# Project 01: Feed a Family of Four on $40

**Unit:** Unit 1, Kitchen Skills and Smart Eating (Nutrition and Wellness)
**Topic:** 1.4 Plan, Shop, Cook: Meals on a Budget
**Runs across:** Lessons 1.18 (launch, plan, price), 1.19 (peer check), 1.20 (Budget Meal Lab), 1.21 (menu card, pitch, tasting gallery)
**Team:** the station team, about seven students
**Scored with:** `Rubric 01 - Feed a Family of Four.md` (five criteria, 20 points; the labs and projects category)

## Standards this project assesses

- NYS N&W 1. Culinary Management b) Demonstrate safety and sanitation procedures when handling food and equipment; d) Prepare a simple recipe; e) Plan a nutritious meal; g) Prepare and serve a simple meal; h) Demonstrate appropriate table setting; i) Practice food sharing behaviors that show consideration for other cultures and promote social acceptance
- NYS N&W 3. Consumer Resources and Finance a) Create and organize a shopping list; b) Describe and demonstrate food purchasing strategies that maximize the benefits of the food budget; c) Identify monetary influences on one's ability to select and purchase nutritious foods
- CTE FCL 4. Buying Goods and Services c) Develop a spending and savings plan (budget) based on income and expenses
- CTE HSW 4. Classroom and Workplace Safety c) Apply safety practices when using tools, machines, and equipment
- CTE PSI 2. Design Process (Proactive) a) c. Defining constraints that must be adhered to
- CTE CIR 1. Communication f) Demonstrate personal development of communication skills through practice of these skills in a variety of classroom applications
- CTE CIR 3. Workplace Communication f) Demonstrate effective communication skills in a group setting to accomplish a task
- NYS FACS Standard 1 (Intermediate), PI: Students understand the relationships among diet, health, and physical activities; evaluate their own eating patterns; and use appropriate technology and resources to make food selections and prepare simple, nutritious meals.; PI: Students apply principles of food safety and sanitation.
- NYS FACS Standard 3 (Intermediate), PI: Students are able to budget their time and money.
- CDOS 3a Universal Foundation Skills: Managing Resources; Interpersonal Skills
- National FCS 3.0: 14.3.1 Use current dietary guidelines to plan for nutrition and wellness needs.

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# The project sheet (student version)

Name: ______________________ Date: __________ Team: ______ Role: ______________

## The scenario

A family of four has $40 for tonight's dinner. That is $10 a person. They want to eat well. They have a few rules (your family card tells you what they are), a pantry with a few things already in it, and about 45 minutes to cook.

Your team is the family's meal planner. You will plan the dinner, price it to the penny from this week's store circular, check it against MyPlate, cook one dish from it in our kitchen, make a menu card, and pitch it to the class in sixty seconds. The class votes on which team's dinner best fits its family and its budget.

## The two budgets

- **$40** is the family's dinner. Four full servings, everything on the plate, priced from the circular. You pay for the whole package, not the spoonful you use. Pantry items on your family card cost $0.
- **$20** is the lab budget. That is what I can spend so your team can cook one dish from your plan for seven tasting portions in our kitchen. Your station card has to come in at $20 or under.

## The room's rules for the cooked dish

- No knives. Anything that needs cutting comes pre-cut, pre-shredded, or gets torn or shredded with two forks.
- Pre-cooked meat only (deli rotisserie chicken, frozen cooked meatballs, canned beans if no meat). You reheat it to 165 F. You do not cook raw meat.
- Stovetop and oven only. No frying.
- I handle the oven door and I drain the pasta. You call me.
- Twenty minutes of cooking time. If it takes longer, it is the wrong dish for the lab (it can still be on your $40 plan).

