Last month USDA Four school districts are recognized For their work in improving the nutritional quality of their midday meals. Any easy feat, says Brandi Dreibelbis, with Chef Ann FoundationAn organization that helps schools transition from scratch to cooking
Shifting away from a system characterized by carbohydrate-heavy, frozen and fried foods can be a multi-year process, Dreibelbeis says, and it starts with an in-depth assessment. “[Is the district] Cooking anything at all? Are they buying everything pre-packaged?” Dribblebiss said. “Do you have equipment that you need to start cooking from scratch, even small things like cutting boards and knives? Some districts don’t have that.”
From there, small changes add up to make a big difference: More than 28 million lunches are served in U.S. schools every day, and for some students, that lunch is their The most nutritious food of the day. For schools with breakfast programs, evidence suggests that students score higher in school breakfasts Higher in exams. But the school is up against many roadblocks, from Staffing challenges per Rising food consumption.
Changing a school lunch program takes time, resources and commitment. Modern farmer We spoke to four trendsetting schools to find out how they’ve changed their school lunches, what’s working and what kids are saying about their new favorite foods.
Students in the Clear Lake Community School District learn more about their vegetable of the month: corn. (Photography submitted by Julie Udelhofen)
reduce stress
“I was just reading that One of six children have high blood pressure,” said Julie Udelhofen, director of food services for the Clear Lake Community School District in northern Iowa. “Sodium is a problem; so is sugar. We see it every day.”
For Udelhofen, the health of the approximately 1,450 children at her school is a top priority, with sodium a particular issue. To combat the rise in sodium, Udelhofen made two major changes. First, she moved away from pre-packaged and frozen foods as much as possible and sourced local fruits and vegetables, conducting taste-tests with her students. “We did beets, kohlrabi, rutabaga and parsnips. We had all kinds of radishes, and about 10 kinds of peppers, and the kids went down the line and picked the ones they liked,” Udelhofen said. The key, he says, is to introduce these foods in a low-stress environment, making it a kind of game. “It A lot of fun, because the kids are totally invested in it. They’ll stop and taste things and talk to us.”
Behind the scenes, Udelhofen and his team have drastically reduced sodium levels by creating their own spice mix, which has been a big hit with kids. “It’s one of the best things we do, especially in middle school and high school.” They offer a garlic and herb blend with Greek and Italian spices that kids can add to their meals, without the heaping helpings of sodium from traditional mixes.
In the Sandy Valley School District, staff prepare prepackaged fruit and vegetable pouches for children to eat and snack on. (Photograph submitted by Tina Kindleberger)
Broccoli for breakfast
Most adults probably aren’t eating broccoli at breakfast, but somehow, Tina Kindleberger, food service supervisor for the Sandy Valley Local School District in eastern Ohio, has turned her school’s kids into broccoli fanatics.
“It’s so beautiful when they do that,” says Kindleberger. “I see kids walking in here with packets of broccoli, and it’s 7:30 in the morning.”
Kindleberger first began changing her team’s cooking from scratch by making raw fruits and vegetables available to children at every meal. Instead of changing everything they cook at once, they added packages of produce to a case in the cafeteria, such as carrot sticks, tomatoes, snap peas, bananas, apples and, yes, broccoli. “The kids seem excited when we figure out new things and try new things. I got plums out one day, and I couldn’t believe how many kids asked me what they were. “They’ve never seen a plum,” Kindleberger said. But they’re now ready to use these raw fruits and vegetables, which means they’re more willing to try cooked options as the district moves toward cooking.
Kindleberger and his team feed about 700 students a day from kindergarten through high school, and each age group has different tastes and preferences. For him, the first step in changing the menu was to consult the kids. “I meet [students] regularly, and we get a lot of feedback,” she says One request, from older students, was a breakfast smoothie station. So, Kindleburger got a grant for a blender and now has fresh fruit smoothies. “The biggest thing is to get your kids involved, get their opinion, because it’s important. They want to be heard.”
Carlee Johnson McIntosh has made several changes to her school breakfast program, including adding a grab-and-go fruit station. (Photography submitted by Carly Johnson McIntosh)
Spaghetti and moose balls
Local cuisine in some parts of Alaska is very different compared to the rest of the United States. While many school districts are making do with beef and potatoes, Carly Johnson McIntosh, director of food services for the Petersburg School District in Southeast Alaska, has a freezer full of sockeye salmon and moose meat. For him, working with local farmers sometimes means delivering food by boat from neighboring island farms.
