5 Tips for Recipe Management

Keeping up to date with your recipes can feel a bit overwhelming at times. In this blog, we hope to give you a few ways to make this less like a chore and more like a goal that comes with rewards at the end. For many years, school cafeterias have had to overcome obstacles when planning menus and creating or recreating recipes that not only go with the times but meet current standards and also appeal to your customers. Yes, this is a big task, but one that has been done (with love) for decades. 

Some of the obstacles over the years are not only due to USDA changes in their standards but also more common things like items are no longer available from your vendor. This is where School Nutrition Professionals shine with their creativity! As this seems to be somewhat of a common occurrence, adaptability to change is second nature to school nutrition. 

Due to certain situations and the changes over the years you are more than likely in need of a “Spring Cleaning” of your Menu Planning Data. But why wait until Spring and why make this a once a year project. We recommend keeping things simple and clean as you go!  Here are a few tips: 

1. Are you still using paper and pen for your menu planning?  You may want to consider software that will help to digitalize your data for easier management. 

2. If you find yourself no longer able to attain a certain ingredient for your current recipes the first thing to do would be to search out an alternative ingredient. If you find an alternative, you can save your recipe with just a small tweak of changing out the ingredients. Features like PrimeroEdge’s “Find and Replace” tool can help you do this in just a few clicks!

3. Just say no and let go! We know this is sometimes hard, but you may find that some recipes are either outdated or unpopular. If you find that you have more waste of an item than intake, just let it go and discontinue the item. Search for an alternative product or try creating a new way of serving.

4. Archive your vintage data! You may want to keep it for nostalgia, but do you really need to see it all the time? Archiving your discontinued items/recipes out of sight will make the ease of creating your new menus easier and much faster. (No need to stroll through memory lane every time you create a new menu.)

5. Set attainable goals. You don’t have to clean up your recipes in one sitting or even in one day. Give yourself a timeline that you know you can stick to, and set small milestones from there. For every milestone you meet, you will feel accomplished and want to keep going!

Most importantly, breathe! As things change over the next year and beyond, PrimeroEdge is here to help you along the way with blogs, webbies, and new software solutions. 

Written By: Terri Brown; Customer Care Level II Specialist