Iowa school districts get creative with food supply challenges

CEDAR RAPIDS — Schools are adjusting breakfast and lunch menus for students as food suppliers discontinue items and face transportation challenges.

Chicken, beef, cheese, pizza products, hamburger buns and individually packaged food items like condiments are harder to come by because of the COVID-19 pandemic, school officials said.

At the same time, schools are preparing to serve more students on-site this year. Last year, students were split between in-person and virtual learning, or a hybrid of both. Grab-and-go meals were packaged and provided for virtual learners.

Districts have been providing free meals to students since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 when the U.S. Department of Agriculture began reimbursing schools and child care centers. Free meals — breakfast and lunch — have been extended for the 2021-22 school year.

Typically, districts are reimbursed for meals only when students qualify for free- or reduced-price lunch through the National School Lunch Program.

Jennifer Hook, Cedar Rapids schools food and nutrition department manager, said she is working with the district’s dietitian and vendors to find replacements for products before the start of the school year Aug. 23.

“The school year looks good, and I think we’ll be able to keep the integrity of our menus,” Hook said.

The district has been working closely with its primary vendor — Performance Food Group — to get replacement items for school lunches.

The Iowa City Community School District has been proactive, purchasing items ahead of time to store in a warehouse freezer. Alison Demory, Iowa City schools nutrition services director, said this isn’t an option for all schools, particularly in smaller districts.

At the end of the 2020-21 school year, Demory said the district struggled to get ground beef. This year it’s prepared — purchasing a large shipment that should arrive before the first day of school.

Since March 2020, the Iowa City district has served over 1 million meals to 14,000 students and families.

“It’s huge,” Demory said. “It’s super rewarding to know we are making a difference for so many families.”

Some items are being discontinued because they are too school-specific and lack enough demand from the public, said Ginny Scott, College Community School District nutrition services director.

For example, district products must be made with whole grains, include no saturated fat and have sodium restrictions. Pizza products and even hamburger buns are two examples of foods difficult to find because of this, Scott said.

“We try to be as flexible as we can be,” Scott said. “Our kids have been amazing and have rolled with all of the changes every day.”

Some of the changes include substituting carrots for broccoli or swapping one menu day for another.

College Community also is seeing an increase in the number of students taking school meals. In October 2020, 15,000 students took school breakfast. By May 2021, almost 25,000 students took school breakfast.

The demand for school lunch has similarly increased. In October 2020, College Community served over 49,000 lunches. In May 2021, it served 69,000 lunches.

Dawn Kaufman, site manager for Truman Elementary School in Cedar Rapids, said schools are serving more breakfasts to students now that meals are free.

Meeting the challenges is one of Kaufman’s favorite things about the job. The kids and kitchen staff are another.

“The kids are really funny and make our day,” she said. Occasionally, they write her and the kitchen staff thank-you notes, which they display on the walls of the lunch room.

The pandemic really hasn’t created any more challenges for school nutrition staff than did any other day in the lunch room, Kaufman said.

Distributing summer meals is a special time for Kaufman, who gets to see parents and community members come through her line with the kids.

“You don’t get that during the school year,” she said.

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