Her commitment to eating and preparing local food began at a young age; Johnson McIntosh has allergies and is always looking for ways to relieve and control his symptoms, so he becomes interested in what he eats. Now that she oversees the 450 students at her school, she is especially committed to ensuring they have high-quality and freshly prepared options. She has spent the past decade advocating for changes at the school level, from changing when kids can eat breakfast to updating kitchen facilities to allow more scratch cooking.
“Earlier, mealtimes were together. Breakfast was before school and almost no one came. Now, we’re after hours,” and kids actually show up for breakfast, she says. She had to push the district to buy more raw food and certify her staff to do more than just reheat frozen packages. “My first step was was to talk to our health authorities and see where our deficiencies are. Why are we not adequately meeting a restaurant standard? We are feeding a vulnerable population, so we should maintain the same standard [as other facilities]”
This required some creativity on his part. While previous frozen options might have been chicken nuggets, for Johnson McIntosh, local proteins are more likely to be moose, herring roe or sockeye salmon. So, that’s what they have. Now, kids are eating mousse stroganoff or spaghetti and mousse-balls with a daily salad bar.
At RSU89, staff engage students in taste tests to try new recipes. And you even get a sticker for participating. (Photograph submitted by Denise Tapley-Proctor)
One bite policy
Not every new menu item is going to be a hit. Denise Tapley-Proctor, director of food services for Maine’s Regional School District 89, knows this well. As she’s led her team to cook from scratch, there have been some fantastic wins and some less-than-stellar reviews. “We did a vegetable panini that the adults in the school system really liked and the high school kids did just fine. But the little kids were like, ‘No, don’t put vegetables on my grilled cheese.’ It was just a no-go.”
But that’s all part of the process, Tapley-Proctor said. An employee on his food service team instituted a “no thank you bite” policy when introducing a meal of the month. You don’t have to eat the whole thing, but you do have to take a bite to try it. Plus, you get a sticker if you do.
The one-bite policy has been a huge help for Tapley-Proctor and team as they feed about 225 students a day. This allows them to take a gradual approach with the change, phasing in one new food or even one new ingredient at a time.
“Instead of bringing in a box of instant potatoes, see how long it takes and how good the taste is. [to make your own],” she says. “If we have leftover rolls from the day before we don’t serve the kids, if you cut them up and throw some spices on them, bake them in the oven, you have homemade croutons and the kids are excited to put them on top of their meals. It’s small. Things that lead to great things.”
They began working with local farmers, teaching children how to grow plants. “We’ve learned that if kids have a stake in it in some way, like if they grow the food, they want to eat it,” she says. They grew tomatoes in the school’s garden, then used the after-school program to make salsa, which went on the menu the next day. “The kids were like, ‘This is our salsa,'” she says.
Tapley-Proctor says it’s a process for employees, too. She helped them get training from the Chef Ann Foundation on kitchen skills and learning new recipes. But even with the extra effort, she says the feedback from the kids makes it worth it. When served a chicken pot pie, one student told them it “made her tummy happy.” Another boy was having a bad day, then ate some fresh watermelon with lunch. “It makes me think of summer and fireworks,” he said. “She went from a bad mental health day to a good mental health day because of the food.”
A typical lunch tray in the Sandy Valley School District. (Photograph submitted by Tina Kindleberger)
Care about your cafeteria? Here’s how to get involved
The USDA will finalize proposed school lunch legislation this month, including updates to its nutritional standards and exceptions for local and traditional foods. in Suggested changes, schools will be required to reduce sodium levels, limit added sugars and be allowed to use minimally processed locally grown, raised or caught foods on their menus. Will update Phasedly over the next five yearsThe first changes to the menu come in fall 2024
If you have kids in school and are interested in helping make a difference in your own district, everyone Modern farmer I recommend contacting your school’s food service director to find out what foods the school is working to introduce to children and how. They are the ones who feed your children every day and can talk about their nutritional goals. Some schools will even welcome parents to join their children at lunchtime, to get a first-hand look at what’s on offer.
You can get involved at the state level, such as organizing campaigns around Healthy school meals for all. For a list of what’s happening in your state, check out This map from the National Farm to School Network.
And if you work in a school district, Dreibelbis suggests you switch to cooking from scratch one step at a time. Take a cafeteria classic: boxed macaroni and cheese. You can change one ingredient at a time, such as buying a pre-mixed cheese sauce but cooking your own pasta. Once that is second nature, add one more ingredient. “If you’re making something like homemade cheese sauce, you’re using flour, butter, milk, cheese and salt. And there alone, you’re probably going from 30 ingredients to five.”
