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Strategies for Freshly-Prepared
Strategies for Freshly-Prepared
About this Series
The School Food Innovator Series is a virtual quarterly gathering designed for members of the California Food for California Kids® Network. This series showcases innovation in school food leadership across the state and fosters connections between Network members and offers peer-to-peer learning opportunities.
About this Session
In this session, we break down new state guidance for freshly-prepared meals, hear from a regional food hub that partners with local schools, and learn strategies for serving freshly-prepared school meals featuring California-grown fruits and vegetables.
Speakers include Josh Goddard, SNS, Director of Nutrition Services, Santa Ana Unified School District; Jen McNeil, RDN, SNS, Co-founder, LunchAssist; and Jacob Weiss, General Manager, Spork Food Hub.
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Chat: Strategies for Freshly-Prepared
Welcome! Please introduce yourself by typing your name, position, and where you work into the chat box. Happy Autumn! What are you doing to celebrate the changing of the season?Hi everyone, This is Rita at Bear Valley USDAmanda Pitones - Calipatria Unified School District, in Southern California.Lua Siegel. Gardening teacher in an Oregon rural school. Racing against the rain to get garden beds cleaned and covered in leaves and compost while putting all the harvest to use with students!Alyce HernandezHi all! Claire Tauber, Farm to School Coordinator with the Community Alliance with Family Farmers. I'm looking forward to cooking soups againBrooke Kenney, Food Services Manager at Hanford Joint Union HSDDarrell ValorHi All! My name is Juliette - CN Operations Manager here in Santa Cruz, CA. Excited for pumpkin carving and pumpkin seeds!Ashley Smith dietetic intern San Diego, CACindy Hu, Education Program Manager at Center for Ecoliteracy in CA. Happy Autumn, hoping to get out to a Pumpkin patch next month with my kiddo.Hello! Katrina Caputo,Brendan Shields, Magnolia SD in Anaheim...I will be avoiding everything that has to do with Pumpkin Spice.Ashley Glass, Compton Unified School District, Nutrition Program AnalystElizabeth Brown-Smith, Director of Food & Nutrition Services at Whittier Union HIgh School DistrictLauren Krohn- Nutrition & Certification Manager with Eat RealWelcome! Please introduce yourself by typing your name, position, and where you work into the chat box. Happy Autumn! What are you doing to celebrate the changing of the season?Hello, Kristie & Karen at Lakeside CaliforniaPleasant Valley School District , CamarilloDarrell Valor, Albany Unified Nutrition ServicesHi Everyone! Esther Huizar Cafeteria Manager at Oak Valley School in Tulare, CAYousef Buzayan (he/him), Senior Farm to Market Manager, Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF). Fall‚Äôs football season, so watching a lot of footballHello everyone! Abby Halperin, Policy and Grants Manager at the Center for Ecoliteracy. Looking forward to celebrating fall with winter squash soup!Lynn Wong, from Santa Rosa, CA (north of San Francisco)Rebecca Ward, Acalanes USD I'm going to the beach this weekend, as it is perfect beach weather in NorCal!Shannon Illingworth, Nutrition Specialist with Capistrano USD. Chili and football :)Suzy Sayre El Monte Union High School DistrictFran Debost, director at San Mateo-Foster City School DistrictColleen Robinson-SDUSD-enjoying the cooler weather if it ever arrives :)Hi everyone! I am Bailey Morrison, the dietetic intern at the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District for the next five weeks. I‚Äôm going to be excited for all the Halloween festivities; getting tickets to haunted houses/mazes and maybe even zombie paintball!Hello everyone, this is Molly Daugherty w/ Eat RealTanya Harter from Paradise Unified School District. Serving some warm dishes for our students.Joanna Danielson, Nutrition Coordinator, Santa Cruz City SchoolsSaturday's Farmers Market in PowayI'm waiting for Boo at the Zoo in Oakland!Pumpkin shaped pasta and autumnal sauce for the family tonight!Hi all, Anne Moertel, Outreach and Communications Manager at the Center for Ecoliteracy. I‚Äôm not ready! I still want a sunny beach, a cold drink, and peaches and watermelon.Hi, everyone, and welcome to today‚Äôs School Food Innovator session! I‚Äôm the executive director at the Center for Ecoliteracy. I‚Äôll be working on processing 75 pounds of apples I picked with my kids over the weekend.Hi Everyone! Jen from LunchAssist here! I‚Äôve been making Pumpkin Spice Lattes at home with a great homemade spice blend of ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and cloves.Kristin Hilleman, Director, Capistrano USD, fall fishing beach going and evening firepits.Catherine Paredes from Borrego Springs USD...looking forward to temps below triple digits ;-)Hi everyone, Judith From Bear Valley USD, Child Nutrition Services in always sunny California!June Richardson - Ravenswood City SD East Palo Alto, CA.What are your plans for celebrating National Farm to School Month? National Farm to School Network resources - [link]I