Cycle Menu Planning: A Step-by-Step Guide for School Nutrition Programs
January 31, 2025
Organizational Culture: Why You Do What You Do
April 15, 2025
You feed hundreds (maybe even thousands) of students each day with limited staff, rising food prices, and unpredictable deliveries. You also have the additional challenge of serving nutritious, cost-effective, and delicious meals. Sound familiar? School meal programs are the core of many children’s daily nutrition, and USDA Foods can help make it all work.
For over 90 years, USDA Foods have supported both American agriculture and school nutrition. These commodity foods—more than 200 whole or minimally processed items—are purchased by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service and distributed through the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to child nutrition programs across the country. That adds up to billions of pounds of high-quality food purchased from U.S. farmers.
The value? About thirty cents per tray—a powerful funding source that should be considered part of your revenue in every cost-per-meal calculation. These are not “free foods”—they’re part of your entitlement dollars, and maximizing their use is one of the smartest financial strategies in your school meal program.
Spring is USDA Foods allocation and the time to finalize your cycle menus for the next year.
Do you know how to maximize this funding source in your school meals program?
Let’s take a look at ways to incorporate USDA Foods into cycle menus for cost savings, food quality, and healthy meal offerings.
Remember, delivery trucks may or may not arrive in time for meal preparation and service. To avoid kitchen chaos and menu substitutions, solicit bids for the same or similar healthy products on the commercial market that may be used in case USDA Foods do not arrive in time.
Egg-citing School Breakfast
How to Build Breakfast Around Liquid Eggs
Liquid eggs are cost-effective, convenient, and ideal for speed-scratch cooking, making it easier for your team to stay ahead on busy service days. Use liquid eggs in:
- Baking whole grain and whole grain rich foods
- Egglettes (sheet pan eggs and cheese cut into squares)
- Burritos
- Frozen breakfast quesadillas–a team favorite that can be made weeks ahead, frozen, and ready to thaw and bake on the day of service. (Make your own seasoning.)
Gobble Up Goodness in Child Nutrition
Whole, raw, “netted” turkey roasts are one of Chef Cyndie’s favorite USDA Foods. When she first started in school nutrition in 1989, she wanted to help her kitchen staff, so she removed the nets from all the turkey roasts. Can you imagine? Humorous today, but not so funny at the time.
Roast and Slice Your Own Deli Meats with USDA Foods
Making your own deli meat can cut sodium, reduce costs, and boost quality. Use your slicer to cut roasted and properly cooled turkey roasts into sandwich slices.
This commodity food is very versatile. It can be used in sandwiches and salads or cooked and cubed for casseroles, pastas, or soups.
Bonus Tip: Create your own low-sodium spice blends to add flavor without compromising nutrition.
Beef—It’s What’s for Lunch in Your School Meal Program
Ground beef dishes, especially burritos, nachos, and tacos are kid favorites. USDA ground beef allows you to cook in volume, season to your students’ tastes, and manage fat content with smart prep practices.
How to Safely Prep, Cook, and Clean-Up Ground Beef
Raw ground beef should be safely thawed in pans on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator to avoid cross contamination. Cook beef in a kettle, tilt skillet (braising pan), or even in the steamer. To steam, spray 4-inch perforated pans, place one 10-pound chub of beef into each pan, and break into chunks. Place perforated pan into a 6-inch deep solid pan. Steam until fully cooked with a minimum internal temperature of 155 degrees.
Remove from pan and crumble using a mixer, VCM (vertical cutter mixer), or by hand using a bench scraper. Be sure to season while the meat is warm.
Drain the meat well if kettle or skillet cooking. Place the pan or container with the drippings in the refrigerator. Once the fat hardens, lift it away and discard the solidified substance in the garbage can. Then, pour the fat-free liquid down the drain.
Fully Cooked Chicken is a USDA Foods Gem
Diced cooked chicken is the perfect ingredient for so many recipes, hot or cold. Use it in wraps, salads, bowls, or pasta dishes for quick, consistent results. It’s so easy that you’ll want to incorporate it into your cycle menu planning.
Thaw and Go!
If using diced chicken in cold food production, simply thaw and it is ready to eat or to incorporate into a recipe. Cooking and cooling again is not required for safety. Plus, every time this product is cooked, you will lose yield which means you lose money.
Remember: This is a fully cooked product!
