School Meals

There are special people at all of our schools who work each day to help improve students’ concentration, enhance classroom participation, increase test scores, and keep our kids healthy and ready to learn. Amazingly these people do this without even entering the classrooms.

Who are these impressive people? We are the Child Nutrition Department and proud of our employees who do this hard work day in and day out. The work done in the kitchen often goes unrecognized.

Our Child Nutrition employees only get a short time with students, but their daily impact is enormous. The recipe is really quite simple. Research shows that kids who eat well learn better. So, the hard work that gets done in the kitchen each day is NOT just about the food; it makes good education possible.

Good nutrition is key to the optimal growth and development of children. That is why we strive to provide each child with a healthy, balanced meal every school day. We serve over 2,100 meals each day; now that is a lot of food and preparation!

  • There are no deep fat fryers at any of the 8 Mandan Public Schools. Any food normally associated with frying is baked or otherwise prepared in a more healthy way. We have eliminated other equipment that did not promote healthy eating behaviors, like a shake machine and doughnut maker.
  • We offer whole grains whenever possible. Most of the bread products we serve are made with whole grains. Our dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, hamburger buns, pizza crust, bread slices, and coney buns all have the goodness of whole grains.
  • A variety of produce is offered weekly. Each day children get a selection of at least 2 fruits or vegetables. Apples, oranges, bananas, kiwi, pears, grapes, assorted melon, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, salad greens, and carrots are just some of the fresh produce we offer.
  • Our menus adhere to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This means that our food must contain 30% calories from fat, less than 10% of calories from saturated fat, at least 1/3 of the RDA for key nutrients like calories, protein, calcium, iron, vitamin A and C.

We are happy to have the opportunity to serve you each school day!