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Meals Plus Monthly E-Newsletter - March 2016

Increasing Meal Participation,
One Rice Krispies Treat at a Time

Lexington School District 1's (SC) Office of Food and Nutrition Services are implementing some really exciting promotions in their cafeterias, and they are seeing all of their hard work pay off! One of their many events is the "Birthday Rice Krispies Treat Day," which is held monthly at their district's elementary schools.

Even though the event is tied to students' birthdays in that month, all students are encouraged to participate, and for every lunch purchase, students receive a free Whole-Grain Rice Krispies Treat. Parents are invited to attend this highly anticipated event, which is included in the district's menu calendar. They even setup a "selfie station" to take pictures with fun props! The department's Marketing Specialist, Ashley Summers, has seen meal participation raise on Birthday Rice Krispies Treat Days, and noted that sales were "through the roof" after one of the events at Deerfield Elementary School.

Congratulations to Ashley, Director of Food Service and Nutrition Pat Carter, and the entire team at Lexington School District One for making healthy meals fun for your students! We will be sharing more exciting marketing ideas from Lexington School District One, so be sure to stay tuned to our blog for more ideas you can try in your own cafeterias.

WATCH: What's New with Meals Plus
Menu Planning and Nutrient Analysis

Meals Plus Menu Planning and Nutrient Analysis software is designed to standardize and streamline your district menu planning. Meals Plus Menus is USDA-approved for nutrient analyses required in the school meal programs and for use in certification of compliance with lunch meal requirements.

Our system was built specifically for K12 school cafeterias and consists only of features necessary to run your program. Call
1-800-541-8999 or email us for more information.

Child Nutrition Cookbook

As part of our mission to "Keep Your Lunchlines Moving," and because we recognize that school nutrition professionals have some fantastic recipes, we published the Meals Plus Child Nutrition Cookbook.

The Meals Plus Child Nutrition Cookbook includes:

Thank you for being a part of the Meals Plus Family!

Over 40 recipes, including favorites from Meals Plus Customers across the country and recipes using USDA Commodities
Management tips from the Meals Plus White Paper Library
Helpful USDA Conversion Charts
And software "best practices" tips from the Meals Plus Help Desk

Click here to download a copy of the Meals Plus Child Nutrition Cookbook today!

Tips from Cynthia Sevier, SNS,
Child Nutrition Operations Consultant

In Cynthia Sevier's white paper, "Fiscal Survival 101 for Child Nutrition: Financial Success in the Era of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act," she examines the four indicators of evaluating your child nutrition program's financial health. One of these is Meal Cost, and she highlights twelve practices to control food costs. Below are four of the practices; to read more, download your free copy of the white paper here!

1. Use of production records show how much food was produced, served and left over or discarded. If used wisely, production records show trends of what items students are eating, and if too much or too little food is being served and/or prepared.

2. Use "offer versus serve."

3. Cooperative purchasing if possible. Joining other school districts creates a bid with more volume. Volume buying often results in lower per item cost.

4. Batch cooking or preparing food "just in time" controls leftovers and lessens holding time resulting in a fresher, more appealing product. Work schedules help guide assistants in managing time wisely.

To read more about the four indicators of financial health,
download your free copy of
"Fiscal Survival 101 for Child Nutrition: Financial Success in
the Era of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act"

School Nutrition Conferences

We are spreading the word on how Meals Plus makes managing your school's students, staff, menus, finances and inventory easier. Come see us at the following conferences: