Our new and improved Winter School Menu, launching in November
Sarah Doling, Menu Development Manager at City Catering
After a year or so of Covid-restrictions affecting school lunch times in different ways – we are excited to be launching our new Winter Menu, starting on the 1st November, until the spring school holidays – and seeing all of our schools back in the dining hall!
This menu change is the first of several steps to see us working towards improving our Food for Life Award status from Bronze, to Silver – and we are excited to bring new dishes, recipes and even more nutrition to Southampton’s school lunches! We wanted to take an opportunity to let you know more about the menu, and we look forward to seeing the school community being able to explore tasters or enjoy lunch over the coming weeks.
So, how do our menus work? Sarah, our Menu Development Manager, explains: “We serve a three choice or two choice menu depending on school preference, that rotate through a three-week cycle. We adhere to a number of standards – from local sourcing, to nutritional balance across the week. This is so that we can offer pupils the best nutritional opportunity at lunchtime – something that, as a local Charity, is so important to us.”
You can explore your schools specific menu on our school menu page – but also on our Lunchero app. New menus are shared as soon as possible ahead of menu changes that happens after the October Half Term or after the Easter break each year.
There are five key things we want to make sure you knew about the Winter Menu.
“Childhood nutrition plays a key role in a young person’s health now, as well as in the future. Research shows that meeting the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day and limiting processed foods can benefit overall well-being and health. It is important that we all find ways to meet this nutritional balance, which is why we are pleased to hear that City Catering are working to improve Southampton’s children’s access good nutrition in the school day.”
Even more meals cooked from scratch
More meals than ever before - a 27% increase - will be cooked from scratch in our school kitchens, offering freshly cooked nutritious and tasty meals every lunchtime. This is an important aspect of our school meals to ensure that we can provide the best quality meals, use local and seasonal ingredients and devise recipes that are packed with nutrition, giving parents peace of mind and children the energy and nutrients they need for the rest of the school day.
A key example of this is our new and improved tomato-based recipe that we use for many of our meals – packed with lots of vegetables, making sure everyone’s favourite meals provides the maximum nutrition!
Half of the recommended 5-a-day of fruit & veg offered every day
Nationally, vegetable intake is low amongst children – did you know roughly a third of children have only one portion of vegetables a day? Far less than what is recommended. Vegetables are vital for our health, and so we are pledging to increase the amount of vegetables offered in our school meals – either as side dishes, or in our recipes.
At least half of the recommended 5-a-day is on offer every day, with some days even more. By choosing the Cauliflower & Broccoli bake on Thursdays during week three with a side of seasonal vegetables, a salad and a fruit platter dessert four of the recommended five portions of fruit and veg will have been enjoyed!
Our new Bolognese recipe contains seven(!) different types of vegetables – you might not see them, but they are there working their veg superpower. We have also added vegetables to some classic favourites, to give them a new twist – such as adding a ‘seasonal must’ of butternut squash to our popular Mac n Cheese, which was a big hit over the summer during our Lunch Crowd sessions, and in our Cooking at Home recipe boxes. Vegetables have also found their way into our freshly baked bread-dough bases for our pinwheels, making sure every dish is veg’d to the max.
Enjoy Meat Free Wednesdays, every week
Every week, our standard menu has a meat-free Wednesday! Reducing meat consumption is a key way to help protect the environment, and so Wednesday’s school dinners gives us all the chance to enjoy new meals whilst supporting our aims to reduce the environmental impact of them. It’s a small change that we made a little while back, but small changes add up to make big impact.
Our vegetarian options are even more varied this Menu and we have reduced the amount of processed products, too, opting for more cooked-from-scratch recipes – ensuring that everyone benefits from the progress that we are making.
Whether it’s the winter fave of Cauliflower & Broccoli bake, or a favourite amongst children and adults alike – the Chickpea, Coconut and Spinach Curry, or a Bean & Lentil Burger - we feel sure there is something for everyone – on Wednesdays, and the rest of the week!
Don’t forget, this means that blue and yellow choice doesn’t always mean meat or veg; get the Lunchero App to check what’s on the menu each day.
Even more school recipes available on our Cooking at Home pages
Our website features many healthy recipes and cook-along videos that you can enjoy at home – and many are from the school menu. We regularly get asked where people can find the recipes for school meals, as children request them at home. A testament of how much they enjoy them!
Many of our new dishes feature in our free and online Cooking at Home programme for you to enjoy with all the family. A favourite at the moment is the Butternut Squash Mac n Cheese. Join the Facebook group, and let us know how you get on!
The Cooking at Home pages and group offer plenty of ideas and information about family cooking, from our school menu and other exciting ideas to try – do check it out, and get inspired with the family.
Nutritious and healthy, approved!
Our food standards are really important to us. We know how vital school meals are for children. We are assessed every year by Soil Association’s Food for Life team, and our current Bronze Award ensures that we ethically and locally source our ingredients, including using Red Tractor meat and sustainable fish. In addition, our Hyperactive Children’s Support Group Award certifies our recipes as not featuring any nasty additives.
We also follow the Government’s School Food Plan – which makes sure we offer a balanced menu throughout the week, limiting certain elements such as sauces or pastry, whilst also offering fruit, water and freshly baked bread every day.
Altogether, you can be reassured that our school meals really do offer nutritious, healthy, and freshly cooked food, with the care and passion of our wonderful kitchen teams, citywide.
Keep an eye out for opportunities at your school for tasters, or explore some of the recipes yourselves online. New flavours are an exciting opportunity to widen a child’s taste buds – often it can take a few goes before they love it, and that’s okay. We trialled lots of new recipes and ingredients over our summer Lunch Clubs, and so many children tried something new for the first time – like broccoli, sweet potato, or salmon. All part of the school meal experience; learning about new foods.
