No-prep high school cafeteria menu ideas please

[noamnety]

We've canceled our contract for high school lunch service because we can't afford it, and I and another teacher are running the lunch service now, as a glorified bake sale for our two departments. (Thanks, Bush. :( )

So the good news is now we have total control over what foods the kids eat if they don't bring a lunch, and we're dumping their previous menu of frozen processed foods with preservatives to a more healthy approach. In theory this is supposed to not only help with obesity, but also drastically improve behavior.

The catch is, we both teach full time, with no free hours before lunch - so we have no chance to cook a hot lunch, any prep time has to be at the end of the day to prepare for the following day. Luckily, it's a small school!

So far we've had fresh pitas baked at a local bakery, a choice of spinach-artichoke humus, sun dried tomato cream cheese or all natural peanut butter, a very basic salad bar, and some whole grain snack bars. And fruit. We just added yogurts and bottled water. I was thinking of adding an occasional lentil soup done in a crock pot so it can cook by itself while we're in our classrooms.

What else is healthy that takes little or no prep time, no cook time, and doesn't cost a fortune? What would you serve under these conditions?

[grasswire]

1. I have to tell you about a program starting in Portland Public Schools...

.....where top local chefs volunteer time and advice to use ingredients that are actually raised in gardens on the school grounds for school lunch -- they turn the kids on to eating excellent food they have helped to grow. It was piloted in one school last year and is now a full-fledged and funded program.

I could get more info if you want it -- the woman running the program is a family friend.

Regarding menu ideas -- just off the top of my head -- what about a big pot of polenta with an assortment of things to sprinkle on top, such as grated cheese, marinara sauce or salsa, etc. So nutritious, and so inexpensive!

And kids in my vicinity love making their own burritos with beans, cheese, and fixings. Again, super nutritious and inexpensive.

[noamnety]

2. burritos is good

Can I do polenta in a crock pot? Like I said, we can't be in the kitchen to heat it up before lunch time - once 8am hits, we're in the classroom until the minute lunch starts. If I have a way to cook it though, it sounds like a great idea.

I could do bean burritos, for sure - I do dried beans in the crock pot for my family fairly regularly.

I'd be interested in getting more info on growing the crops - we'd have to do it in a portable greenhouse for now, because we're probably going to change buildings in a year or two - but if they're in Portland, they must be using greenhouses, no?

[DawgHouse]

11. This sounds like an excellent program!

I love to hear about progressive changes in our schools. Hopefully this will catch on in other areas.

[eleny]

3. Is the menu always vegetarian?

A few more insights into what foods you'll allow would be helpful.

[noamnety]

10. Mostly vegetarian

The main course will always have a strong veggie option, but the people running food service last year left two giant deli meats in the big freezer, so we'll slice that up for sandwiches since we have it now, and one student has a father that runs a deli somewhere and he might get us some lunch meat at cost as a favor.

I bought potatos and leeks for a vichyssoise today - and I decided I'll use a veggie stock instead of my usual chicken stock to make sure it's okay with everyone.

Where I went to college, we always had a meat version and a vegetarian version of the main entree - so if there was a meat lasagna, they'd have a veggie version also. I think I'd like to stick to that, so the vegetarians never feel like second class citizens. Personally, I eat meat, but I admire the vegetarians and want to keep them happy.

[Stinky The Clown]

4. I would suggest getting in touch with the local chefs organization

Foodservice professionals have long been involved directly and actively in support of community nutritional programs. I am in the industry and know this to be a fact. I don't have any contacts in Michigan, but surely they would be easy to find. Try doing a google search for the Michigan chapter of the American Culinary Federation (the chef's association). The Michigan Restaurant Association may also be of help, but they tend to be the managers and not the professionals ... and have typical greedy manager outlooks. :)

All around the country, foodservice professionals have been doing what they can to get people fed .... in their businesses and in their personal lives. I am aware of many more or less grassroots efforts that are supported by chefs.

I am a past president of the Foodservice Consultants Society International (FCSI), and they may also be a source for you. I just tried to log on to the website but it must be down for maintenance (it is 2.30 AM on Saturday). I was hoping to find a member in Michigan who would be a good contact for you. I may be able to check later and let you know back channel. In the meantime, just try to connect to that site. They have a lookup feature to find a member by location.

What I would propose as a structure is to get the restaurants to consider supplying your kids a meal. If you could get 21 of them involved, and each restaurant gave one meal a month, that might get ya going. It may seem a tall order, but the only way to know is to ask.

These are generous people. Just ask.

[grasswire]

6. there's a great group called Chef's Collaborative...

....and here's their mission statement: "Promoting sustainable cuisine by teaching children, supporting local farmers, educating one another, and inspiring the public to choose good, clean food." They are very active in many locales nationwide.

http://www.chefscollaborative.org

And here's the news story on the aforementioned project in Portland Public Schools.


http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/exclude/112133548891280.xml&coll=7

[noamnety]

8. wow, thanks for those suggestions

I'm definitely going to contact those groups and let them know what we're up to.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Have these menus been tested on the kids?

[noamnety]

9. We're testing them now.

We've only had three days of school so far. Day one involved a lot of kids walking up and saying "OMG, what happened, it's all healthy!" and some said if that's all we had all year, they'd be thrilled - others were horrified. One student told me I know her well enough to know she can't survive without her deep fried greasy lunches.

But that same girl announced on day three that if I got some plain humus instead of just spinach-artichoke humus, she'd buy that from me every day! (I bought some this morning for her.)

About a quarter of our kids are dance majors (our dancers tend to get full scholarships when they leave here), and they felt like they couldn't get a proper meal last year at all.

[mandyky]

7. Can you use the students?

Do you have home economics? Make it an extra credit thing or a competition between classes.