LOVE this f2s month graphic!Replying to "I LOVE this f2s mont..." Same!Hi. Cynthia Topete from Child Care Resource Center in Southern CaliforniaField trip to farms and eating lots of locally grown foodEat Real will also be at the CDFA conference! Looking forward to connecting Liz and Crystal and all going.Replying to "Eat Real will also b..." Awesome! Looking forward to seeing you there.Participating in CA CRUNCH and featuring Blue Lake Beans from a family owned Family Farm Dwelley in Brentwood, CA.We will be celebrating Farm to School Month at the CDFA Conference as well! Can‚Äôt wait to see many of you there and also at CSNA next month!!How do you define local? What does local mean to your school district?Our school is in a fertile valley and makes an effort to approach farmers we can personally meetPamela Lee from Humboldt County, in the NC Region.Hi! I'm Jenn Rogge, the Superior Network Lead for CDFA farm to school.Hi All, I am Michael Ackley-Grady and I am the Central Region Producer Specialist based in Sacramento!Diana Carrillo from Central School District in Southern CaliforniaHello! I'm Jacqueline Day, F2S Regional Lead for the South Coast area which spans from Santa Cruz County down through Ventura County. Feel free to reach out to me if you need help Jacqueline.Day@cdfa.ca.gov üôÇErika Allen- Central Union High School District in Southern CaliforniaGianmario Oddi- MHUSD Northern CaliforniaDo you have a student approved plant-forward recipe? Submit Here: [link]Love plant-forward and plant-based!Looks yummy!Beautiful. : )Yum!Will we get the slides of this webinar?Do you have a student approved plant-forward recipe? Submit Here: [link]how are these schools finding response from students for this fresher food?@Fran, great question ‚Äî yes, all slides, resources, and a recording will be sent out after the callWill these recipes be available to use?Replying to "Will we get the slid..." Hi Fran, yes. We will share slides and a recording in a follow-up email.Replying to "Will we get the slid..." Great! Thank you!Hot off the Press! üî•CEP Final Rule Summary from USDA, published yesterday! [link]What is your reaction to the CEP Final Rule? What else would you add to this list in terms of potential impact of this change? Here is another link with more detailed information on the policy: [link]Sorry everyone! Lola was too excited to join! She‚Äôs back with my hubby and I can jump back into policy at the end!Thanks Josh! You are awesome!Replying to "Sorry everyone! Lola..." All good Jen!Replying to "Sorry everyone! Lola..." Struggles of 3 year olds who can now open office doorsReplying to "Sorry everyone! Lola..." Aww, enjoy it mama soon she will be driving. Time goes by so fast.Looks delicious Josh! Wow!How can we get those wonderful recipes?I don‚Äôt know about y‚Äôall but I am HUNGRY! Josh when are we having lunch together at SAUSD? Kudos to you and the team!Josh, all of this food looks so tasty!Wow! The food looks incredible!Replying to "How can we get those..." Hi June, we‚Äôll share Josh‚Äôs information and recipes in the follow-up email.Santa Ana USD Webpage: [link]I"m curious about the difference between USDA meal reimbursement and real cost of scratch mealsYes Josh!Josh is amazing! Such a rockstar!!! Thank you!!!So inspiring!Wonderful presentation, Thank youYEs Super Josh!Incredible work, Josh! Thank you!Awesome work, Josh! His team is truly is incredible.josh can you please drop your email in the chat?Questions for Josh? Drop them in the chat, we will have Q&A towards the end of today‚Äôs call.Replying to "I"m curious about th..." Lua, this is a great question. Nutrition Policy Institute (NPI) did a survey with CA food service leaders in April and found that providing fresh + local foods was about $0.40 per meal ([link]I just had an email come through saying there is a 4th round of KitFunds coming?We can also use our KIT funds for repairs, correct?Replying to "I just had an email ..." This may be the remaining $15M from the 2022 KIT funds (it was originally held back because of a possible carve-out in the 2023 budget, but now that this has been resolved, that funding should be going out). The $585M from the 2022 KIT funds went out earlier this year.On Sep. 14, CDE hosted a webinar with updates to definitions of Freshly Prepared Onsite Meals. Here is the slide deck: [link]Honestly, I find all of this just a tad confusing!Replying to "We can also use our ..." Yes! Purchase, repair, and associated infrastructure improvements are all allowableReplying to "Honestly, I find all..." Ditto.