Healthy Foods for Kids: Designing Menus That Fuel Students for the Day

If you’re a parent of school-age kids, you know how important — and challenging — it is to plan meals that are both delicious and nutritious. From a culinarian’s perspective, creating menus for schools means incorporating the right number of proteins, carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables to keep students satisfied and fueled for the day. At Sodexo, we collaborate with dietitians and nutritionists to ensure that we hit these marks and stay within USDA dietary guidelines. 

So how do we design our school menus? From elementary to high school, it all starts with choice architecture, in which students are able to pick the components they want to build their meal. This means getting the right fruits and vegetables on their tray that they want to consume, which naturally leads to better nutrition. After all, without consumption, there is no nutrition, so our overarching goal is always to get the students excited to eat what’s on their plate.

An Iron-Strong Breakfast

You know what they say — breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Students, who are expected to be at the top of their game even earlier than most adults, need the right start to fuel their brains. Along with the required grains, our breakfast menus prioritize more protein, which is essential for muscle and brain development and gives kids

The Importance of Fiber-Rich Foods for Kids

There has been an increase in interest in plant-based dishes among consumers, and we are seeing this in our schools, too. We expect the plant-based movement to be a big driver for our menus in the next 5 to 10 years. One example is our Fresh Picks program, which incorporates seasonal and local produce in the menu. We teach students that there is more than one type of squash or apple, for example, and that they don’t all taste the same. (Fiber-rich foods for kids is a favorite topic of ours!) As we build a sense of curiosity, they are getting all the nutritional benefits along with it.

Ultimately, our menu development is all about giving students the opportunity to explore new foods while also featuring familiar items that we know they will consume. We're building the menu at its core with a selection of student-driven favorites, which we then build on with unique dishes like those featured in our limited-time offer series, this year called Big Bites, adding ingredients that are important to a well-rounded diet. When we start our nutrition education with our youngest students, we are building healthy behavior early on, and by the time they walk out the door as seniors, we’ve hopefully taught them through this program that healthy choices start with a balanced meal consisting of the essential food groups. And serving it all in a welcoming environment further solidifies students’ positive relationship with healthy foods. Pair that with dishes that challenge and excite their palates as they get to middle school and high school, and we have food and nutrition lovers for life.