Flexibility and adaptability are essential to the proper planning of meals. Rarely will you be able to use standard menus. The foods that are written into your ship's menu should vary as operating conditions vary. Even ships of the same type as yours, operating under the same conditions and in the same area, probably could not use exactly the same menus. The ability to adapt menus is a skill you must acquire.

The most important sources of guidance for menu planning are described in this section.

Food-Preparation Worksheet

The Food-Preparation Worksheet, NAVSUP Form 1090, is a very important document and should be properly maintained. This form serves as a written directive between the leading MS and the personnel on watch. A food-preparation worksheet should be prepared for each space in which food is prepared. The food-preparation worksheet will prove its worth to you when you use it regularly because it provides much information and guidance.

The worksheet helps reveal the strengths and weaknesses of the menu. When the preparation of the daily menu is plotted on a worksheet, weaknesses and bottlenecks stand out vividly. For example, you may find that all menu items are to be prepared in the same three steam-jacketed kettles or that the three main menu items are to be oven-prepared, each item requiring a different oven temperature.

The worksheet helps you plan and organize the work to be performed by your subordinates. The information written in the Start Preparation, Start Cooking, and Instructions columns will help subordinates plan their work. Careful planning avoids the problem of having too much food prepared ahead of serving time.

The worksheet helps you to supervise the work performed by your subordinates. As a written directive, the worksheet is your way of communicating instructions concerning the preparation of the day's menu to subordinates. You cannot depend on your memory nor can you expect subordinates to depend on their memory.

The worksheet helps you to train subordinates who will be responsible for a galley operation in the future. Discuss the worksheet with your watch captains so that they know exactly how the menu is to be prepared. Point out the supervisory techniques you want them to use in their working relations with the crew. After each meal, meet with your watch captain and key personnel to critique the meal. This is the ideal time to discuss the acceptability of menu items and to record the acceptability on the worksheet. The critique session provides the information essential to promote efficient operations.

If your personnel are accustomed to following a worksheet, give the watch captains the experience of developing one. Let each watch captain prepare the worksheet on a monthly basis, plan the day's work discuss premeal preparation, and hold postmeal critiques. Delegating the development of the worksheet to the watch captain is excellent training if the leading MS is readily available to advise, guide, and monitor discussions and critiques.

Finally, the worksheet serves as a means for establishing control of (1) issues to the GMs (the quantities posted on NAVSUP Forms 1059 or 1282 should agree with the quantities needed to prepare the number of portions specified), (2) the quantity of each menu item prepared, (3) the portion size served, and (4) leftover menu items. Completed worksheets on file provide the invaluable past history needed for establishing controls. The acceptability of menu items will determine the quantity to break out, quantity to prepare, and any change in portion size.

Acceptability Factors

Customer acceptability of the menu is a major goal of the menu planner. There is no set pattern to indicate what foods the patrons will eat and enjoy. An individual's food tastes may be influenced by many factors, such as likes and dislikes before entering the service, the foods one has learned to eat and enjoy during a service career, and the group of friends one eats with at mealtime. The menu planner should know the customers so that the meals planned will be well accepted. The following are ways that the menu planner can determine the acceptability of specific foods in the mess.

A food acceptance factor is one that expresses the percentage of people who eat a particular dish. To obtain an acceptability factor for individual menu items, divide the number of portions of the item served by the number of patrons in attendance at the meal.

Keep a record of menu item acceptance on the Food-Preparation Worksheet, NAVSUP Form 1090, the individual recipe card, or the Index of Recipes.

An acceptance factor is a valuable index of the popularity of menu items and should be used for this purpose after an item has been tested at several meals. Acceptance factors for the same menu item may vary from meal to meal. Different combinations of foods on a menu, different weather, or varying appetites may alter the acceptance of an item. A more accurate acceptance factor may result by averaging figures obtained for a particular menu over a period of time.

Another way to determine acceptability is to keep a systematic check on plate or tray waste. This should be recorded on the food-preparation worksheet. (See fi 7-2 nd 7-3.)

Good food acceptance means less plate waste and fewer leftovers to account for in planning future meals. Even popular foods may become monotonous if served too often.