Course Overview

Course Description

Learn how to implement more sustainable practices in your school meal program! In Sustainable Lunchrooms, we will discuss tactics for limiting the environmental impact of food-service operations, through the lens of scratch cooking. Together we’ll address how to minimize food and packaging waste in both front and back of house, use recipes and menu planning to decrease food waste, limit use of toxic cleaning chemicals and procure healthy and sustainable ingredients that minimize the impact on the environment. Additionally, this course will provide specific tactics for identifying the right kitchen equipment to support sustainability and for marketing sustainability to your students and broader school community. Lastly, we’ll cover how to find a balance between monetary costs, human health and our impact on the environment. To enroll yourself, simply add the course to your cart and check out.

 

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Understand the importance of a sustainable school meal program and how scratch cooking
   plays a role in decreasing environmental impact.
2. Identify tactics for reducing food and packaging waste, eliminating highly toxic cleaning products and limiting unnecessary energy use.
3. Determine which kitchen equipment best suits your needs to eliminate excess waste and
   learn the basics of maintaining equipment.
4. Optimize kitchen and cafeteria layout for efficient use of resources and space.
5. Procure local and sustainable ingredients and track orders to reduce waste and balance
   finances.
6. Encourage students and your school community to practice sustainable eating habits such
   as choosing unprocessed foods, eating what you take and recycling and composting waste.
7. Create a delivery, receiving, and storage plan to maximize sustainable.
8. Balance financial, health and environmental costs.

USDA Codes

• 1130
• 2140
• 2440
• 2520
• 3250
• 3510

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