Graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Annelise has spent her career making sure food sounds appetizing on paper, looks good in pictures and tastes amazing when you order it. Her day-to-day consists of working as Marketing Manager at Ready Foods to connect food service operators with ready-to-use kitchen solutions that are easy to incorporate into a kitchen flow and bring great flavor to menu items. Her favorite hot lunch in elementary school was always nacho day. Ready Foods Annelise McAuliffe Soares Ready-to-Use Tips!
MORE THAN SOFTWARE
A Decision Support System for School Nutrition Program Management.
Tips In a Pinch:
Sodium Reduction
EASY TO USE. QUICK REPORTING.
Let’s be real, it takes a lot of software and resources to run a school nutrition program. MyFUNDamentals interfaces with existing school nutrition and district finance software to deliver key performance indicators. Bringing together components of software products, like financials, POS, labor, and inventory, we can calculate meal equivalents, cost per meal, cost per labor hour, operating ratios, profit and loss, and all other key performance indicators.
It’s a new year! 2022 resolutions are in action and we challenge you to make sodium reduction one of your goals for the year. This past October, the FDA published guidance for food manufacturers and foodservice operators to reduce sodium levels in food. Most Americans consume an average of 3,400 mg of sodium per day, even though guidance suggests we should cap it at 2,300mg/day. The voluntary guidance that was just released works to reduce average consumption down to 3,000 mg/day, still short of the overall goal, but headed in the right direction. The FDA’s research shows that 70% of our daily sodium intake comes from packaged and prepared foods from outside of the home. According to the CDC, sodium is a major contributor to high blood pressure, which causes heart attacks and strokes. According to the CDC , 90% of children in the US, ages 6-18, eat too much sodium daily. As leaders and decision makers in the school foodservice industry, what can we do to contribute to this sodium reduction goal? Awareness is the first step. While there are already sodium guidelines for schools, checking in to see where your ingredients are at and seeing where you can further reduce sodium is a great first step. Highlight two weeks on your calendar where you will check the nutrition facts of every item that comes into the kitchen. Keep a quick, casual list of items that are high in sodium or surprise you with how high or low their sodium content is. Once the two weeks are over, look for alternatives for those high sodium items or work the low sodium items into your menus with more frequency. Share your goals. Whether it is posters in the lunchroomor in newsletters sent out to families, share your goals and findings with your community. Offer up helpful tips on how to reduce salt intake at home and share the possible
effects of too much salt. Use this as an opportunity to simply bring overall awareness to students. Since fruits and vegetables do not contain added sodium, consider hosting a competition to encourage students to eat more fruits and vegetables. Studies show that increasing these food groups help crowd out the desire for salty snacks. Rely on herbs and spices. Using less salt often means the flavors of a dish are not as full. Round out the profile of a recipe by using fresh and dried herbs or spices. Bring on the zest. Sometimes the missing ingredient isn’t salt, it’s the brightness that a splash of acid can add. Try adding vinegar (balsamic, apple cider, red wine, even white!), lemon juice or grated citrus zest to a dish for bold flavor. Add low sodium cheese. Some low sodium cheeses have great sharp flavors that mimic the bite of salt. Try adding grated sharp cheese for added protein too. Try pastes. Test low sodium pastes, like tomato paste or concentrates, for bold flavor without the salt. Amp up onions and garlic. Onions and garlic are low cost ingredients that can bring a bite, spice or sweet caramelized flavor without added sodium. Happy New Year! May your 2022 be full of flavor.
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MyFUNDamentals is essential for the success of your financial and operational program.
MyFUNDamentals provides transparency and accountability for all levels - from the cafeteria manager to the nutrition director. Putting performance measurements at your fingertips: Provides accountability Aids in good decision making for financial and operational success Increases knowledge base Results in increased financial solvency https://vimeo.com/643969469
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