Scratch Cooking: The Key to Fulton’s Delicious, Healthy School Meals

The previous year, Fulton County had 35 new speed-scratch menu items that were prepared from scratch and incorporated local products. These meals were such a hit with the kids that FCS Nutrition had to bring it back multiple times throughout the year! Below are just 3 examples of the many scratch menu items that students loved.

Mongolian Beef with Steamed Rice

Steak Chimichurri

Seasonal: Brussel Sprouts, Collard Greens, and more!

Scratch cooking in school meals does require a time investment from school cafeterias. FCS Nutrition really taps into their annual back-to-school training to have hands-on practice and go over the more complex, intricate recipes. Reggie Sloan, the district chef, also makes recipe videos that include all kinds of chef tips on preparing these meals.

Having intentional training makes the school nutrition teams feel comfortable and prepared when they have to handle higher risk scratch items such as raw meat. “When staff are more comfortable with something, they always do a solid job making it tasty, delicious, and healthy. They are able to promote and also get more excited about it, and can be more passionate, which leads to a  better product,” says Denielle Saitta.

The trays FCS Nutrition creates are a testament of extensive, creative behind the scenes training and preparation staff undergoes.

Experimenting and Feedback: Innovation at its Finest

In conjunction with their extensive preparation of school meals, FCS Nutrition is not afraid to test meals out and makes sure to gather feedback. One best practice Denielle mentions is trying foods out for a very limited time and gathering direct feedback from students and parents. This gives them the opportunity to improve meals they are trying for the first time, or even grow in the meals they have already been serving. FCS Nutrition implemented various channels of feedback to gather ample information from students.

Caption: Student Taste Test Ideation with Land O’ Lakes at Riverwood High School on October 24, 2024.

Three Forms of Feedback:

Poster:

Students taste the product, and use stickers to say whether they think it is good or bad!

Good for: Little Kids/Elementary School

QR Codes:

Students can scan the QR Code during lunch and fill out feedback!

Good for: Middle School/High School

Interactive Calendar:

On an online, interactive calendar with the school menu, there is a rating system  that people can use.

Good for: Parents and Students

If you’re interested in learning more about gathering student feedback, check out our Student Feedback Toolkit which has all kinds of tools for conducting surveys and listening sessions with high school-aged students.

Local Vendors: Farm to School

FCS Nutrition utilized partnerships with local vendors for many of their meals. These vendors were the reason they could experiment with scratch cooking and won the USDA Innovation Award. This past year, FCS Nutrition partnered with Hunter Cattle and utilized the meat students saw in meals such as Mongolian Beef or Steak Chimichurri.

FCS Nutrition was able to find the best local vendor for their meals through food shows and other districts. Attending food shows is a great way to see the product and engage with the vendor themselves. Ultimately, engaging with other districts and asking them about their vendors’ and their experience with one is another important source of information! If kids and nutrition staff from other districts enjoy working with that vendor, it is usually a great sign of a promising partnership.

Nutrition Education in the Classroom

FCS Nutrition has found that nutrition education is a great way to raise awareness of school meals in multiple ways. From announcing new menu items in the classroom to inviting students into the kitchen and hosting a food safety demonstration, nutrition staff partner with teachers and their classrooms to get kids excited about school meals. Below are a few more ways FCS Nutrition offers innovative nutrition education throughout the year.

Better Breakfast Month

Have a whole month dedicated to culturally diverse, inclusive meals for breakfast. One theme for instance is “Breakfast Around the World.”

Sports Nutrition

Make nutrition education more exciting by tying it to sports nutrition classes or themes to engage more students!

Hands-on Learning

When offering culturally inclusive foods that might be new for students, FCS Nutrition had signage that teaches them how to assemble meals like the ramen bowls. Students also had the opportunity to season their ramen bowls with their own personalized toppings!

Culturally Inclusive Foods

FCS Nutrition made sure to incorporate variety and cultural inclusivity in their school meals. For instance, they would have chicken nuggets, but also get creative and have different flavors like Tikka Masala! Their ramen bowls were also a hit and introduced students to a new cuisine! They also meet with the students and educate them on the culture and history of the meals.

Nutrition Education: Reaching the Parents

It is important to raise awareness of school meals and provide nutrition education resources to parents as well, not just kids. Parents are often making decisions for their children, and school nutrition education can even make an impact at home as well! How did FCS Nutrition manage to that this year? By meeting parents where they are at: board meetings and PTA meetings!

At these meetings, FCS Nutrition:

• Shared about school meals and explained that it is accessible, convenient, and healthy!

• Provided a sample of what they offer, so parents could learn about school meals firsthand.

Providing outreach and nutrition education to parents is a great way to build trust and increase participation in school meals!

Nutrition Education: Training the Team

FCS Nutrition’s managers go through extensive training to be prepared for scratch cooking and new menus each year. FCS Nutrition also puts an emphasis on nutrition education and requires all managers to participate in 7 school-based promotions of the year, 2 of which are nutrition education based.

This equips their managers and staff to better prepare school meals and even share the knowledge and history behind culturally diverse items on the menu to students! Incorporating nutrition education annually is a great low-lift way to equip your team and opens doors for innovative menus and student engagement.