About the Montana Cook Fresh Initiative 

Serving high quality school meals matters. School meals influence the health and wellbeing of over 30 million students every day across the United States through United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Child Nutrition Programs. Student’s perceptions of school meals are especially impacted by the attractiveness of the foods available on the serving line, and their access to fresh foods. This comprehensive training program was developed and tested as part of the Montana’s Office of Public Instruction’s innovative plan to support Montana school districts in serving high quality meals, called the Montana Cook Fresh Initiative (MCFI). Montana Team Nutrition defines high quality school meals as fresh “from scratch” school meals that appeal to Montana students, incorporate local and USDA foods, and meet USDA nutrition standards.

curriculum preview

Who is the target audience of this curriculum?

This curriculum is designed to reach three levels of school nutrition professional staff, including directors, managers, and frontline staff. The lesson plans are created for school nutrition programs that are operating USDA Child Nutrition Programs, including the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program.

What is included in this curriculum?

This curriculum includes 10 lesson plans developedfor all staffing levels to increase the knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy in preparing USDA compliant, scratch cooked meals. It also includes the evaluation package for the initiative, resources for peer education, tips for adapting the lesson plans into various delivery methods, 30 school nutrition recipes and more. 

 

Access the Montana Cook Fresh Initiative Curriculum