Page 22 - Soar Magazine_digital

Progressive

Meal Planning

by Joe DeCiccio, Residential Life Manager
The Residential Life program at Shepherds College understanding of how to create a meal plan and are able to shop
is near to my heart. I love every aspect of it from the activities for what they need. After that, it’s a matter of practice, support,
to Special Olympics to teaching daily living skills. One aspect and habit.
that is especially important to me is the progression of training When the students move up to the second-year Homes, they
in the area of meal planning. I believe that if we can instill an begin to work together to plan the meals for the week. At the
understanding of healthy eating habits during the three years we grocery store, they discuss how to tackle the store efficiently
have with the students, they will retain that knowledge after they based on what they have learned. The growth in the students at
graduate. If it’s done well, meal planning can also save people this point is evident and often impressive. They are experiencing
time and money. With those goals in mind, Shepherds College a level of independence that is empowering.
created a system that teaches the students how to meal plan The students in the third-year apartments have even higher
effectively. levels of freedom in this area. They quickly run the meal planning
Our first step is to educate the new students on healthy, process from developing their meals to taking inventory to
balanced meals. We start immediately in the first-year dorms grocery shopping. They are given a budget and work towards
with weekly, posted meal plans. Each meal plan represents items staying within it.
from the food groups. We discuss appropriate portion sizes to By graduation, we are celebrating not only the academic
determine what a healthy plate of food looks like. The students growth of our students, but the exciting progress of their
soon learn how to take a meal idea and divide it into the food independent living skills. Three years earlier, some students
groups so they can fill out their own weekly meal plan. were only eating hotdogs and chicken nuggets, but they leave
After writing their plans, the students learn to create a us knowing how to plan and enjoy a healthy diet. They are
grocery list. This involves compiling ingredients from the meal successfully providing well-rounded meals for themselves. This
plan and taking inventory of what is already in the pantry. By the achievement makes me feel confident that our grads will attain
end of the first semester, the first-year students have a basic their ultimate goal of a lifetime of Appropriate Independence.

22 soar spring/summer 2018