1. Mt. Diablo Unified School District
Menu Planning
Mt. Diablo Unified School District

2. Statistics about Mt. Diablo Unified
Pre-K through Adult Education
50 schools, 31,654 students
30 elementary schools
9 middle schools
5 high schools
5 necessary small high schools
1 Bridge program for disabled adults age 19 to 22
13,040 lunches/day
5,000 breakfasts/day
1,410 suppers/day
1,856 snacks/day
Summer program varies 10 to 20 sites

3. Menu Planning Use Menu Planning software:
it lets you know if you have met the HHFKA requirements. It identifies daily requirements and weekly requirements.

4. Use cycle menus:
This reduces your planning work and enables you to easily make seasonal changes.
Cycle menus also assist the sites in ordering and using partial cases that are left over.
“Meatless Monday”, “Try It Tuesday”, “California Thursday”

5. Tips All fruits and vegetables ½ cup:
That way no matter what the student takes, it qualifies as a fruit/vegetable.
USDA Foods: Menu less expensive items daily for your mandatory ½ cup F/V.
Salad Bars are a wonderful way to serve fruits and vegetables. If you put out 6 ounce boats on the salad bar, the student can take a little of multiple items and have their ½ cup total.
Whole number meal pattern contributions:
It is simpler to plan menus if you try to maintain consistency. We make every entrée 2 m/ma and 2 g/b. It is very difficult to work with ½ grain or ½ meat/meat alternate.

6. LET'S MOVE SALAD BARS TO SCHOOLS
We donate salad bars to schools so that every child across our nation has daily access to fresh fruits and vegetables
We have received 16 salad bars from Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools!

7. Determining What to Menu
Taste Tests and Student Feedback

8. Menu Meetings
2. Involve your staff in menu planning

9. 3. Involve Students and Parents

10. They don’t know what you do if you don’t tell them!
4. Marketing
They don’t know what you do if you don’t tell them!

11. Take Away Points Plan menus ONCE by using cycle menus
Use computer software to confirm that your menus meet USDA requirements
Get input from your:
Staff (consider difficulty in serving the menu, get their “buy in”)
Students
Parents
Market your program:
The community doesn’t know the wonderful work you do unless you let them know!

12. Now get out there and steal somebody’s great ideas!