School Canteen News

May 4th 2009

Canteen staff often tell us that it is difficult and time consuming to develop menus that fit the requirements of their school's nutrition policy. This job, that many canteen operators do up to four times a year, can be accomplished more easily by following a few steps and keeping it simple.

1) Work out a core menu including:
     - 4 filled bread items (e.g. sandwich, roll, wrap, BLT, panini)
     - 4 hot food items (e.g. Murphies, pizza, macaroni cheese, baked potato with coleslaw)
     - 3 fruit items (e.g. Dole Fruits, watermelon wedges, mandarins)
     - 5 healthy snacks (e.g. Moosies, Juicies Smoothies, Go! Cookie, mini pikelets, popcorn)
     - 3 drink choices (e.g. Cool Sips Bottled Water, CalciYum Milk, fruit juice)   Add to the core menu:
     - A weekly special ... this is where canteen managers can be creative, make themed foods or try a new idea (e.g.
       mexican bean nachos with salsa and lite sour cream
     - A weekly/monthly meal deal made up of 3 core menu items (e.g. BLT sandwich, Juicies Smoothie and watermelon
      wedge $4)

2) Each term replace one or two of the least popular choices from each category. This keeps the menu regular, yet interesting.

3) Keep a list of ideas for each category (and add to it) so when it comes to setting the new menu you only have to pick an idea from the list. Click here for more ideas to keep it simple in your canteen.

Rapperz Pizza Calzones

Winter Ideas

Kids need nourishing hot foods in the colder months. Hot Bites Murphies provide a good balanced meal for school children of all ages and are made up of tasty, wholesome ingredients including lean beef mince, tomato, bread, potato and cheese.

Rapperz Calzones are inside out pizzas filled with cheese, ham & pineapple in a delicious traditional Italian tomato sauce. Don't tell the kids but this sauce contains minced carrot, onion and celery to keep it super healthy!

Check these products out in the Food & Beverage Buyers Guide for Schools.

Bruno's Meals Macaroni Cheese

Have you tried Bruno's Macaroni Cheese? If not, ask your distributor for a free sample.

Bruno's Meals are an easy choice to prepare in the school canteen and are great for those wet, cold days. The 200g serve is a filling meal that is cooked just the way kids like it.

Don't forget, we keep things simple, healthy and tasty!

Regards,
the futurefoods team