It takes a Clear Creek ISD student less than five minutes to pre-order lunches online and pick them up at station, avoiding a long wait in a cafeteria line. The students are using SchoolCafè software, which allows parents and students to manage nutrition, view an online school menu and manage payments for student meals. Parents can add money to their student’s account, check the account history, set purchase restrictions and apply for meal benefits such as reduced meal costs for families in need of financial assistance. They can even order meals for their students to pick up. view article

Statistics show that one in four kids in Harris County suffer from food insecurity. Nation School Breakfast week was put in place to encourage schools to understand just how important a healthy breakfast is to a student’s academic success. Based on data from the School Nutrition Association, children who eat breakfast score higher in subjects like reading and math, standardized tests, have better concentration and memory, tend to be more alert and keep a healthy weight. Today, Pine Shadows Elementary Nutrition Staff and Principal Winstead will receive an award for providing grab-and-go breakfast for students–making it convenient for students to grab a quick healthy breakfast in the hallway on their way to class. view article

SARATOGA, Texas — It was an eventful weekend for West Hardin High School's AG mech FFA team. As they hooked up their trailers that they had worked all year on to bring and show for the Austin Rodeo competition, they loaded them up with some very special cargo. At the behest of AG teacher James Merrifield, the whole community had come together and gathered donations to bring on their way to Austin and drop off for the farmers that were affected by the devastating wildfires that have ravaged much of North and Central Texas. view article

Standing next to her 2-year-old son, Miguel, Morningside Middle School mom Maria Sigala held a burlap bag tight in her hand. She and her toddler were among the first in line at the opening of the middle school’s new market. Sigala walked into the portable building just off the main campus, held Miguel’s hand and began reading each pantry item’s label, deciding if she’d bring it home. view article

SISD is one of eight Texas school districts chosen for the grants—which total $113,130 statewide–according to a Jan. 31 news release. Through the grants, No Kid Hungry aims to increase student participation in school breakfast programs. view article

07 Feb 2024 --- In a new study, using Nutrition Facts labels is associated with healthy eating habits among eighth and 11th-grade students in Texas, US. However, the authors also caution that a limited proportion of students use such labels to inform food choices.  Nutrition Facts labels, used on packaged foods regulated by the FDA since 1990, provide information on serving size, calories and nutrients, such as calcium, fiber, total fat, cholesterol and sodium. The label information lets consumers compare food items to make healthier choices. view article

Texas is one of 15 states across the country that have declined to accept federal funding that could have helped replace the meals children lose during summer vacation. The state rejected $350 million in food assistance that Congress already had allocated. The assistance comes from an Electronic Benefit Transfer program the U.S. Department of Agriculture began in 2022 to help ensure that children still are fed when they don’t receive school breakfasts and lunches. The program offers $40 per month per student in families that qualify, to help cover grocery costs during the summer months. view article

CREEDMOOR — Yaquelin Cornejo is grateful she’ll get to make the trek from her Creedmoor house to the nearest H-E-B a bit less often. The 40-plus-minute round trip for groceries, partially on a toll road, will now be occasionally replaced by a 10-minute trip to her children’s school. Creedmoor Elementary School opened a food pantry last week. The collaboration between the Del Valle Independent School District and the Central Texas Food Bank is the first example of the food bank’s Feeding Families program, an initiative to put free-to-use food pantries in schools. The food bank chose Creedmoor in part because its January needs assessment of Del Valle highlighted the area’s distance from large grocers and its relatively young population. view article

WASHINGTON — New legislation introduced by Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) would ban cultivated meat products from being served in school lunches.  The bill, referred to as the School Lunch Integrity Act of 2024, would set restrictions under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP). view article

In partnership with the Texas Rural Education Association, the Rural School District Cohort Program provides funding to rural school districts in Texas to directly support and help scale up their meal programs, as well as create opportunities for collaboration among districts. Nationally, Texas has more rural schools than any other state, with more than 20% of all campuses located in rural areas and over 600,000 students enrolled in these schools across the state. This fall, the nonprofit released an impact report detailing the results of its $180,000 investment, demonstrating that half of the cohort members reported an increase in student participation in one or more school meal programs compared to the previous school year. Brookesmith ISD, in particular, used grant funding to purchase an industrial air fryer for the school kitchen, allowing them to expand their capacities to provide healthy meals while also reducing food waste. view article

I know, this is a social media post that has made the rounds a few times and I still think this is pretty cool. Check out this now-viral video and also a photo, which shows a food court that appears to be in a mall. However, it is not. This is the cafeteria at Allen High School in North Texas. Mind you this is also the school that also boasts at $60 million football stadium that is out of this world. view article

With a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Frisco ISD will continue to offer free meals to students in Frisco through July 22. Any Frisco student, including those enrolled in charter, private and homeschool, is eligible to receive five days of breakfast and lunch each week. Advanced registration is required. view article

Curbside meals will resume Wednesday, January 20. Meals will not be served on Monday, January 18 due to the holiday. Free school meals for ALL Humble ISD students extended through May 28, 2021 All Humble ISD students, regardless of meal eligibility (free, reduced, or full paid), will continue to receive one breakfast meal and one lunch meal per school day at NO COST for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year. view article

Beginning Dec. 7, Fort Bend ISD will provide grab-and-go meals for students two days a week instead of daily, according to a Dec. 1 press release from the district. FBISD will also begin offering dinner meals for pickup. On Mondays, families will be able to pick up breakfast, lunch and dinner for Monday through Wednesday, and on Thursdays, meals will be available for Thursday through Saturday. view article

Beginning June 3, Curbside Grab and Go meal service will continue under the National School Meal Program through July 28. At the specified locations, distribution of five breakfast and five lunches is available to any child age 18 or younger every Wednesday. NO applications are needed for summer meals but the child must be present. view article

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Starting April 6, students at the Amarillo Independent School District will have new options when it comes to meal and internet service. According to a release issued Friday, the district will now hand out breakfast and lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., replacing the prior 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. breakfast pickup. view article

The Houston Independent School District announced on Wednesday that it had received approval from the United States Department of Agriculture and the Texas Department of Agriculture to waive the required application process for the National School Lunch/Breakfast Program. "All HISD students will eat all school meals for free during the 2017-2018 school year," the district said in a release Wednesday morning. Families still need to apply for this waiver though. view article

Fort Bend ISD is going to begin serving up something different for some students who continually fail to pay for their lunches -- a cold cheese sandwich with a side of milk, and that's not sitting well with some parents. We're not talking about students who qualify for free school meals. But apparently, these repeat offenders have gotten so "forgetful" that it's draining the district's budget by hundreds of thousands of dollars. view article

Because of a federal rule, kids throw away millions of dollars of fruits and vegetables every single day at school. But a new study shows a simple, no-cost trick that should leave federal policy makers saying, “Why didn’t I think of that?” When recess takes place before kids sit down to eat – instead of after - fruit and vegetable consumption increases by 54%. view article

Beaumont Public Health director Sherry Ulmer says West Brook High School cafeteria workers did not want old sandwiches to rot outside during the Beaumont Independent School District Thanksgiving week-long break, since they were not sure when the trash would be collected.  view article