Meal Pattern and Sample Menus
Food Buying Guides
There are many Food Buying Guide sites but the following link gives the updates to the Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs direct from USDA/FNS. It identifies the Vegetables by Subgroup and more specifics on the changes to school meals.
Food Distribution
Recipes
Louisiana Cycle Menus
(LCM)
Fit for Kids
Louisiana Cycle Menus (LCM) includes a four week cycle menu for the School Breakfast and School Lunch Program. This set of cycle menus includes K-12 Breakfast Meal Pattern, K-8 Lunch Meal Pattern, and the 9-12 Lunch Meal Pattern. These menus are meant to help Louisiana schools serve tasty meals that fit within the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Meal Guidelines . All crediting must be verified by local SFAs. Any change in recipe, ingredient, or portion will change the crediting listed in the menu.
Many of the recipes included in LCM were provided by local School Food Authorities (SFAs). You may recognize some Louisiana regional favorites such as: jambalaya, chicken and sausage gumbo, corn maque choux, pastalaya, baked Cajun fish and Red River Silly Chili. We’ve also included a sampling of Louisiana Harvest of the Month menu items including: baked sweet potatoes, strawberries, watermelon, cucumbers and squash.
All menu items have been entered into the USDA Menu Certification Worksheet and meet the required meal components.
The Louisiana Fit Kids Team welcomes feedback on the first installment of cycle menus. Please e-mail us with questions or comments!