The Menu Planner for School Meals has been revised to reflect the Child Nutrition Programs: Transitional Standards for Milk, Whole Grains, and Sodium Final Rule that was published in February 2022.
Tools for Schools offers topic-specific policy and resource materials to assist schools in meeting the new nutrition standards. Refer to the latest regulations, find free nutrition education curricula, or get ideas for adding tasty, kid-friendly foods to enhance your school meals program.
For children to grow and reach their full potential, it is critical that they have access to nutritious foods and develop lifelong healthy dietary habits.
The revised Whole Grain Resource for the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs is a comprehensive guide to determine whether a grain product is whole grain-rich or can credit as enriched in school meals.
USDA Team Nutrition staff and guest speakers from South Carolina’s Local Wellness Policy State Technical Assistance Team and Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education shared how to energize, strengthen and assess local school wellness policies.
A local school wellness policy is a written document of official policies that guide a local educational agency (LEA) or school district’s efforts to establish a school environment that promotes students’ health, well-being, and ability to learn by supporting healthy eating and physical activity.
Use these materials to bring your school community together to create strong school environments that support students’ growth, learning, and well-being.
The Food Buying Guide for child nutrition programs has all of the current information in one manual to help you and your purchasing agent buy the right amount of food and the appropriate type of food for your program(s), and determine the specific contribution each food makes toward the meal pattern requirements.
This training guide provides menu planning ideas, crediting information, sample menus, and more, to show school nutrition professionals how to offer meats and meat alternates at school breakfast.
This training guide provides menu planning ideas, crediting tips, sample menus, and more to show school nutrition professionals how both scratch-made and commercially-prepared smoothies can be offered as part of a reimbursable school breakfast or lunch.