Why Scratch Cooking in Child Nutrition Programs?

Why Scratch Cooking in School Food Service?

As the commercial food industry continues working hard to make every kind of food product you can imagine easy and accessible for us to eat, we are losing the desire and ability to feed ourselves. “Slow food” is having a renaissance of late, and there is no doubt that we must get back in the kitchen with some whole foods and start cooking for ourselves again.

Most importantly, we have to get back to cooking real food for our children in our nation’s school meals programs.?

I recognize that this is a bigger task for some schools than for others. Many schools moved so far away from the scratch cook model that they don't have kitchens equipped to do any type of cooking.?If this is your situation, you certainly have more obstacles to overcome, but this is work important enough to begin advocating for updating your district’s facilities to accommodate the preparation of real food in the future.?Cast a vision for your district and then take action!?

If your schools already have the ability to do some scratch cooking, then it is so important to begin moving in that direction. Set a course and get started!?There are so many resources available to you. No need to rebuild the wheel!

If you are already doing some scratch cooking, then plan to expand your scratch offerings. Plan it into your continuous improvement plans or whatever planning or goal setting approach you use. Seek assistance from someone who is “a little further down the road” than you. The stakes are too high to let our egos get in the way, so ask for help!?

If you have been part of the “real food in schools” movement for a while now, and are getting good at it, offering others a hand by sharing your real-time experiences. Offer to give neighboring district directors, and their key players, a tour of your operation. Get them excited about serving real food in their schools, too! Answer their questions and share your resources. The more we band together, the faster change will occur, and the more sustainable the change will be. There are plenty of?resources ?and many districts who are already doing this fantastic work that you can "go to school" on, so to speak! Most of these directors are more than happy to share their experiences with you.?

It’s time to begin the transition from the fast food/processed food model to the REAL FOOD model.?We cannot afford to wait for more funding or a better situation. The health of this and future generations depends on our commitment to this vision!?

This work is too important to not take immediate action. The sooner you start the sooner you will see progress.

If you don't know where to start, give me a call and we can talk about some ideas that will get you rolling in the right direction.?I love to problem-solve and brainstorm and it will cost you nothing but a few moments of your time to have the conversation!

Kent Getzin?

Creative Culinary Solutions

[email protected]

509-668-8578