CKC Tackles Menu Fatigue

Even during normal times, menu fatigue can be a challenge for many food service programs. The inherent limitations of COVID-19 distance-learning food service compounds the potential for menu fatigue. Whether providing meals in person or via 5-day meal bundles, CKC Good Food has a variety of menus to keep menu fatigue at bay.

CKC offers three choices for distance-learning 5-day meal bundles:

1. Student-favorite menu on a 6-week rotation. This menu provides individual meals for each day of the week, which the students can, of course, eat in the order they choose. It includes heat-and-serve and cold items we know kids love: Wow butter and jelly sandwiches, build-your-own nachos, bean and cheese burritos, chicken corn dogs and hamburgers. CKC also adds new items to the mix often. This month, we’ve added individual pizza slices, hot pockets and cheesy pull-apart bread to the rotation.
2. “Grocery” menus, which include bulk ingredients and suggested recipes that are simple for families to batch-cook at home. Some of our grocery menu weeks include chicken wings and rice, and ingredients for quesadillas, pho and bean thread noodle. These menus also include the required fruit, veggies and milk to meet USDA requirements. Of course, families can ad lib their own recipes using the ingredients you provide. Either way, you meet the requirements of the Summer Food Service Program and earn reimbursement dollars. These menus allow CKC to easily incorporate your school’s commodity foods and they minimize waste vs. single-serve, prepackaged foods. Under current emergency waivers from the USDA/MDE, these menus can be used whenever your students are away from school for multiple days (distance learning, hybrid learning, spring break, summer, etc.).
3. A 6-week menu rotation incorporating alternating weeks of student favorites and grocery menus.

All CKC menu rotations can be tailored to the cultural population your school serves. We have experience serving a wide variety of ethnic populations, including Latino, Hmong and East African.

Need help combatting menu fatigue in your food service program? Contact CKC Good Food today: 651.453.1136.