|
St. Mary School Cafeteria – News & Recaps
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
Birthday Salad Bar Menu
May, 2010 – School Cafeteria Status Report -
As of my last writing in February, I have been busy obtaining my certificate through the Ohio Department of Education (ODE), attending the Renegade Lunch Lady Anne Cooper’s seminars & having conversations with the head of Farm to School (State of Ohio) and several local farmers and vendors. I enjoyed watching Jamie Oliver’s recent Food Revolution series and have also read several books on the subject. I am very excited and honored to have the opportunity to head up the St. Mary School cafeteria this upcoming school year.
As a wrap-up to the 2009/2010 school year, over the past several months I have researched and reviewed many aspects of the St. Mary School cafeteria in an attempt to understand its workings. The cost of our school lunch was raised from $1.85 to $2.00 and school milk from $0.35 to $0.50 in the 2007/2008 school year; no additional increases have been assessed to date.
Upon study, I found food costs have risen 15 – 30% since the 2007/2008 school year. This study was based on a sampling of numerous items purchased regularly from our vendors. In addition, during this same time period, USDA commodity foods and associated delivery costs increased and our government subsidy, which is calculated on our previous year’s annual lunch count, decreased each year since. The subsidy monies for 2010/2011 have been projected to decrease again.
I have also analyzed the school lunch participation here and found it down approximately 10% from the 2007/2008 school year. I did take into account the change in enrollment figures for this study. I have also compared the daily participation from meal to meal; menu adjustments will be made based on this study.
In addition, the cost of non-food items, maintenance/ repair of equipment and benefits for full-time employees has risen substantially in the 2009/10 school year. Monthly expenditures are exceeding our revenue at an alarming rate this year. St. Mary School cafeteria is self- supporting and receives no funds from the school budget, Parish or Diocese. All operating funds are earned from the sale of school lunches, milk, extras, teachers’ lunches, government subsidy and a percentage of profit earned from Holiday Happening.
In an attempt to control costs and to operate within our budget, I have implemented the following:
Lessen food waste. St. Mary School participates in the Federal government Offer vs. Serve lunch program. OVS is designed to give students’ choices. Under these guidelines, the program requires the school cafeteria to offer all five components of protein, grain, fruit, vegetable and milk daily and students to take at least three of the five choices, or more. This is the definition of a reimbursable lunch. The underlying thought is, given options, students will eat what they take which, in turn, reduces waste. Portion control is an integral factor in controlling food costs & waste.
Shopping for best price available. I have met with several vendors over the past few weeks in an attempt to lessen food costs. Rising food costs makes the job of providing healthier meals more difficult. Healthier foods are more costly foods; for example, whole wheat bread products are at least $0.02-$0.03 per serving more expensive than their “white flour” counterparts. Fresh fruits & vegetables cost substantially more than canned. I am currently working to find a proper balance of healthy foods for best price available within the boundaries of our budget. I am also opting to order more whole foods as opposed to the highly processed options on our commodity food order through USDA.
Decrease labor costs. This also is tricky, because providing healthier meals requires an increase in labor hours for food preparation. Steps have been taken to make this work within our current budget. In order for this to happen, we have rewritten job descriptions to further utilize our current labor force. The staff agrees to abide by our St. Mary School Cafeteria mission statement “to work together to provide nutritious lunches in an atmosphere of efficiency, cleanliness and friendliness while abiding by the guidelines of the Federal government National School Lunch Program (NSLP)”. Becoming a more efficient staff will be the key to our success.
May, 2010 – School Cafeteria Status Report – (cont.)
The success of our cafeteria also depends greatly on our daily volunteers. We encourage all families to become involved with the cafeteria as their schedule allows. Student volunteers are welcomed as well. Please contact the cafeteria manager for details.
Increase prices for the 2010 / 2011 school year as follows:
Student Lunch - $2.50
Milk - $0.50 (no increase)
This price increase puts St. Mary School cafeteria in line with the average cost of most school lunches in the Central Ohio area for the 2009/2010 school year; several schools, however, are currently charging in the $2.75-$2.85 range. Keep in mind, most schools today serve the typical “heat and serve” school lunch consisting of highly processed foods with very few fresh foods offered; very little cooking or baking, if any, is done.
Over the past few months, we have added healthier food options to our monthly menu. It is my goal to continue to offer even more fresh fruits and vegetables, more whole grains and less highly processed items and to continue to improve upon the quality of foods offered to our students this next school year. The lunches served here are a great value at $2.50 per meal.
Feel free to contact me with any questions / comments you have regarding the St. Mary School Cafeteria.
Please continue to review each monthly school menu with your student(s) and encourage them to try new items. We anticipate an increase in lunch participation in 2010/11 as we tweak our menus to make them nutritious and interesting to all our students.
Thanks for your interest in healthy school lunches,
Jenny Smurdon
St. Mary School
Cafeteria Manager
FOOD PURCHASES:
- Whole wheat products: pasta, bread, tortilla shells, PB&J sandwiches, french toast, pancakes, cheese stuffed bread sticks to replace white flour products.
- Light / sugar free products: canned fruits ( in light or natural juice), orange juice (full fruit/sugar free) , pudding (low fat), sliced cheese, shredded cheese, cheese stuffed bread sticks to replace full-fat products.
- Turkey / soy products: Turkey franks, Fiesta Sticks (chicken), burgers (ground beef/soy blend).
- Fresh Fruits / Vegetables: fresh carrots/celery sticks w/ light ranch dip or peanut butter, fresh spinach / dark greens added to salad mix & oranges, apples, bananas, grapes offered as “new” extra items.
- New Healthy choices: Sweet potato fries, fish sandwich, , refried beans (offered w/ Mexican dishes), *boneless / skinless breast of chicken.
- Upcoming in 2010: Fish sandwiches, baked beans, salads, soups, nutrition bar, boneless/skinless chicken breasts and other new menu items, as available.
COOKING PRACTICES:
- Implementing a 100% oven-baked practice including french fries.
EXTRAS:
- Yogurt Cup – $0.50
- Fresh Fruit – $0.50 (as available) – Apples, Oranges, Seedless Grapes, Bananas
- Pickle Spears - $0.10
- Pudding (low fat) - $0.30
- Nachos & cheese - $0.50
- Cheese stick ( oven baked) - $0.50
- Ice Cream Bar - $0.50
- Ice Cream Sundae w/ chocolate sauce, whipped cream, sprinkles - $1.00
- Chocolate Chip Cookie - $0.30
- Iced Cookie - $0.50
(Extras are offered to students daily and are not intended to replace the student’s lunch. We are now including healthier choices in addition to the snack/dessert type options. We appreciate parent’s direction/input in their student’s daily choices of these items.)
|
