredients)

4. Gradually reduce the amounts of salt in recipes or eliminate.  Use more garlic, onion powder, herbs and spices without added salt.

5. Gradually reduce the amount of fat used in recipes.  Replace butter or shortening with vegetable oil or margarine whenever possible.

Fruit and vegetable recipe and preparation

1. Increase frequency and variety of fruit, fruit juices and vegetable on the menu.

2. Increase serving size of fruit, fruit juices and vegetables.

3. Increase frequency and amount of fruit, fruit juices and vegetables used as ingredients in recipes.

4. Increase use of recipes meeting the 5 A Day criteria.

5. Drain canned vegetables to reduce sodium.

6. Reduce or eliminate salt to added vegetables.

7. Reduce or eliminate butter, oil, margarine, animal fat, or cheese sauce added to vegetables.

8. Decrease or eliminate frequency of fried potatoes and other fried vegetables on the menu.

9. Reduce the amount of mayonnaise, sour cream, and oil; or substitute low-fat yogurt or low-fat mayonnaise in salad dressings and other recipes.

10. Reduce, pre-portion, or eliminate use of high-fat items in salads and on salad bars (e.g. olives, avocado,   coconut, nuts, bacon bits, regular cheese, egg yolks, sour cream).

Mixed dishes and baked products containing fruit and vegetables

1. Drain fat from cooked meat.

2. Rinse drained, cooked ground meat with hot water and drain.

3. Trim all visible fat from meat before cooking it.

4. Bake, broil, roast or stew beef, pork, chicken, or fish instead of frying.

5. Remove skin and fat from chicken and turkey.   Bake with no added fat.

6. De-fat broth to be used in recipes.

7. Use water, beef-base seasoning (low-sodium when possible) and flour; or make a dry roux for gravy.  Do not add meat drippings.

8. Use lower far cheeses (e.g. part-skim mozzarella).  Reduce the amount of regular cheese or mix with lower fat cheese.  

9. Use egg whites rather than whole eggs in salads and other recipes.

10. Use skim milk, low-far, or nonfat dry milk instead of whole.

11. Use nonstick coating spray or pan liners instead of greasing pans.

12. If using butter whip it before using in food preparations.

13. Reduce or eliminate butter or mayonnaise spread on breads and sandwiches.

14. Reduce of eliminate butter, oil, margarine, or animal fat added to pasta or rice.

15. Reduce or eliminate salt added to pasta or rice.