## What your team turns in

| Deliverable | What it is | When | Rubric criterion |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. The priced plan | The Project Plan Sheet: every dish, the MyPlate group for each, every item priced from the circular with the size, the unit, the quantity, the cost, and a running total at or under $40; the revision log with one sentence per change | Lesson 1.19, revised and signed | 1. The plan and the math |
| 2. The MyPlate check | The check on the plan sheet: which of the five groups the dinner covers (at least four), and proof that no rule on the family card is broken | Lesson 1.19 | 2. Nutrition and MyPlate |
| 3. The cooked dish | The station card your team wrote, and the dish cooked, plated, served at a set table, eaten, and cleaned up in 40 minutes with every safety rule kept | Lesson 1.20 | 3. The cooked dish, safety, and teamwork |
| 4. The menu card | The family, the dish names, the cost per person, one nutrition claim you can prove from the plan, one sentence on why this family would like it, and the allergen box | Lesson 1.21 | 4. The menu card |
| 5. The pitch | Sixty seconds, every teammate speaks, states the family, the total, the cost per person, the plate, and the reason to choose it; jingle optional | Lesson 1.21 | 5. The pitch |

Also in the folder, not scored on the rubric: the Peer Check Sheet your team filled for another team, your lab self-assessment, and your individual exit reflection from Lesson 1.21.

## Day by day

| Day | Lesson | What happens | Checkpoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.18 Day 1 | The $12 vs $38 hook. The brief. Roles. Your family card. Plan the dinner on the grid: a main, a vegetable, a grain, a fruit or second vegetable, a drink (water is free). Mark a pantry item. Circle the station dish. | Every dish has a MyPlate group; station dish fits the rules |
| 2 | 1.18 Day 2 | Guess the total. Price every line from the circular with a unit. Running total. MyPlate check. Revise until you are at or under $40 with four groups and no rule broken. Rough-cost the station dish against $20. | Teacher signs the total |
| 3 | 1.19 | Swap plans with another team. Check their arithmetic, units, cap, and plate. Give two comments. Get yours back. Revise. | Teacher signs the final total |
| 4 | 1.20 Day 1 | Write your station card from your plan: ingredients for seven tasting portions with cost, eight to ten steps, seven lab roles, a flowchart in five-minute blocks, safety reminders, "what does done look like." | Teacher approves the card and shops from it |
| 5 | 1.20 Day 2 | Cook. Prep 0 to 5, cook 5 to 25, plate and eat 25 to 32, clean and station check 32 to 40. Self-assess. | Station check signed |
| 6 | 1.21 | Menu card. Pitch planner. Sixty-second pitches. Gallery walk with tasting. Class vote. Exit reflection. | Folder complete |

## Team roles

Planning roles (Lessons 1.18, 1.19, 1.21). Every team has the four core roles. Teams of five to seven add the expansion roles in order.

| Role | Your job |
|---|---|
| Planner (core) | Runs the plan sheet. Reads the family card. Makes sure every dish has a group and the plate has four. |
| Shopper (core) | Owns the circular. Finds every price, size, and unit. Says "you pay for the whole package." |
| Nutrition Checker (core) | Runs the MyPlate check. Checks every dish against every rule on the family card. Writes the nutrition claim. |
| Presenter (core) | Owns the menu card and the pitch. Reports the totals. Stays at the station during the gallery walk. |
| Second Shopper (5th) | Prices the sides and the drink. Double checks the Shopper's units. |
| Recorder (6th) | Keeps the clean team copy. Writes the revision log. |
| Materials Manager (7th) | Runs the calculators and the running total. Keeps the circulars, cards, and pens in one place. |

Lab roles (Lesson 1.20 Day 2): Station Manager, Prep Lead, Cook Lead, Plate Captain, Clean Crew (two), Safety and Sanitation Checker. You choose these on Day 1 of the lab and write them on the station card. Nobody has to hold the same job in the plan and the lab.

## Where you get to choose

- **The family card.** Three families, three sets of rules. Your team gets one. Within the card, the dinner is yours.
- **The dishes.** Anything the family can eat, the circular sells, and $40 covers.
- **The station dish.** Any dish from your plan that fits the room's rules and $20. If yours cannot work, I have three fallback cards (a rice and bean bowl, pasta with vegetables and jarred sauce, chicken quesadillas) and you pick the closest one.
- **The pitch.** Spoken, sung, a recorded sixty-second video, a read script, or a drawn menu poster with a teammate explaining it. A jingle is welcome. The claim has to be true.