Use Your Entitlement Dollars for Cheesy Gooey Goodness
American, cheddar, mozzarella, and even pepper jack cheeses are available from USDA. Mozzarella string packs for single servings are great for to-go meals or snack pack lunches. Reduced fat options help menu planners lower the total fat content, supporting your nutritional goals.
Make Cheese Work for Your Cycle Menu Recipes
For an appealing presentation to students, consider topping baked goods such as casseroles with blended cheeses (such as cheddar and mozzarella).
Food science lesson: Reduced fat and sodium cheeses don’t melt as well when heated.
Always Fruitful in the Dry Stockroom
USDA Foods canned fruits have been a longtime tradition in schools as these items are easy to store and use. Most now come in extra light syrup or juice concentrate, lowering the sugar content. Unsweetened applesauce has been available since 2008.
Why are all canned fruits not packed in 100 percent fruit juice? There is not enough juice concentrate on the market to meet the demand. Fruit packed in extra light syrup is the next best option. There is only one more gram of total sugar in extra light syrup (13 grams) as compared to added juice concentrate (12 grams).
A Canned Fruit Recipe for Menu Planning
One of our favorite canned fruit recipes is fruit explosion.
Pro Tip: Remind your staff that juice packed canned fruit should not be drained for individual fruit cups – the juice counts as part of the fruit contribution.
Fresh Fruits Galore = Student Meal Appeal
Move over Red Delicious apples, USDA Foods now offer Empire, Gala, Granny Smith, and Honeycrisp varieties, which offer better taste and less browning than the old Red Delicious standard.
To prevent browning, use an acidulated water solution such as commercial lemon juice or make your own salt and water solution using a recipe of one gallon of water to one teaspoon of salt. Be sure to measure, because we don’t want to add but a few milligrams of sodium to our apple and pear slices.
Smart Fruit Processing Equipment & Serving Sizes
For quantity food production, purchase a tool like the Sunkist® Sectionizer to streamline large-batch prep for apples, oranges, and more. The Sectionizer is fast for coring and slicing apples.
Serving size: A 128-135 count apple is the number of apples packed into a standard box, indicating a medium-sized apple. Half a 128-135 count (medium) apple is ½ cup.
Oranges should be served in wedges. For a perfect slice, cut the orange through the belly or around the diameter first. Then, cut the quarters into wedges. Or, for speed production, use the Sunkist® Sectionizer 4 or 6 wedge blade and place the orange on the blade on its side.
Serving size: One orange is ½ cup fruit.
Beans: The Powerhouse of Nutrition in School Meal Programs
Low sodium canned beans are so good for our digestive system and health. You know what they say, beans, beans, good for the heart! Beans are packed with protein and fiber, and are a low-cost alternative, especially for vegetarian dishes. Use USDA’s black, garbanzo, kidney, or pinto beans in chilis, salads, or tacos.
How to Cook Budget-Friendly Beans
The culinary key to great beans is to cook them in their natural aquafaba—the juice in the can that you have paid for! Spray your pan, empty the can, season, and bake according to plan.
Don’t Roll Past Rolled Oats
Parfaits with a crunchy granola topping are a popular breakfast and lunch option. Skip the expensive granola! Order USDA rolled oats and make your own special, school-made version. Dried fruits such as USDA tart cherries are tasty and tangy in sweet granola.
Compare USDA Foods Before You Shop
Before you say you don’t have time to make your own granola, compare the cost of commercial granola to making your own.
It’s a simple recipe and a great way to use slower production days to stock up on a house-made item that students will love—and it makes the kitchen smell amazing.
Maximize Your Entitlement Dollars Before Processing
As you can see, USDA Foods provide a wide variety of delicious, nutritious, and versatile foods for your cycle menu planning. Look at your own menu and see where unprocessed USDA Foods fit in before committing to a commodity food item for processing.
Ask yourself: Can we use this item in its original form?
For example, USDA beef patties may be less expensive than their processed counterparts. Remember, you can save a lot of money on purchased foods by maximizing the use of USDA Foods. Some school nutrition directors gain a solid reputation for creative use of USDA Foods, using all their Entitlement dollars each school year.
Your entitlement dollars are tied directly to reimbursable lunches served, so making full use of USDA Foods supports both your financial goals and your nutrition mission.
Make USDA Foods Work for Your School Meal Program
USDA Foods are a powerful tool in child nutrition. By incorporating them creatively and strategically, you not only stretch your budget—you improve the quality of meals and support American farmers.
So, take a fresh look at your menus, use your entitlement dollars wisely, and build a school meal program that is both nutritious and financially sound.
