School kitchens across the state are looking for new ways to incorporate healthy, locally sourced ingredients into their daily recipes, including staff from the Target Range School District.
On the last day of school before the holidays, Devin Kavanagh, the Food Services Director at Target Range, served his students and staff for the first time local lentil meatballs.
“When I started about a year and a half ago, my goal was always to improve the food,” said Kavanagh. “When I was able to find my way around here, I really looked into it and … there are many options out there.”
One of the groups he works with on nutritious ingredients is the Mission Food Enterprise Center, a shared food processing and manufacturing facility in Ronan that is capable of mass cooking fruits, vegetables and other foods.
The Mission Food Enterprise Center also prepared the lentil meatballs for the Target Range nutrition program. The ingredients for the meatballs are lentils, mushrooms, potatoes, minced meat, egg and oatmeal.
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“It’s crucial to be able to read all of the ingredients on a box,” said Kavanagh.
“It’s just so exciting to have a healthy product like this,” he continued. “I hope the kids will like it. We’ll see what they say. “
Kavanagh and his kitchen staff scuttled around, cutting fruit, cooking pasta, and trading trays of meatballs from the oven onto a grate in preparation for lunch on a recent school day.
The first in the cafeteria were the Target Range kindergarten children.
A majority of the students who walked through the line opted for the meatballs and marinara sauce with their pasta, while few chose just pasta.
“I want lots of meatballs,” a student in line said to Kavanagh.
While children are often seen as picky eaters who turn up their noses at vegetables, this was not Kavanagh’s experience at Target Range. For him, children are more open to trying new things than people think they are.
“I think it really comes down to how things are prepared and then the first bite you take,” he said. “So if the lentil meatballs are made with these simple ingredients, I don’t think they’ll be sent away that badly.”
Another way Kavanagh has incorporated locally sourced ingredients into its menu is to use meat processed just down the street from Target Range at School House Meats, the agricultural education center of the Missoula County Public Schools. School House Meats students raise, slaughter and professionally process cattle.
But soon he will have another locally sourced nutritional ingredient to incorporate into Target Range’s nutritional program.
‘Montana Marinara’
In an effort to connect more Montana schools with locally produced food, the Office of Public Instruction has partnered with the Northwest Food Hub Network to bring a “Montana Marinara” to school kitchens. The sauce contains pumpkin, onions, carrots, and more grown in Montana.
The Northwest Food Hub Network is a collective of farm-owned cooperative food centers in Montana and Washington that aims to connect organizations such as school districts, hospitals, and colleges with local, sustainable food products.
“Montana Marinara is a win-win-win product – it supports smallholders in Montana, brings delicious, sustainable local food to students across the state, and celebrates our state’s history of helping agriculture,” said Kaylee Thornley, coordinator from the Northwest Food Hub network.
Target Range will add the Montana Marinara to its menu in February, Kavanagh said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program caters for 80,000 students each school day in Montana, and nearly half of those meals are usually served free or at a discounted price, according to the OPI.
Due to the COVID pandemic, the USDA has started offering free school lunch to all public school students by expanding the seamless summer option of the National School Lunch Program. The flexibility in the food service was extended until the end of June 2022.
“The USDA will work tirelessly to ensure that our nation’s children receive the vital nutrition they need,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “States and districts wanted the exemptions extended to allow for a safe reopening this fall. USDA responded to a call to help America’s schools and childcare facilities serve quality meals while addressing their local needs as children return to their normal lives. This promotion also increases the reimbursement rate for school catering companies so that they can serve healthy food to our children. It’s a win-win situation for children, parents and schools. “
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