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The K-12 menu features healthy meal choices. All grain items served must contain at least 51% whole grains, including all baked entree breadings. Frequent fresh fruits and vegetable choices are available. Students in grades K-12 have access to a morning nutrition breakfast. Students in grades 5-8 can purchase ONE snack item and students in grades 9-12 may make numerous snack and beverage purchases. All snack and beverage items offered meet the “Smart Snacks” guidelines, such as whole grain cookies, baked chips, fruit cups, string cheese and low/zero calorie beverages. The menu features numerous entrée choices. Any of the entrees can be purchased as a “Meal Deal” if at least ONE fruit or vegetable item is selected.
Farm to School and Local Foods Participation includes featuring locally grown and produced foods, as often as they are available, supporting the Farm to School and Local Foods initiative. An added vendor, the Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative, is a valuable resource for providing the program with local fresh vegetables and fruit.
It can be challenging for children to enjoy healthy meals. The School Nutrition program is centered on the following concepts: Increasing servings of FRESH fruits and vegetables, offering whole grain-rich foods (those containing at least 51% whole grains), while decreasing the amount of sodium, fat, saturated fat and serving ZERO grams of trans fat in the menu. We accomplish this by offering a variety of healthy items in appropriate serving sizes that enable students to learn to make healthier choices, both in and out of the school environment. At the start of each serving line is the USDA MyPlate chart which explains the different meal items and how they fit with the meal service for the day. Each item listed includes: servings of fruit, vegetable, grain, protein and milk that are offered that day. The program participates in the offer versus serve meal option, which enables the student to have some choice in what they select for their meal items and helps to reduce plate waste. The students are required to select at least three different items from the fruit, vegetables, milk, protein and grain categories. One of the selections must be from the fruit or vegetable group. If they are coming home hungry, ask them what meal choices they selected from the options offered. If they didn't select all items, encourage them to try one other selection that would include the fruit, vegetable or grain.
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