Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds: It’s Back to School Time!

It can be a tricky thing to get children to eat foods that are good for them. This is especially true when they’re on summer vacation as routines get shifted and healthy eating takes a back seat to fun in the sun. Now that kids are heading back to the classroom, it’s important to their success in school to maintain a healthy immune system by getting enough sleep, exercising and choosing healthier food options. This helps to prevent the blood sugar drops that can cause a child’s concentration to decline, resulting in a negative effect on learning. 

 School dieticians and other decision makers are committed to incorporating healthy food options into K-12 menus so that school lunches are the healthiest meal of a child’s school day. According to a recent study by the American Medical Association, “schools are now the healthiest place Americans are eating.”  

 The AMA’s statement is backed up by the trends in school lunches including all-day breakfasts, the popularity of healthy grab-and-go items and the addition of vegetables and plant-based food options. School districts across the country are becoming creative when it comes to helping children form healthy eating habits. 

 California Funding for Plant-Based School Meals 

Schools in California are following the plant-based food trend by allocating funds that will provide alternative protein and plant-based meals in schools. For the first time ever, the state adopted a $308 billion budget that will fund research into alternative proteins. The budget gives about $100 million to support plant-based options in the schools and $600 million to upgrade school kitchens and train kitchen staff in the preparation of plant-based meals. 

USDA Expands Farm to School Grants  

The United States Department of Agriculture is expanding funding to schools for Farm to School programs. Even though Congress improved standards for school lunch programs back in 2010—by providing more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and less sodium—menus still serve heavily processed foods. A $70 million grant for the Farm to School programs will increase access to locally-sourced foods for school nutrition initiatives. The goal is two-fold: get home-grown foods onto school lunch menus, and teach children about where their food comes from and how it’s made. This not only supports local farmers, it provides healthy food to schoolchildren and gives them a sense of community. 

Taking Plant-Forward Back to Basics 

The San Luis Coastal Unified School District in California is just one of many K-12 districts getting in on the plant-based trend to bolster their students’ healthy eating choices. Nutrition Services Director, Erin Primer, is making the most of the grant they received last year to educate students on plant-forward eating. She holds cooking demonstrations using recipes that feature grains, dried peas, lentils, beans and vegetables. These items are less processed and less expensive than their commercial counterparts. Primer believes these cleaner ingredients are tasty enough to stand on their own, without being labeled as “meatless”, “vegan”, or “vegetarian”. Primer said, “We want to serve kids good food that tastes good, whether it has meat in it or not.” 

 Kids Go Forkless 

Chartwells K12, a foodservice company for school cafeterias, is one company with expertise on the kinds of foods school children enjoy. Because they are always on the go, kids enjoy anything they can hold in their hands as they go about their day. Whether they’re hanging out at lunch with their friends, or grabbing a quick bite after school before playing sports or other activities, kids like to eat things that are easy to take with them. Bento boxes with healthy foods like meats, cheese, vegetables and hummus are trending now in K-12 lunch programs. Creative wraps and tacos are also some of the grab-and-go favorites kids of all ages crave right now. 

Fresh Fruits and Veggies 

In recent years, the trend toward using locally-sourced produce in school cafeterias has been on the rise. This has led to students becoming more aware of where their fruits and vegetables come from, giving them a lifelong connection to their food. The number of families that are growing their own produce and herbs at home has increased over the past year. And schools across the country are using modern technology such as hydroponics to grow gardens indoors. Farmshelf is one example of an indoor hydroponic garden that gives students the opportunity to grow their own gardens at school and brings the freshest flavors to the cafeteria. 

Healthy school lunches are easy to serve on Huhtamaki’s SAVADAY? school lunch trays. SAVADAY? molded fiber cafeteria trays are made from at least 25% recycled material and 75% renewable resources and can help schools reduce waste and save money in trash pickup costs when composted instead of throwing them away. 

Keep up with all the latest 2022 trends with Huhtamaki, like forward-thinking food programs within schools. 

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