üìùCheck out this Freshly Prepared Meals Infographic from LunchAssist on how to calculate the 40% [link]It's a learning curve for everyoneü§ìKeep track of KIT funds expenditures using this handy dandy spreadsheet! The link is view only, so please download or make a copy in google sheets: [link]Thanks so much everyone! üôè Please keep in touch with us via our free weekly newsletter where we always share policy updates and free resources! [link]@Jen - Rocking it again!Thanks Jen! Loved the to see your cute co-worker!Welcome, Jacob! We‚Äôre so happy to have you with us today.Spork Food Hub: [link]The squash cubes look wonderful! Well done Spork and WPUSD!love the cubed squash idea! yum!Wow this looks amazing!Love being able to expand student palates this waySo jelly of these gorgeously equipped kitchens!So cool! Love the taste test ideaSuper cool, I don‚Äôt think I‚Äôve ever had a purple daikonPickling = Healthy Gut!I see you‚Äôre hiring an Operation manager. I‚Äôm in the area, do you have any other or even volunteer positions?Love the idea of making sauce with summer tomatoes and freezing it for use year-round! I want to do more of that in my home kitchen!Kids LOVE fruits and veggies, even unique ones like hakurei turnips! Spork Food Hub does an amazing job of supporting tastings at school to take that off the plate of the Nutrition Department. 10/10 would recommend them to any district.Amazing presentation!kids do love hakurei turnips! Thanks Laruen!Jen that's hilarious :)Center for Ecoliteracy Resources Seven Proven Strategies to Increase Students‚Äô Time to Eat: [link] How to Plan a Student-Centered Farmer Visit to Your School: [link] School Food Innovator Series: Staff Training and Development | December 6: [link]Center for Ecoliteracy Resources Join the California Food for California Kids Network: [link]CDFA Office of Farm to Fork 2023 California Farm to School Conference: [link] 2023 National Farm to School Month Resources: [link]LunchAssist Weekly Update Newsletter: [link] CAFF Bid Generator: [link] CAFF California School Produce Procurement Guide: [link] USDA Menu Planner for School Meals: [link]some scholarships for registration to attend the F2S conference are available - if you need a scholarship, please askNational School Lunch Week, Oct 9 - 13: [link] USDA MyPlate Kitchen Hispanic/Latin American Cuisine Recipes: [link] USDA SNAP-Ed Spanish Language Materials: [link] USDA Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month 2023: [link]Also from CAFF- Last week to sign up for the CA Crunch! [link]CAFF California Crunch: [link]You read my mind LizI also recommend CA Crunch supported by CAFF! They helped me a lot with that event when working in Child Nutrition.If you want free crunch stickers please sign up by EOD today!This overlaps w/the CSNA conference?Josh, did you offer the culinary training in the evenings or after work hours for your employees?Do any presenters have any volunteer-based roles in the Sacramento county area?Replying to "This overlaps w/the ..." Nope its the two days before!CDFA = Tue/WedReplying to "This overlaps w/the ..." Janel and I will be there on Wednesday! Come hang with us, Rebecca!!Replying to "This overlaps w/the ..." It‚Äôs intended as a pre-conference for CSNA so you can take one trip and do both!Replying to "This overlaps w/the ..." Exactly! And conveniently in the same city! üôÇCSNA - Thur-SatReplying to "This overlaps w/the ..." So convenient for those of us with a long commuteIt would be REALLY helpful to have a deep dive procurement conversation for larger districts. How to navigate the bid process for small farmers, food hubs, etc.Replying to "Lola Interruption.gif" Jen this is the first thing I thought of. Haha!Replying to "Lola Interruption.gif" Of course @Vince Caguin sent this to me immediately üòÇReplying to "It would be REALLY h..." I‚Äôm so glad you said this ‚Äî we‚Äôre tentatively planning a call on this topic next spring ‚Äî would love to know if there are specific questions you‚Äôd like addressed (or speakers you‚Äôd like to see)It‚Äôs frustrating because the requirements, which are intended to spread the wealth and encourage free/open competition, are actually forcing us to purchase our Farm to School items from the large distributors that already have our produce business.We have gone to bid with several districts which has opened the door for lots of small farms that otherwise would not have been able to access some big schoolsCan you please share the Farm to School info again they are offering next month?If you want support with creating a bid geared for local purchasing, Yousef and I at CAFF have some templates and Bid Creation software at www.bidgenerator.org@Jacob Weiss | Spork Food Hub do you then fill out the bid for a district? We do not have any luck with people biddingReplying to "Can you please share..." Amanda, here are the links to the conference + the resources ‚CDFA Office of Farm to Fork 2023 California Farm to School Conference: [link] 2023 National Farm to School Month Resources: [link]The team at CAFF is wonderful and my dear friend Ben Thomas who used to work at CAFF also now does procurement consulting through Shared Plate Strategies and he is a great person to chat with about procurement struggles especially in bigger districts. ben@sharedplatestrategies.comPiggy backing is a great ideaReplying to "Can you please share..." Thank you.Replying to "Can you please share..." If anyone has a piggybackable produce bid, especially for local and CA grown, please email me stillingworth@capousd.orgReplying to "The team at CAFF is ..." SPS is a great resource!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you all for being here! It‚Äôs amazing to be on the line with you all again!!Thank you all!Thank everyone!Thanks everyone!Thank you!!!0
