Meal Matching | Food Standards Scotland

Meal Matching

Learning about individual foods that make up meals and exploring food assurance schemes and a healthy recipe.

This activity requires food cards. Contact us to find out more about how to get food cards for your school.

Food card activity

45-60 minutes

P5–P7

CfE Experiences and Outcomes

HWB 2-35a - When preparing and cooking a variety of foods, I am becoming aware of the journeys which foods make from source to consumer, their seasonality, their local availability and their sustainability.
HWB 2-15a - I am developing my understanding of the human body and can use this knowledge to maintain and improve my wellbeing and health.
LIT 2-14a - Using what I know about the features of different types of text, I can find, select and sort information from a variety of sources and use this for different purposes.
LIT 2-26a - By considering the type of text I am creating, I can select ideas and relevant information, organise these in an appropriate way for my purpose and use suitable vocabulary for my audience.
SOC 2-20a - Through exploring ethical trading, I can understand how people’s basic needs are the same around the world, discussing why some societies are more able to meet these needs than others.

*If your school does not have a set of Food Cards, please request them from us at resources@fss.scot.

Choose meal cards from Food Cards pack and find some of the food components of these meals on cards within the pack.
Photocopy recipe template and food assurance symbols.
Prepare, or have the pupils bring in as part of previous week’s homework, samples of simple recipes.
Divide class into smaller groups; group size dependent on age and ability.

Literacy – Writing – Recipes

Social Studies – People in society

Economy and business – Ethical trading within Scotland

Each group is given a meal card (e.g. ‘Salmon, couscous and vegetables’).
Find the individual foods that go together to make up that meal from a further selection of cards given to each group.
Come back together as class and allow each group time to feed back their ideas.
Introduce food assurance logos – with fact sheet or research on computers.
Ask the pupils where they might have seen these logos, and what they think they mean.
Briefly explain to the pupils the importance of each logo and on which foods it might be found – show examples on food packaging or photos.
Back in groups, pupils decide which foods in their meal they would look for assurance logos on – match the logos to food cards.
As a whole class, look over the selection of recipes brought in – highlight key features such as ingredients, equipment and method.
Pupils choose a meal from selected meal cards and, using recipe template, have a go at writing a recipe for the meal, identifying which foods may be part of a food assurance scheme.
If possible, during a future session, allow pupils to try out recipes they have written and edit them where necessary, encouraging pupils to see the importance of trying out their ideas.

DO – Can pupils identify cards with individual foods on them?

SAY – Can pupils suggest which foods we might find food assurance logos on?

WRITE – Do pupils select relevant information to create their own recipe?

Consider CfE Benchmarks, for example:

Identifies factors that may influence food choice, for example, religious, cultural, geographical, ethical factors.

Support

Meal cards can be included which only contain two or three different foods.
A word bank for recipe writing can be given to pupils requiring more support with writing.
Alternatively, a recipe could be given to pupils who require more support, ready typed and cut into steps - the pupils must then sequence the steps appropriately.

Challenge

Pupils can be given less support when writing their recipes and expected to use a wider range of vocabulary to describe their them.
Pupils could research further food assurance schemes.