Hot new entrees come to the lunch line in D91

“We’re doing more of a variety and that there are more options other than just the regular just pizza,” said eighth grade student at Eagle Rock Middle School, Charlie.

School lunches at Idaho Falls School District 91 have taken a new twist thanks to D91’s new child nutrition supervisor, Justine Reese.

“Currently most of the entrees that we have put on that are new, they are using a lot of the same ingredients, just different ways of utilizing the ingredients,” said Reese.

While students still see some well-known items, it’s the 20 new entrees such as a baja bowl, street tacos, ham and cheese pinwheels, that are satisfying these students’ stomachs.

“I think it’s really cool that they’re trying something new and it just adds some variety,” said eighth grade student at Eagle Rock Middle School, Amy.

The new entrees vary from school to school and rotate on the district’s hot entree menu items four-week cycles.

“We just want to make sure that the quality of food is maintained, so that’s why we have to make some adjustments,” said Reese.

On Thursday at Eagle Rock Middle School, the new items included, “cornbread bowl topped with chili, it’s the homemade chili that we make here, and then the Idaho nachos which is kind of a classic, so we just brought it back,” said Reese.

Introducing a new menu item can come with some hesitation from the students, but D91 says they’ve been pleasantly surprised with the feedback.

“We tend to see a drop off in secondary schools around a month into school, and we just haven’t seen that yet. So it’s really encouraging that kids are accepting the new items and it’s still providing full nutrition, really good well-rounded meals,” said Reese.

This week the district is celebrating National School Lunch Week.

KIFI 2019