PantryTec resources
Senior Care Menu Resources
Guides, state rules and reference pages for administrators, dietary managers and certified dietary managers who run menus in licensed senior care. Every guide below is free to read, and new guides are added here as they publish.
Menu compliance and state rules
What surveyors check, who must sign your menus, and how long records stay on file.
How to pass a CMS dietary survey
CMS 42 CFR §483.60, the menu F-tags and the documentation checklist behind a clean dietary survey.
Menu requirements by state
Who must sign assisted living cycle menus, when menus must be posted and how long menus as served stay on file.
Group home vs ALF menu rules
How group home and adult day care menu rules differ from assisted living rules, including CACFP meal patterns.
Cycle menu planning
How a compliant cycle menu is built, reviewed and run in a senior care kitchen.
How to plan a senior living cycle menu
Rotation length, standardized recipes, DRI nutrient analysis and the dated RD signature surveyors ask to see.
Dietary management guide for ALF administrators
Menu planning, therapeutic diets, food costs and compliance for assisted living leadership.
Free sample menus
Print-ready sample menus by facility type and therapeutic diet, with no email required.
Therapeutic and texture-modified diets
Diet menus reviewed by Bridget MacDonald, RD. Start with the therapeutic diet menus guide, or go straight to a diet.
- Renal
- Low sodium
- Cardiac (AHA)
- Diabetic consistent carbohydrate
- High calorie
- Puree (IDDSI Level 4)
- Minced and moist (IDDSI Level 5)
- Soft and bite-sized (IDDSI Level 6)
- Finger foods for dementia
Menus by facility type
Menu requirements change with the license you hold. See the facility type overview, or pick a setting.
- Assisted living
- Memory care
- Nursing homes and SNFs
- Independent living
- CCRCs
- Group homes
- Board and care homes
- Personal care homes
- California RCFEs
- Adult day care
- Hospice care
- Veterans homes
Costs and comparisons
What menu planning costs, and how the main approaches and providers compare.
Hiring a dietitian vs a menu service
Costs, compliance coverage and fit for each option in 2026.
Menu software vs done-for-you service
Cost, staff time and dietitian oversight compared side by side.
Best cycle menu providers in 2026
How to evaluate providers on pricing model, dietitian approval and therapeutic diet depth.
Reference
Senior care dietary glossary A to Z
40+ menu, therapeutic diet and IDDSI terms, each mapped to the CMS F-tag it relates to.
Bridget MacDonald, RD
The registered dietitian who reviews PantryTec menus and signs the RD Approval Letters.
Want the menus, not just the guides?
PantryTec delivers dietitian-approved cycle menus with the RD Approval Letter included. Start with a free sample menu.
Resource library last updated September 2026.