Breakfast for Kindergarten schoolgirls in Pakistan

Three months ago, our team sat down to re-assess the menu for the breakfast we serve to our Kindergarten students at SMB Fatima Jinnah Government Girls School. Our goal was to ensure that every breakfast our students eat is nutritious, delicious and efficient to prepare and serve.

We got rid of things like French fries and muffins from the regular menu and decided to avoid foods high in sugar and refined flour in the future. We also replaced bakery bread with home-made whole-wheat chapati (flatbread) where possible, to ensure students get adequate fibre in their diet and avoid the inevitable mid-day sugar crash. To keep a balance between savoury and sweet breakfasts, we drafted various preparations of chickpeas and other beans such as curries or salads with seeds, grilled vegetables and vegetable sandwiches. It was also decided that we would try homemade jams and sweeten porridge with fruits instead of with sugar.

In the months of April and May, our tiny tots in the KG section enjoyed chapati, sweet porridge, spicy porridge, boiled chickpeas and vegetable sandwiches from the new menu. They also had milk every day, as usual. They enjoyed all the new additions, though it took them a while to get used to vegetables or jam rolled up in chapatis instead of in  sandwiches. Their parents also appreciated the changes.

April was the beginning of our new term, which meant a brand new class of Kindergarten 1 got introduced to school breakfast (not common in Pakistani schools) for the very first time.The parents of these new students were blown away by the breakfast program and were all praises for it.

Overall, a total 263 students were served a daily breakfast in the last three months. We at Zindagi Trust are fully committed to serving students a healthy and nutritious menu and are constantly trying to improve it. Please share any suggestions you may have for nutritious breakfast ideas and keep supporting our program.

Links:

• our website