JSI has partnered with the National Food Service Management (NFSMI) to bring Meal Pattern training to school nutrition staff and managers across Massachusetts.
NFSMI presented their nationwide Meal Pattern training at Quincy High School on April 9th. NFSMI sent Carol H. Gilbert as the expert in meal planning to lead the training. Two prior NFSMI Meal Pattern trainings were held in Massachusetts on March 8th in Pittsfield and on April 3rd in Manchester-Essex.
School nutrition professionals from Norwood, Norwell, Norton, Waltham, Weymouth, JRI, Quincy, Stoughton, Wareham, Milton and Somerville were in attendance. The large group of 40 participants had decades of experience between them and were quick to participate and willing to learn.
Carol offered great insight as to why the meal pattern changed and how to overcome common problems that many schools were facing with the new guidelines. The group discussed changes for each meal component in all three age groups using the Final Rule Nutrition Standards for the NSLP fact sheet, and then spent time actually planning sample menus.
Carol also provided the group with a number of resources that may be useful in menu planning such as the USDA Food Buying Guide and a Food Buying Calculator.
Additional resources on the Meal Pattern can be found at:
The 4th NFSMI Meal Pattern Trainings is expected to be held in the fall. Be sure to check the JSI website for more details on that upcoming training!
