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Keeping MS Students Excited with New Menu Options

Scratch-made tomato bisque, charcuterie trays and peanut butter yogurt dip are just a few of the new offerings on the menu for students of DeSoto County Schools in Mississippi. This year, Child Nutrition Director Alex Hallmark hired a registered dietitian and worked with the district’s nutrition team to update breakfast and lunch options so the students would not get bored with school meals. Student feedback has been so positive, that many of the dishes are being served regularly, with new ideas in the works for the future.

Iron Chef Breakfast Competition in NY School

Hosting Iron Chef-style competitions has become an anticipated special event for Mechanicville City School District students in New York. Deborah Mackey, Food Service Director in the district, helps to put on about four each year, typically giving student teams a specific ingredient to include for a lunch dish. Past competitions have featured locally grown beef and apples, but the focus has never previously been on breakfast.

Mackey introduced the idea recently and held a breakfast competition to lead up to National School Breakfast Week (NSBW), a great opportunity for students to try new menu items and focus on the importance of breakfast.

Breakfast is a Welcome Addition to School Routines

School breakfast offers quick and easy solutions for families to make sure students start their rushed mornings with a balanced meal. This year, an increasing number of students have access to free breakfast as more states are providing meals at no cost for all students. Schools in Pennsylvania and Connecticut are seeing great benefits from students and their teachers.

According to Kristina Roberge, Food Service Coordinator for Groton Public Schools (CT), parents say their children want to get to school with plenty of time to head to the cafeteria for breakfast.

Student Volunteers Show Appreciation to Food Servers

Seventh and eighth-graders in Donegal Junior High School (PA) found a hands-on way to recognize the friendly faces in their school cafeteria last month. Members of the Builders Club, a student-led organization providing opportunities to perform service, build character and develop leadership skills, asked their advisor if they could volunteer with the Donegal School District nutrition team and assist them with lunch and breakfast service.

The Builders Club, a middle school division of the Key Club, used the national theme of “Be Kind to Food Servers Month” to show their appreciation for the nutrition team for the second year in a row.

Colorado Students Enjoy Scratch Baked Foods

Students in Cherry Creek School District 5 (Colorado) enjoy sandwiches on fresh bread, granola in their parfaits and dinner rolls with their salad made fresh from scratch by members of the nutrition team. For more than five decades, the district southeast of Denver has been making in-house baked goods to serve students. The bakers make everything from whole wheat bread and streusel breakfast bread to cinnamon rolls, cornbread and crumble topping for fresh apple crisp. Through the years, recipes have been adjusted and new items have been added to the menu.

Composting in Montana Cafeterias

With several elementary schools in Bozeman School District 7 (Montana) successfully composting for a few years, the district’s nutrition department teamed up with a local business to bring composting to all 12 of its cafeterias and central kitchen facility this year.

Since the start of this school year, more than 27,000 pounds of food scraps have been collected and diverted from the landfill. The nutrition department now uses biodegradable paper products that can also be composted.

School Cafeterias Celebrate the Holidays

Holiday sights, sounds and smells are buzzing in school kitchens and cafeterias across the country! From school nutrition staff in Texas wearing matching shirts with holiday messages, to students making latkes to share with classmates in Massachusetts and gingerbread cookie making in Georgia, holiday celebrations entail long traditions as well as new ways to get festive.

Lunch Lady Book Written from the Cafeteria with Love

An invitation for the nutrition services director at Byron Center Schools in Michigan to be a guest reader in a classroom prompted a yearlong labor of love. Vince Sturgis just couldn’t find the perfect book to read to students, so he went to work on writing a book to share what nutrition teams do every day.

The two main characters in Sturgis’ new book, “Lunch Ladies Changing Lives: It’s Crunch Time”, are modeled after his two grandmothers, Dollie and Alma, both former lunch ladies. The students on its cover are his three daughters, Sloane, Olivia and Aiyana.

School Lunch in a Coastal Maine Community

In between the healthy versions of tried-and-true kid favorites, menus at Maine’s RSU 23 feature specials to rival local lunch hot spots. Students can choose dishes including Chicken Bahn Mi style whole grain rice bowls and featured entree salads, like this month’s Autumn Salad of grilled chicken, cinnamon roasted butternut squash, goat cheese, blueberries and sunflower seeds over mixed greens with homemade maple balsamic dressing. The Food and Nutrition Services team prides itself on including made-in-Maine foods on breakfast and lunch menus every day for its 700 students in three schools along the pristine Maine coastline of Old Orchard Beach.

Sharing Gratitude in Cafeterias Across the US

From playground messages of thanks in Wisconsin, to holiday meals with special guests in Tennessee and notes of appreciation in Pennsylvania, celebrations of Thanksgiving in school cafeterias across the country centered around gratitude. Many schools opened their doors to community members to celebrate Thanksgiving, making meals with local ingredients and love, while other school nutrition teams felt the appreciation and thanks this holiday for their everyday efforts.