Problem:
A family of 4 needs a meal plan that works with their weekly activities. They want everyone to cook at least once every week. They want everything to be accounted for including the cook, what they are eating, the portion of the recipe, and what time they will eat.
Solution:
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | |
| Cook | Parent A | Teen 1 | Teen 2 | Teen 2 | Parent B |
| Recipe | Beef and Spinach Lasagna | Black Bean Tacos | Chicken Satay Noodles | Chickpea Cauliflower Curry | Vegetable Pad Thai |
| Portion | 1/3 | 1 | 1 | 1/2 | 2/3 |
| Start Cooking | 4:40PM | 6:00PM | 4:50PM | 5:35PM | 5:40PM |
| Dinner Time | 6:00PM | 6:15PM | 5:30PM | 6:00PM | 6:20PM |
New Recipe: Chicken Satay Noodles
- This recipe is somewhat healthy, and not too high in calories.
- Each serving provides 747 kcal, 46g protein, 84g carbohydrates (of which 14g sugars), 23g fat (of which 9g saturates), 10g fiber and 2.7g salt.
Ingredients:
- 400g/14oz chicken or turkey breast, cut into strips
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp corn flour
- 375g/13oz dried egg noodles
- 2 tsp rapeseed oil
- 6 spring onions, thinly sliced
- 3 tbsp peanut butter
- 2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
- 1 x 400ml tin of reduced-fat coconut milk
- 100g/3½oz sugar snap peas
- 150g/5½oz mixed frozen beans and peas
- 100g/3½oz frozen sweetcorn
- 1 lime, juice only
- 1 carrot, shaved into thin slices using a vegetable peeler
- 75g/2¾oz baby spinach leaves
- 2 tbsp roughly chopped cashew nuts
- 2 tbsp freshly chopped coriander
Justification:
Monday:
- Parent A gets home at 4:30 meaning they have some time before cooking at 4:40.
- Beef and Spinach Lasagna is one of the longer recipes, but it can be completed with more than enough time to spare, giving parent B enough time to eat and go the Fitness Class at 7:00.
- Beef and Spinach Lasagna makes 12 servings with the normal recipe. To make a proper number of servings so no food goes to waste, Parent A needs to make one third of the recipe.
Tuesday
- Teen 1 gets home at 3:30 with Teen 2. Teen 2 has to get ready for soccer so Teen 1 will cook.
- They will start cooking at 6:00 so that both parents can make sure nothing goes wrong.
- If Teen 1 starts cooking at 6:00 they will be done at 6:15 giving the family time to eat and get ready for Teen 2’s soccer.
Wednesday
- On Wednesday the family has no activities in the afternoon. So, Teen 2 can start cooking at 4:50.
- Parent A will be home to make sure Teen 2 doesn’t burn or hurt themselves.
- Dinner will be served at 5:30 right when Parent B gets home.
- Chicken Satay Noodles makes 4 servings so there is no need to change the recipe.
Thursday
- Teen 2 will be cooking because Teen 1 will be tired from Basketball.
- They will start cooking at 5:35 so that food will be ready right Parent A gets home.
- This means the food can’t get cold.
Friday
- Parent A comes home at 4:30, Parent B comes home at 5:30, and Teen 2 comes home at 3:30. Teen 1 doesn’t come home until 9:30 because of school and work.
- Parent B comes home and takes 10 minutes to get ready to cook, takes 35 minutes to cook, and 5 minutes to prepare. Teen 1 can’t come home, so the other 3 people eat around.
- Vegetable Pad Thai makes 6 serving, Parent B has to make 1/3 of the original recipe. Teen 1 can reheat the food later and eat when they get home from work.
References
Chicken Satay Thai Recipe: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chicken_satay_noodles_95490
Collaboration Reflection
To distribute the information in an orderly and fair way we had a shard Word Document for all of the members to see the information. We decided to have two people work on two of the days of the week and the third person work on one but work on a new recipe, which is Chicken Satay Noodles. Eventually, when the time came, I could not finish the tasks I was given so the work in the end was not completed fairly and evenly.