Setting Up Meals - Step 2 - Adding Provisions

This guide takes you through the second step to setting up a meal in Arbor, adding meal provisions. Provisions are the different choices that can be selected for a student or staff member on your meal register. For instance, a packed lunch, jacket potatoes or a generic hot meal provided by the school.

This guide is the third in a series of eight. The other guides in this series are:

• Setting Up Meals - Introduction
• Setting Up Meals - Step 1 - Adding a Meal
• Setting Up Meals - Step 2 - Adding Provisions
• Setting Up Meals - Step 3 - Adding Prices
• Setting Up Meals - Step 4 - Scheduling Meal Sittings
• Setting Up Meals - Step 5 - Managing Attendees
• Setting Up Meals - Optional - Regular Meal Choices
• Setting Up Meals - Frequently Asked Questions and Further Reading
   

Adding Provisions 

Provisions are the types of meals available to students or staff. All options should be labelled here with a meal price(s) attached. 

You can think of Meal Provisions as the meal choices you can select for people when taking the meal register within the meal you set up in Step 1 of this series of guides.

Setting up a new provision

To set up a provision:

• Navigate to School > Meals > [on the left-hand side] Setup (if you are not there already) 

• Click on the 'Provisions' option in the section of the meal you want to add a Provision to

  

• Click on the green Add Provisions button to open a slide-over.
  
• In the slide-over, you need to enter details about the provision. The sections you will see on the slide-over are:
   
  • Meal - This section shows the name of the meal you are adding the Provision to. In the example screenshot below, Lunch is what we have called our overall meal.
  • Meal provision name - This is where you enter what you will call the meal choice, for example, School Lunch or Staff Meal. You see this provision name when adding or editing meal choices on meal registers, so try to use names that are easily recognised and understood.
  • Meal type - Select from the option whose description best fits the provision. In the above example, we have selected 'A hot meal prepared by the school'. Make sure you add an absent meal type so students who are not present will not be charged. The available types are:
     
    • Absent (no meal) - This provision type is applied to students who are absent for a meal. This meal type is automatically applied to students who are marked as absent on a lesson register in an event immediately before a meal if you choose to charge for a meal based on attendance.
    • A hot meal prepared by the school - This provision type is used for hot meals that you provide for students or staff, like a generic hot meal option or something specific, like a jacket potato.
    • A packed meal prepared by the school - This provision type is used for cold meals that you provide for students or staff, like a generic cold meal option or something specific, like a sandwich.
    • A packed meal that the student has brought with them - This provision type is used for meals that students have brought to school themselves, allowing you to mark them as present for a Meal without charging them.

• Lastly, click on the green 'Add Provision' button.

Repeat these steps until you have added all of the provisions you need.

Editing provisions

If you need to edit or change a provision once you have added it:

• Click on the provision from the list on the School > Meals > [from the left-hand side] Setup > Provisions page
• Click on Meal Provision Name on the next page
• Make your edits on the slide-over.
• Click Save Changes to confirm your changes 

Suggested Provisions

Depending on the context of your school's meals, Arbor suggests setting up these provisions:

1. School Meal/Hot Meal/Cold Meal options - These are the meal options the school provides for students. In the next step of your meal setup (Setting Up Meals - Step 3 - Adding Prices), you can set different prices for students who should pay and students (such as Free School Meal or FSM where the price should be £0).
   • You can create as many provisions as needed, but once used, they can't be hidden or deleted. To keep things organised, it's best to set up generic provisions if daily dishes vary. 
     
     Use names like Hot Meal 1 and Cold Meal 2, or Blue Meal and Red Meal, instead of listing every possible variation of a meal choice separately. This reduces scrolling for staff when completing the meal register.
      
   • You do not need to set different provisions for different prices of the same item, as you set prices in the next step of the setup.
      
   • Typically, you use the A hot meal prepared by the school or A packed meal prepared by the school meal types for these options
      
2. Absent - This provision indicates that a child is absent; Arbor will automatically remove the meal from their record for the day when this provision is set. Arbor picks up any children who are not in and gives them this provision, which typically will not have a price and therefore does not charge the child. 
   
   If you wish to charge students who are absent, a price needs to be set against the absent provision in the next step of your meal setup: Setting Up Meals - Step 3 - Adding Prices
    
3. Packed Lunch - This is a provision for students who bring their own lunch to school from home. No price will need to be given.
    
4. Staff Meal:
   • If you use Meal Menus, or all your staff pay the same amount, do not set up different provisions for staff meals - you can set up your staff price in the next step.
   • If you have two prices for staff, one paid for and one on duty (free), you'll need two provisions so each staff member can choose depending on their schedule.

Note: If you are a school that has fixed choices every day, then you can set separate provisions for clearer records for the kitchen and finances, e.g. 'Jacket Potato', or 'Sandwiches'. You may also have a provision for packed lunches provided by the school for school trips.

Once you're happy with your provisions, you are ready to move on to the next step and the next guide in this series: Setting Up Meals - Step 3 - Adding Prices