In these economic times, it pays to save money. Having your children eat in their school cafeteria is one way to save money plus you know your children will get a well-balanced, healthy meal. Every school lunch will meet additional standards requiring:

• Age-appropriate calorie limits
• Larger servings of vegetables and fruits (students must take at least one serving of produce)
• A wider variety of vegetables, including dark green and red/orange vegetables and legumes
• Fat-free or 1% milk (flavored milk must be fat-free)
• More whole grains
• And less sodium

Healthy Meals Feed Eager Minds!

• Meals must meet a calorie range depending on your child’s age.
• No more than 30% of calories can come from fat and less than 10% from saturated fat.
• Foods offered have 0 grams of trans-fats.
• School lunches provide one-third of the Recommended Dietary Allowances of protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, calcium, and calories over the course of one week of menus.
• Students who eat school lunches consume less calories from fat than students who bring lunch from home.
• Compared to lunches from home, school lunches contain:
  • Three times as many dairy products
  • Twice as much fruit
  • Seven times the vegetable amounts

• National School Lunch Program (NSLP) participants have substantially lower intakes of added sugars than do non-participants.