School Foodservice Solutions with Dairy

Supporting Healthy Schools and Students

Midwest Dairy proudly supports programs that improve the health and wellness of children in schools. Making milk, cheese, and yogurt available at school helps ensure students get the nutrients they need. Our tools can help you enhance or expand opportunities for students to make healthy choices.

DAIRY MAKES THE GRADE

1.
Importance of School Meals

Ensuring students have access to balanced meals is the best way to fuel learning and growth.

2.
Alternative Breakfast Solutions

School breakfast is the most cost-effective step schools can take to improve student wellness.

3.
Keeping Milk Cold

There is one thing school cafeterias can do to make milk more appealing: keep it colder.

4.
Beyond the Milk Carton

Dairy foods are nutritional powerhouses and add flavor and variety to school meals.

1. Importance of School Meals

Millions of students and families depend on the USDA’s school meal program for a significant portion of their daily nutrition. For some, it’s the only meal they can count on. The benefits of school meals are well-documented – better classroom performance and improved health outcomes.

Milk is a required component in school breakfast and school lunch programs. Drinking milk and eating dairy foods makes it an easy and delicious ways for kids to get the bone-building calcium and other nutrients their growing bodies need. Childhood is a crucial time for dairy consumption, not only for important nutritional needs but to also establish healthy eating habits. Learn how school milk helps children meet nutritional needs.

2. Alternative Breakfast Solutions

Offering students breakfast at school is not only important to their health and but also to their academic success. In fact, less than half the number of students who eat school lunch also eat breakfast at school. Having the flexibility to eat in the classroom or buy their meal from a kiosk or cart and take it with them alleviates the time crunch and helps fill the gap by making meals more accessible to more students throughout the school building.

Alternative breakfast solutions like Breakfast in the Classroom, Grab ‘n’ Go Breakfast, and Second Chance Breakfast give students easier access to the meal. Learn more about alternative breakfast programs .

3. Keeping Milk Cold

Did you know that even a few degrees can make a huge difference? In fact, cold milk tastes better when it’s kept at “ice cold” temperatures – 35°F-40°F, just above freezing. Cold milk lasts longer, too! In fact, for every five-degree rise in temperature over 40°F, the shelf life of milk is cut in half. The optimum temperature is 35°F to keep milk the freshest for the longest amount of time.

Click here to learn more about keeping it cool.

4. Beyond the Milk Carton

Under the guidance of the USDA and in accordance with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, school lunch and breakfast programs must meet specific criteria to ensure children are receiving the nutrition their bodies need. Each meal must offer low-fat or fat-free white or flavored milk. In addition, schools must also provide meat/meat alternatives across the menu, and these alternatives can include milk, cheese and yogurt or dishes that include these foods as ingredients.

Students crave creativity, and US Dairy has many creative, kid-friendly, dairy-inspired recipes like Double Cheese Spiral, Kicked Up Queso Totchos, and Peaches-n-Cream Waffle Dunkers that can all be included in school meal programs.

Innovate with Dairy

Yogurt Smoothies

Packed with protein, milk and yogurt smoothies are an easy and delicious way to spark new interest in school breakfast and lunch programs.

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Hot Chocolate Milk

Heating chocolate milk to serve as hot chocolate is a simple and delicious way to increase milk consumption and attract new students to your school’s breakfast and lunch programs.

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