Inside Albuquerque Schools’ Scratch Meal Effort

A shift is happening in school kitchens across New Mexico, and Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) is embracing the opportunity. Through expanded training programs and hands-on, interactive sessions with professional chefs, APS Food & Nutrition Services is preparing to significantly increase scratch made meals for students across the district.

Currently, APS prepares approximately 25–30% of meals using scratch cooking methods. By the start of the 2026–27 school year, the nutrition services teams plans to bump up that effort to about half of meals!

“We know it is time to replace the ultra-processed food and we are striving to provide ‘real food’ for our students,” said Marie E. Johnson, MS, CCNP, CMP, SNS, Executive Director of Food & Nutrition Services for APS.

In early April, APS took a major step toward that goal through a hands-on training program with chefs from Brigaid, an organization that partners with institutional foodservice programs to strengthen culinary operations and expand scratch cooking. About 60 APS staff members, including area managers, site supervisors and cooks, participated in the training at the district’s central kitchen. The chefs guided teams through preparing dishes that will eventually appear on school menus, including a traditional calabacitas squash dish as well as cornbread, pico de gallo, Sloppy Joe’s and pancakes with a cinnamon swirl.

The training was sponsored by the New Mexico Public Education Department’s Student Success and Wellness Bureau to help districts prepare for the scratch cooking requirements tied to the state new mandate. New Mexico’s Healthy Universal School Meals mandate requires participating school districts receiving additional state funding to serve at least 50% of all meal components in a scratch or speed scratch form. The initiative goes far beyond recipes and cooking techniques. It is centered around four pillars: Increase scratch cooking; Prioritize student choice; Incorporate locally grown New Mexico ingredients; Improve food waste management.

Training has played a critical role in preparing staff for the transition. Since 2023, New Mexico’s Public Education Department Student Success & Wellness Bureau has invested heavily in helping school nutrition professionals build the skills needed for success in scratch cooking kitchens.

According to Johnson, working with professional chefs has transformed how many employees view their roles.

“Professional chefs have elevated us in New Mexico to truly become school nutrition professionals and no longer do we identify as lunch ladies or dudes,” she said.

The training has focused on practical kitchen fundamentals, including knife skills, flavor development and recipe execution. Johnson believes one of the most valuable lessons has been learning to trust standardized recipes and understanding that simplicity often produces the best results.

Johnson identified staffing and skill development as one of the biggest hurdles, but said the district is committed to supporting employees every step of the way.

“We are taking the training in phases, leaving no one behind,” she said.

The response from staff has been overwhelmingly positive, with frontline team members and operational leaders embracing the opportunity to grow professionally while improving meals for students.

Students will see the impact of the changes immediately when the new school year begins. APS plans to welcome students back with freshly baked, scratch-prepared muffins at breakfast and homemade pizza at lunch across all 142 school sites, and will continue expanding its offerings using the recipes learned during the training.