## Supports

- **Sentence starters** (the Turkish, Portuguese, and Spanish lines are marked [check with a native speaker] and Sal has translated versions of some of these already):

| English | Turkish | Portuguese | Spanish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Our family is ___. | Ailemiz ___. | Nossa família é ___. | Nuestra familia es ___. |
| Our dinner costs ___ for four, which is ___ per person. | Yemeğimiz dört kişi için ___ tutuyor, yani kişi başı ___. | Nosso jantar custa ___ para quatro pessoas, ou seja, ___ por pessoa. | Nuestra cena cuesta ___ para cuatro, es decir, ___ por persona. |
| This family cannot eat ___ because ___. | Bu aile ___ yiyemez çünkü ___. | Esta família não pode comer ___ porque ___. | Esta familia no puede comer ___ porque ___. |
| We chose ___ instead of ___ to save money. | Para tasarruf etmek için ___ yerine ___ seçtik. | Escolhemos ___ em vez de ___ para economizar dinheiro. | Elegimos ___ en lugar de ___ para ahorrar dinero. |
| This family would like it because ___. | Bu aile bunu sever çünkü ___. | Esta família gostaria porque ___. | A esta familia le gustaría porque ___. |
| Our plate has ___ groups: ___. | Tabağımızda ___ grup var: ___. | Nosso prato tem ___ grupos: ___. | Nuestro plato tiene ___ grupos: ___. |

- **The visual plan template.** On the back of the Project Plan Sheet: a paper plate drawn in five MyPlate sections, a box under each for the dish and its cost, and a running total box at the bottom. A team can plan on the plate first and copy to the table second.
- **Roles with less writing.** Materials Manager and Recorder carry the team without a public line. Any student who needs it can hold one of these in the plan and Plate Captain or Clean Crew in the lab.
- **Product choice for the pitch.** See "Where you get to choose."
- **Extended time.** The plan can finish at the start of the next lesson. The menu card can be started while the dish is plating on lab day.
- **A written lab alternative** if you are absent on lab day: a recipe analysis of your team's station card (what each step does, what could go wrong, what "done" looks like), per the grading plan.

## How it is scored

Rubric 01 has five criteria, each scored Not Yet (1), Approaching (2), Meets (3), or Exceeds (4), for 20 points. Your team fills the self-assessment row first; then I score. Criteria 1, 2, 4, and 5 are team scores. Criterion 3 (the cooked dish, safety, and teamwork) has a team part and an individual part: a safety violation in the lab is an individual zero on that day's participation, per the grading plan, and a conversation.

The project counts in the labs and projects category (40 percent of the marking period). A late project is accepted with a one-level drop on one criterion, never a zero.

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# Teacher notes on the project

- This is Sal's Feed a Family of Four on $40 from Brentwood and SEYS 536, spread across a 40-minute schedule with the checkpoints he said it needed. His original had the $12 vs $38 hook, the unit price and MyPlate mini lesson, the ingredient relay, team planning with flyers and the $40 cap, a peer math check, a pitch and jingle, a class vote, and an exit reflection. All of those are here except the ingredient relay, which is a MyPlate activity and belongs in Topic 1.3 (Lesson 1.10) rather than the project launch. [Sal: if you want the relay in the launch anyway, it fits in Lesson 1.18 Day 1 in place of the last five minutes of planning. Check with the Topic 1.3 lessons so it is not run twice.]
- Three families, three teams per class, one family per team. Two classes planning for the same family is fine; two teams in one class is not, because the vote becomes a taste contest.
- The $40 plan is for four full servings at home; the $20 station card is seven tasting portions of one dish. They are two different numbers on purpose. Students who confuse them are told: the $40 is the family's money; the $20 is mine.
- Budget for the unit plan: $20 per station, three stations per period, times the number of periods, plus about $8 per team for the fresh tasting item in Lesson 1.21 if leftovers cannot be used. Fallback dishes cost $11.05 to $17.64 per station [update from this week's circular].
- Prices in the handouts are realistic Long Island supermarket prices for September 2026 and every one is marked [update from this week's circular]. The unit price math still works if the prices change; only the answers in the teacher keys move.