Pisanick Partners is a nutrition and operations based consulting firm with decades of experience in Child Nutrition. We have refined our approach through creation of cycle menus, training and development of staff, and implementing strategies that take on the task of not only attaining nutritional excellence, but also financial success in the K-12 environment. Our experience not only supports a school district in meeting all state and federal mandates for implementing the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs, but also the menu creation with an eye for detail and meticulous organization. The objective is to quickly and accurately evaluate, analyze and organize a district’s nutritional program to insure compliance and easy on-going maintenance. Pisanick Partners Tina Hastings (Assoc. Partner Operations) Maureen Pisanick, RDN-LDN (CEO) & Edible Education: Slicing up Inspiration for Your Menu and More! Harvest Your Students’ Hunger for Fresh and Seasonal Food.
Think about trying some of these suggestions for activities that can foster student engagement.
• Consider implementing trydays or taste testing events to give students opportunities to trial new foods and new recipes before they are actually put on the menu. This gives students the freedom to try something new before committing to taking a complete serving. In addition, we know that it often takes repeated exposure to a food for children to be willing to accept new foods. • Plan for a fall harvest event for National Farm to School Month in October. Check out this school’s commitment and student involvement for an awesome apple crunch event . These events provide great opportunities forwellness committees and curriculum connections. • Embrace celebrating local farmers markets, CSA (community shared agriculture) programs, along with PYO (pick your own) favorites like APPLE picking . • Implement a school garden program. Both, large and small school gardens provide children with hands-on learning and are motivating for children to grow, eat, and learn about the fruits and vegetables they plant. . • Work with local farms that can often provide students with opportunities to “grow it know it” in new ways. • Make connections with organizations, such as Feed Our Future, that can help facilitate and inspire opportunities to promote local foods. • Start a student collaboration project. Tap into students’ creativity to design bulletin boards that promote new foods and recipes. Allow students to give input on recipes, menus and how foods are presented. It benefits all as children learn more about nutrition and the factors that go into menu planning, while staff learn more about what kids want to eat and their service preferences. Make the cafeteria an extension of the classroom with easy to adopt practices in 2022. . . the options are endless and RIPE FOR THE PICKING! Take the harvest challenge... serve one locally harvested food on your menu every month for the year. Spoiler alert, we’ll provide Harvest Hints throughout the year to help ‘root’ your planning and recipe ideas!
Looking for a little inspiration to help boost your menu cycle into the new year? Welcome to our new column featuring bites of nutrition knowledge and insight for your team’s menu creation needs. Here you can digest four menu recipe categories to customize, create and expand your cycle for improved customer satisfaction. Throughout this year look forward to “Harvest of the Month”, “Simply Fresh”, “Global on Trend/ Ethnically Diverse’’, and “Comfort Classic” recipes to fill your team’s idea baskets. These recipes are sure to help create dishes that students will love and can easily be created in your kitchens to increase participation in your menus. To kick off 2022, we’re filling your inbox with “Harvest of the Month” inspiration.
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products like hydroponic lettuces have been in stock and ready to deliver in areas that are struggling with supply chain gaps - win- win! Cycling in seasonal fruits and veggies not only inspires young eaters and first time tasters, it optimizes both the flavor and nutritional value they will be receiving.
Utilize promotional and engagement strategies
Keep your cafeteria fresh and engage curiosity with the rainbow of colors that mother nature provides throughout every season. In the winter months, you will find wonderful root vegetables and year long gems like hydroponic lettuces. We have shared simple videos with kitchen staff that can help demonstrate how easy it can be to prepare these items. Spring ushers in some favorites like early berries, green leafy spinach, and asparagus . Summer is the most bountiful season and will BLOW your summer menu expectations with fresh salads like our zoodle salad that features a variety of fresh summer vegetables, and who doesn’t like a slice of ruby red watermelon?
Know what is in season
The US domestic agriculture supports a wide range of local and in season treasures for your menu writing consideration. Score top ratings with in-season, fresh and tasty menus that focus on local harvest favorites . Even during the winter months local
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