The district is using funds from the Healthy School Lunch Incentive to add homemade options to the menu. | Photo: Shutterstock
During lunch one day at Katahdin School Regional School Unit (RSU 89) in Staceyville, Maine, Food Services Director Dennis Tapley received a thumbs up from one of his students.
“We made parmesan rosemary fries and actually cut the potatoes ourselves and baked them in the oven. And one little boy came up to me and said they were so much better than McDonald’s. “Sometimes,” she says.
In addition to parmesan rosemary fries that could rival McDonald’s, the team recently introduced a slew of new scratch items to the menu, including homemade bread rolls made with oatmeal, beef stew, chicken pot pie, and spaghetti. did.
The primary reason for this new offering is the district’s receipt of Healthy School Lunch Incentives through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the nonprofit organization Action for Healthy Kids.
This grant program is designed to help small and/or rural school districts source local ingredients and expand their artisan menu items.
RSU 89 received just over $64,000 to increase the number of homemade meals on students’ lunch trays.
Grow your team
One of the biggest ways grants can support the nutrition team’s goal of increasing homemade options is by allowing them to add additional staff members.
“Scratch cooking takes a little time, so [I thought]If we can get that person here with us, we can create something really great,” Tapley says.
Staff also received additional training through the health system Maine Health to help them better understand the recipes made from scratch.
As part of the training program, the team spent five days inside the kitchen at Portland High School, learning how to create recipes that would stand up to the latest changes in the USDA’s School Nutrition Standards, which, among other things, will further reduce sodium in school lunches. .
The nutrition team was also able to continue its partnership with Keith Ridge Farm, located just 10 minutes from the district. This partnership allows RSU 89 to source local ingredients such as tomatoes and carrots, much of which is readily available for delivery due to the farm’s proximity to the district.
“You can literally send emails. [the farm] “Ask, ‘What mixed greens do we have today?'” Tapley says.
Solve storage issues
Receiving fresh produce from Keith Ridge Farm is relatively easy thanks to its location, but storing it is another matter.
The high school’s current storage facilities include double refrigerators, mini-fridges, chest freezers, and milk coolers. To avoid the hassle of running out of storage space, Tapley often stores produce at the district’s elementary schools before delivering it to the high schools.
But that will change in the coming months, as funding from the grant will allow the team to install a new walk-in cooler/freezer combo at the high school.
“Delivery was kind of terrible,” Tapley says. “[By] Walk-in coolers and freezers allow you to store and freeze more fresh produce as it arrives. ”
An additional portion of the grant was also used to purchase a greenhouse, which is scheduled to be delivered this summer.
The district now has its own garden where students grow produce. Tapley said the garden has been popular with students, and she hopes the greenhouse will allow them to grow additional crops and extend the growing season.
“last year, [we] I have kale growing in my garden and my kids walk by and pick it up and eat it,” she says. “So we want to expand those gardens a little bit more.”
