Prevent food waste
When you start offering a school breakfast or lunch, you will probably need some time at first to determine the right quantities. Experience shows that schools quickly learn how much of the different products the children eat, which means that purchasing becomes increasingly efficient and food waste decreases. To get off to a flying start, you can use the recommended daily amounts for children as a guide.
To prevent food waste, you can agree with the children that they should take one slice of bread at a time. When they have finished that slice, they can take another one. Involve the children in preventing waste as well. For example, organise a toasted sandwich day to use up bread, and a leftovers day at the end of each week. You can also make an omelette together with the children using leftover vegetables.
The Storage Guide explains how long and in what way it is best to store a product. The handy fridge sticker (which can be ordered free of charge from the online shop) lets you see at a glance whether something should be stored in the fridge or outside it. Taking this into account will also help you waste less.
Use more plant-based products
When shopping, you can consciously choose more plant-based and fewer animal-based products. If you have the lunch provided by a caterer, you can consider the range on offer when selecting one and choose as few meat products as possible. Meat has a major impact on the environment because a lot of land, water and feed are needed to keep livestock. The environmental impact of legumes, eggs and nuts is much lower. The climate impact of legumes is even 10 times lower than that of beef. Therefore, choose fruit or 100% peanut butter and/or 100% nut butter as bread toppings, for example. Hummus from the supermarket often contains salt, but it can be offered as an occasional choice outside the Wheel of Five. So why not make healthy hummus with the children? It is also great fun and educational to do! Or introduce a regular day on which you serve a vegetarian lunch, such as a meat-free Friday.
Offer water, tea and dairy
Tap water and tea are sustainable and healthy thirst quenchers. You can make the water more appealing by adding pieces of fruit, mint or cucumber. Lemonades and juices contain a lot of sugar and are not good for your health. They also put a strain on the environment because of their production in factories, packaging and transport.
Children need 2 to 3 portions of 150 ml of dairy products every day. This depends on their age (see the recommended daily amounts). More is not necessary for health and has a major impact on the environment. You could choose to offer each child one cup of semi-skimmed or low-fat milk and/or buttermilk at lunchtime, assuming that they also have milk or yoghurt at home.