Ingredients for Healthy Schoolkids

Thank you so much for supporting F3 and school food change across the country. We're hard at work creating, gathering, updating and sharing "Ingredients for Healthy Schoolchildren!"

The Lunch Box

All of the tools and resources that school districts need to transform school food can be found on the new Lunch Box, which will launch in July. We'll have:

• a brand new platform for our explodable recipes and menu planner to help schools meet the new USDA guidelines for healthy school meals;
• new resources and tools to help schools transition to universal, after-the-bell breakfast, salad bar programs, and local suppliers;
• the latest information on all the great changes coming up for school food: healthier snacks and vending machines, the new breakfast guidelines, and proposed rules to limit junk food advertising;
• training videos and financial tools and great ways to involve students and parents in school food change; and
• much more!

One important area that we're working is recipe development. When asked what they need most right now, school food service directors say, "Healthy recipes that kids LOVE!"

In the past few months, we've developed and tested 25 tasty recipes that meet the new USDA standards, and we're working on the next 25. These new recipes are a big step toward helping schools move from heat-and-serve equipment to cook-from-scratch kitchens.

Healthy Breakfast 4 Kids (HB4K)

This spring we'll be starting another round of HB4K grants: $2,500 to schools to build the infrastructure to serve universal, after-the-bell breakfast. About half the children who qualify for free or reduced-priced school breakfast in this country don't eat it. There's many reasons, but the two big ones are stigma and scheduling. Often, children don't want to be identified as poor and face teasing and rejection from their peers, so they choose to go hungry instead of eating school breakfast. Also, traditional school breakfast is usually served "before the bell," or before the school day starts. Many families face big challenges getting their children to school early.

By serving breakfast to all children in the school after the start of the school day (and often in the classroom), schools guarantee that students can start their day well-nourished and ready to learn.

Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools (LMSB2S)

Our Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools website is new and easier to use! Check out our map and see which schools have received a salad bar or is waiting for one. With our LMSB2S partners, we've donated salad bars to 3,363 schools, helping them provide over 1.6 million school kids with daily access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

Thank you for supporting F3 and our work to make sure every school district in the country has the ingredients for healthy schoolchildren! If you would like to continue supporting healthy school food, please visit our ongoing campaign!

Links:

• Food Family Farming Foundation (F3)