We have successfully gotten through the first 64 days of School year, I wanted to take this opportunity to remind students and parents of a few things that have been slipping.
First thing I need to take note of is the meal program itself and what requirements are needed for each meal to be counted as Free. All meals for breakfast and lunch must contain 3 of 5 components.
The 5 components are as follows:
- Meat or meat alternative- This includes things like Chicken, tofu, yogurt, ground beef, pork, and sometimes beans.
- Fruit- we offer 2-3 fruits daily for students to choose from
- Vegetable- this is usually included in most meals we serve but there is always an option for a different one than what we are serving with the meal.
- Whole Grain- We try and serve mostly Whole grain items however there are a few dishes that are not Whole grain compliant due to availability.
- Milk- we offer a skim chocolate milk and a 1% plain milk each day.
In order for students to claim a free meal, they must have 3 components on their tray at time of check out. We try to remind students however, we have noticed students ignoring us on a regular basis. We have let it slide a bit over the last few weeks however, we really need to begin enforcing this policy with more vigor. Therefore, if a student does not have all components necessary we will have to begin charging for meals. This will lead to balances on student’s accounts that will need to be paid off weekly, as we do not accept negative balances.
The last thing is I wanted to remind everyone of Nutrislice and order cut off times. All breakfast orders need to be in the system before 5:30 each morning to guarantee you a smoothie, or hot breakfast sandwich. We make over 80 hot breakfasts and 40 smoothies a day, but unless you pre-order them in Nutrislice they are a first come first served items, and often go fast.
Lunch items, including pre-order lunch meals (salads, wraps, sandwiches), and Vegetarian items all need to be ordered by 8:30 am. If you do not preorder Vegetarian items that are available a PB&J will be available, but we can no longer make extra vegetarian items as we have been throwing them away due to students not needing them.
