Planning your meals

Planning your meals can help you:

• eat well
• budget (working out how much money to spend on food)
• manage your time to shop, cook and eat
• eat a wide variety of healthy foods from the five food groups.

Why good nutrition is important

• Nutrition is how the food you eat affects your health.
• As you get older, what you eat may change.
• This may be due to taste, appetite (how hungry you are), cost and how you live. 
• Food contains nutrients that give you energy. They help you do things each day.
• The main nutrients in food are carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals.
• Eating a balanced diet of different foods is important for good nutrition.

What a whole day of eating looks like

Each day, it is important to eat a variety of foods from the five major food groups. These are:

• dairy and alternatives
• fruit
• vegetables
• grains
• lean meat and alternatives.

Download ‘whole day of eating’ fact sheet