Recipes and Culinary Techniques

 When operating Child Nutrition Programs, offering quality and consistent menu plans is important for meeting program requirements and student expectations.

Standardized recipes are key to consistency and are companion tools to production records. Recipes provide production staff with all of the information needed to produce the same delicious food time after time.

Because standardized recipes have been tested, the results:

• Are known and can be duplicated repeatedly.
• Ensure consistency with nutritional content, including child nutrition crediting information (how many ounce equivalents of meat/meat alternate, etc.).
• Are useful in procurement as well as inventory and labor management.

Together, production records and standardized recipes help make up menus that meet the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program requirements for reimbursement.

Culinary Tips and Techniques

• Florida Kitchen Hacks [ 138.3 kB ]
• Be Salt Savvy: Cut Back on Sodium for Healthy School Meals [ 473.7 kB ] (USDA, 2014)
• Culinary Techniques
• Spicy Solutions for Flavor Enhancement [ 325.8 kB ]
• USDA Foods Meal Service Ideas 2020-2021 [ 2.7 MB ]

Standardized Recipes

• Standardized Recipes for Schools (Institute of Child Nutrition)
• Steps to Developing a Standardized Recipe [ 112.4 kB ]

USDA Standardized Recipes for Schools

Choose from 38 classic recipes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). 

Tool Kits and Resources

• Fruit and Vegetable Quick Crediting Guide [ 1.1 MB ]
• Meeting Whole Grain-Rich Requirements[ ] (USDA)
• Vegetable Cycle Menu Plan: Two-Week Sample [ 93.1 kB ]
• Vegetable Meal Preparation and Service Strategies from Project [ 1.2 MB ]
• Vegetable Project Presentation July 2020 [ 1.6 MB ]