Northside ISD Child Nutrition Department follows the federal guidelines set forth by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA). We also follow guidelines set forth in the Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH).
Northside ISD Child Nutrition Department menus are planned by a registered dietitian with a goal of providing a variety of nourishing kid friendly menu items at an affordable price. Food preferences of the community are considered so that students will like the menu choices offered.
All Northside schools offer breakfast to students. Breakfast menus are designed to meet ¼ of the Recommended Daily Allowances (RDA's). Lunch is also offered at all campuses. The menus over a school week provide less than 30% fat and 10 saturated fat while providing 1/3 of the RDA's for students at lunch.
We offer kid friendly foods, where recipes and food preparation techniques have been modified to reduce the fat, trans fat, salt and sugar content of the meals, while maintaining the required level of essential nutrients. At the same time we have increased the fiber, fruit and vegetable content of the meals.
Meal preparation techniques involve baking, steaming, and braising only to reduce the fat content of the meals, no longer are any food items fried. Lower fat or reduced fat condiments, sauces, gravies, cheeses, pepperoni, and lean ground beef are used in our recipes. Skim/1 % milk, whole grain bread and grains, fruits packed in their own juice or light syrup along with a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables are offered.
We have worked with manufacturers to develop healthier versions of popular food items such as -wholegrain, reduce fat pizza, lean hamburgers, reduced fat chicken nuggets and filets, baked steak fingers and baked country breaded steak, baked fish nuggets and filets and other student favorites. Hot dogs, corn dogs and ham are made from turkey and thus contain no pork.
Northside Child Nutrition Department is truly committed to providing healthy meals to help students grow in mind and body. We will continue to make healthy meal changes behind the scenes. We encourage students to try different foods and use the cafeteria as a learning laboratory for making nutritious choices in the appropriate portion sizes.
Menus Item Listings (Calories, Protein, Carbohydrates, Fats) - To assist students and parents in making healthy breakfast lunch choices detailed nutrition information listed below.
Please note: These are estimates only as products, product formulations and recipes are subject to change without notice. Every effort is made to provide the best estimates possible. The menus follows the CATCH Program - Eat smart Guidelines for GO, SLOW and WHOA menu items. GO foods are foods that you can eat "almost anytime." (These foods are very low in fat.) SLOW foods are "sometimes foods" - foods that you can eat on occasion, but need to be combined with other GO foods. These are foods higher in fat.)