Skills for Life: Food Planning and Preparation
Food planning and preparation is a Pearson Skills for Life unit in which learners plan and prepare a meal, from a simple meal with different types of food at Entry 1 to a costed, balanced and sustainable two-course meal for specific dietary needs at Level 2. It is one 20 hour unit that learners combine with others into a Pearson Skills for Life Award, Certificate or Diploma at Entry 1 to Level 2, internally assessed and graded Pass or Fail. Numeracy sits in keeping to a given budget and costing the meal, with weighing, measuring and portion sizes suggested. Literacy sits in following instructions and recipes, writing planning documents, and explaining why the meal meets dietary needs.
- Awarding body
- Pearson
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 20
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of literacy work
- Medium
- Amount of numeracy work
- Medium
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): One assessment criterion at each of Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3: plan and prepare a simple meal that includes different types of food, with a basic nutritious meal within a given budget at Entry 3. Evidence is from centre devised assignments (Pearson's Authorised Assignment Brief can be used or adapted), internally assessed by the centre and quality assured by Pearson standards verification. Graded Pass or Fail. 20 guided learning hours.
- Level 1 and Level 2: One assessment criterion at each of Level 1 and Level 2: plan and prepare a nutritious, balanced two-course meal within a given budget (Level 1), or plan, cost and prepare a nutritious, balanced and sustainable two-course meal that meets specific dietary needs (Level 2). Evidence is from centre devised assignments, internally assessed by the centre and quality assured by Pearson standards verification. Graded Pass or Fail. 20 guided learning hours.
Skills that use Vocabulary, spelling, grammar
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Explaining why a meal meets dietary needs
Level 1 learners describe why their meal meets specific dietary needs, and Level 2 learners explain why it meets specific dietary needs, such as a vegetarian or allergy free diet. Entry learners identify how the meal is balanced. This is required in the essential information for assessment decisions and the Level 2 criterion.
Literacy: Planning and organising for different purposes, audiences and context, Vocabulary, spelling, grammar
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils label a plate of food with its food groups using the Eatwell Guide and say why it is balanced.
- Year 8
- Pupils write a short paragraph explaining how a menu suits a vegetarian, using the words protein and nutrients.
- Year 9
- Pupils explain in writing how their two-course meal meets the needs of a guest with coeliac disease, naming the ingredients they swapped and why.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Unit SfL 13, Assessment criteria, Level 2, page 64; Essential information for assessment decisions, Level 1 and Level 2, pages 65 to 66
“can explain why their meal meets specific dietary needs”
Progression step 3
I can write a comprehensive account of a topic, theme or viewpoint.
I can use varied, appropriate and precise vocabulary including area of learning and experience/discipline-specific words for different purposes.
Progression step 4
I can use summary, discussion of issues, detailed explanations and logic when covering a topic.
I have experienced a range of area of learning and experience/discipline-specific and general academic vocabulary, and can use them in my own communication.
Good to know
- The unit is Unit SfL 13 with "20" guided learning hours in the unit summary (Section 3, page 5).
- A Pearson unit is achieved at one level only: "Learners can only achieve each unit once, at a single level" (Rules of Combination, page 6).
- Evidence can be written, spoken or visual: "For this unit there are no mandatory evidence requirements and centres can select the type of evidence" (Essential information for assessment decisions, page 65).
- The budget is set by the centre: Entry 3 and Level 1 learners work "within a given budget", and only Level 2 asks learners to "cost" the meal (Assessment criteria, page 64).
- Planning must be written down at Level 1: "Learner's planning documents will show a consideration of variety of ingredients and waste reduction" (Essential information, Level 1, page 65).
- Work must be in the learner's own words: "If AI is used, the final submission must be in the learner's own words and reflect their own effort" (Requirements relating to permitted/prohibited resources, page 67).
- Annexe E moves straight from SfL 5 to SfL 18 (page 172), so this unit has no Annexe E evidence row despite the unit text pointing to it (page 67).
Links with other qualifications
Reading recipes, explaining dietary needs and costing dishes are shared with WJEC GCSE Food and Nutrition, the WJEC VCSE in Hospitality and Catering and the WJEC Foundation in Hospitality and Catering, which ask for the same skills in more depth, and costing within a budget links with WJEC GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy. Compared with the WJEC Food planning and preparation unit, also 20 hours, Pearson sets one criterion per level built around a single planned and cooked meal, adds a given budget from Entry 3 and asks for costing only at Level 2, while WJEC spreads describing and explaining across four learning outcomes on nutrition, meal planning, preparation, and food storage and hygiene. The WJEC Skills Suite units Financial literacy and Healthy lifestyle share the budgeting and healthy eating work.
Source: Pearson Entry Level 1 to Level 2 Skills for Life Award, Certificate and Diploma Qualifications specification, Issue 1, August 2026, Unit SfL 13: Food planning and preparation.