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School Breakfast Expansion Grant Creates Delicious, Nutritious Results

Tuesday, October 15, 2024


In September of 2023, the Wisconsin DPI received a School Breakfast Expansion Grant to improve meal quality and support healthy and appealing breakfasts that meet the current standards and support stronger nutrition standards. Since then, 111 school food authorities subgrants have been made with the aim of reducing added sugar and sodium; increasing and promoting a variety of protein sources; as well as adding more whole grains, milk, fruits, and vegetables.

DPI breakfast specialists offered school food agencies the support they needed to get their programs off the ground. Education and training helped each agency develop individualized plans to improve the nutritional quality of their school breakfast meals. An important part of these preparatory sessions was facilitating peer to peer idea exchanges, collaboration, and growing relationships between folks from across the state. Sessions included:

  • Nutrition education
  • Marketing
  • Determining food cost and meals per labor hour
  • Equipment
  • Smoothies
  • Standardizing recipes and much much more.

A year into the two-year grant period, school food agencies are seeing the fruits of their labor. During the first two months of the school year thus far, local programs have created promotion and new menu taste testing open house events.

Assumption's breakfast frittata
Assumption Catholic Schools offered samples of new recipes at their open house. New offerings include a vegetable frittata recipe, pineapple orange smoothies, cheddar pimento biscuits, and blueberry sheet pan pancakes!
A breakfast worker in Stevens Point poses at an information table with a smiling student
Stevens Point Area School District kicked off their breakfast program this year with a new homemade breakfast blueberry bar recipe. Students enjoyed the new offering!
Breakfast sliders on buns
North Crawford School District provided samples of new menu items during their open house. Samples included cheese and sausage egg bites, strawberry overnight oats, strawberry and peach smoothies, protein packed energy bites, breakfast sliders (pictured), and mini harvest loaves.
Rows of smoothies on a lunch tray, along with a handout explaining smoothie ingredients
Menominee Indian School District is kicking off their school breakfast program with smoothies offered on Thursdays and is marketing it as Tasty Thursdays.
Students pose with breakfast-themed props
Flambeau School District began the year with a fun kickoff event at breakfast in which students took fun photos with breakfast-themed props.
Screenshot of Flambeau schools facebook post touting the breakfast program
Flambeau School District also highlighted their new fruit and yogurt parfait recipe. The food service director plans to reduce juice to three days a week in favor of more whole fruits.

The passion, drive, and creativity of Wisconsin’s school food service directors and school nutrition professionals has been on full display. There are many hurdles to tackling scratch cooking and implementing program changes. These grant funds have helped temporarily assisted districts with the challenges of rising food costs, obtaining administrative support, and labor shortages.

Kudos to the DPI Nutrition Breakfast team, and to all the amazing professionals across Wisconsin who are making sure that our students can have healthy, yummy meals to feed their learning at school.

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