Seasonal and Cultural Menus Begin with the end in mind Sandy Curwood, RDN, MS Director, Child Nutrition Services Conejo Valley Unified School District

School Food School is an ideal setting to promote health because of the amount of time that children spend at school each day. School meals support nutrition by offering healthy meals served by caring staff, with an education reinforcement environment (marketing materials), and modeling healthy behavior.

Menu Planning Recipe Development Procurement Production

Menu Planning Menu planning begins with what you want to accomplish: Healthy meals students will enjoy Comply with the NSLP guidelines Meet budget parameters for your district Can be done with staff capacity, facilities, and equipment that you have

Salad Bar to Enhance Vegetable Subgroup Offerings Salad bars can offer vegetable subgroups: Fruit Seasonal crops Marketing opportunity with signage Educational materials Align with the other meal components Harvest of the month recipes Specialty salad

My Plate: My Tray

Recipe Development Fresh, seasonal ingredients What is available in your region? Utilize already standardized, kid-tested recipes USDA Foods – stretch your food dollars

Plant Part Salad- Connects to the Classroom

Seasonal and Cultural Recipes Take base recipe and add cultural components

Why Eat More Fruits and Vegetables? Low in sodium Eating fruit may lower the risk of heart disease Provides antioxidants Source of key nutrients Local produce is fresh

Benefits of Using Local Produce Sustainability – Seasonality Increased varieties of crops Keeping food dollars in our local economy Less transportation reduces fuel use (carbon footprint) Less packaging Preserves open space Connects you with your community Good marketing tool

Benefits of Scratch Cooking Health: Control content of sugar, salt, and sodium Known ingredients Better taste Environmental benefits: Less packaging Use local produce

Scratch vs. Purchase Comparison Scratch made Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich vs. Uncrustables Scratch (4.8 oz) = $0.42/sandwich Loaf of bread = $ 2.00 (28 slices, 2 slices per sandwich) = $.14/sandwich Jelly Jar = $45.27 for 6, #10 cans. $7.54 per can (can contains 128, 1 oz servings) = $.07/sandwich Peanut Butter Jar $ for 6, 5# pails. $8.66per pail (pail contains 40, 2 oz servings) = $.21/sandwich Uncrustable (2.04 oz) = $0.74/sandwich Scratch Peanut Butter and Jelly (4.8oz) Uncrustable (2.04oz) Uncrustable X 2 (4.8 oz) Price/Serving$0.42$0.74$1.50 Total Calories Total Fat29.96g15g30g Saturated Fat5.92g2 g4g Sodium469mg310mg620mg

Scratch vs. Purchase Comparison Scratch Pizza (186g/6.5oz) Premade Tonys (147g/5.2oz) Premade Tony X 1.26 (186g/6.5oz) Price/Serving$0.74$1.01$1.27 Total Calories Total Fat14.18g16g20.16g Saturated Fat7.28g8g10.08g Sodium mg730mg919mg

Procurement MenuRecipesProcurement Writing specifications Create bid document Establish deliveries

The BIG Production: Pulling It All Together Use menus and recipes to build menu production worksheets Consider staff, meal times, and flow of kitchen Create production schedules Aggregate prep to have items ready for daily production

The Opportunity: Our Work Making school lunch the Meal of Choice Providing access to healthy foods Providing learning opportunities for students to make healthy choices Giving children hands-on experiences with fresh fruits and vegetables Teaching children the agricultural foundation of their food Building a relationship between the school community and local agriculture Supporting parents as they promote healthy choices with their children Promoting buying in-season and local sustainably grown produce

Conclusion Promoting healthy eating is entirely consistent with the fundamental mission of schools: educating young people to become healthy, productive citizens who can make meaningful contributions to society. Weschsler, H., McKenna, M., Lee, S., & Dietz, W. (2004, December). Role of schools in preventing childhood obesity. Retrieved from