Holyoke’s free breakfast and lunch offerings have expanded this year, making it easier—and tastier!— than ever for students to enjoy nutritious meals at school.
Sodexo, the district’s food service provider, has updated menu offerings in Holyoke to include a larger variety of foods that appeal to students of all ages. At the elementary level, the “Bright Bites” program introduces the regular inclusion of flavors from around the world, transforming staple menu items such as chicken patties into Indian butter chicken and Brazilian chicken sandwiches with chimichurri sauce. Similar menu items are featured at middle and high schools, too, with more options available on a given day.
Plant-based meal options are expanding at all school levels, with more vegetarian menu items than ever before. The rotating list of offerings now features at least one plant-based protein at each school, with options such as Texas vegetarian chili, edamame vegetable dumplings, and sunbutter protein power-up boxes. Additionally, at the high school level, plant-based burgers are now always available at the grill.
Food menus are designed in accordance with the USDA National School Lunch Program Meal Pattern, a national nutritional standard that emphasizes the availability of healthy and nutritious options—especially vegetables. Each cafeteria offers vegetables each day from all five subgroups (dark green, red/orange, legumes, starchy, and other vegetables) every day. In partnership with FoodCorps, elementary students will be regularly offered classroom opportunities to try small bites of a variety of vegetables that may be new to them.
Menus, nutrition facts, and allergen information for all cafeteria offerings can be found on the Nutrislice website platform, which is hosted online and in the Holyoke Public Schools mobile app (for Apple and Android). Menus repeat on a five-week cycle that is refreshed twice a year.
As in prior years, all Holyoke Public Schools students can eat breakfast and lunch for free, each and every school day as a part of the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service’s Community Eligibility Program.
More information about Sodexo’s food service at HPS can be found on our district website.