It’s that time of year again – time to get ready for going back to school! The Summer season is a great time to be preparing for the school year ahead. Instead of cutting up fruit and dicing vegetables, you are making sure your menu and recipe database is in great shape, you are analyzing whether your nutrient analysis software is helping you run an efficient operation, you are migrating your menu online, and you are organizing your labels. Right? Yes!
Let’s take a brief look at each of these and why they are critical to operating an organized and compliant department.
Menu and Recipe Database: Is your department using a cloud-based, online menu planning program? If you’re not, now is the time to make a change. While your current system may be functional, it may not be providing you with all of the security, options, capacity, features and power that you could be getting out of an upgraded software system. If you’re ready to save time, save money, gain flexibility and ensure compliance in your menu planning efforts, it’s time to upgrade to an online program – or to make sure the one you have in place is performing at its best!
Nutrient Analysis Software: When your recipes are organized within your online database, it makes creating new ones that much easier. This also aids in keeping compliant and improves your odds for passing the menu portion of your administrative review. Make sure your recipes for the coming school year are organized and compliant approximately 60 days prior to your start date. That means – let’s get busy refreshing your nutrient analysis database now!
Migrate Your NSLP Menu Online: In a time when we have immediate access to almost anything, it is nearly impossible for a school nutrition department to survive without an online menu. The lack of an interactive website and online menu could hold back a school meal program. Visualization and having data at our fingertips is everything in the food industry. Don’t let new technology hold you back from growing your school breakfast and lunch programs. Let us help launch you into digital times and grow your meal participation!
Organize Your Labels: Keeping your Nutrition Facts Labels, Child Nutrition Labels and Product Formulation Statements organized and updated is so important to a smooth-running school kitchen! Taking time to assess, organize and archive various labels is a must.
New Recipes for the New School Year
In addition to ensuring your department is ready to tackle SY 19-20 by managing the above, we wanted to share a few fun recipes to kick off the new school year!
Your coffee bar is likely quite popular with your students. General Mills provides coffee-shop-inspired recipes that your students will love, which you can make with or without coffee. Their YoGo Coolers, made with Yoplait® ParfaitPro®, coffee and the garnish of your choice, count as one cup fluid milk and one meat/meat alternate in your program. Your students won’t be able to pass up the Peach Cooler or the Cinnamon Swirl Cooler!
Have you incorporated any of Tyson’s sandwiches, wraps or salad recipes into your menu rotation? We know the Burgerdilla (tender chopped steak burger served inside a jalapeno tortilla with roasted red and yellow peppers, zesty queso sauce and drizzled with a southwestern ranch) will be a hit with students! We also suggest the Baja Pulled Chicken Wrap, the Ramen Bowl or the Tangy BBQ Pulled Pork Stacker. There are so many to choose from!
This Taco Salad recipe served in a baked Edibowl Cracker Bowl. The salad is made with lean ground beef, fresh lettuce, fresh tomatoes and more! The bowl itself counts for two Grain Equivalence.
Dietitian Services for Back to School
Lastly, know that your My K12 Resource dietitian experts are here to help you every step of the way. Managing your database, menus, recipes, procurement, etc. is a ton of work! You don’t have to go it alone.
Our dietitians provide countless services. If you need a complete menu overhaul or just a refresh, our dietitians are ready to help create dietitian-approved menus. The result is a successful menu that fits your operation and is compliant with the HHFKA of 2010 regulations. In addition, special diets can be intimidating when you are not a dietitian – there are so many requirements! Our dietitians set up a sustainable system for handling special diets that will put your mind at ease.
Reach out to us with your unique needs – we’re here to team up with you to make your school year successful.