Parents and guardians need not worry about whether their children are eating healthy at school. Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) plans for the major shift in school meal preparations on the first day of the school year. Starting August 7, APS will prepare more than half of the school menu items from scratch.
This development paved the way for the Food & Nutrition Services team to undergo hands-on cooking lessons at APS’ central kitchen. About 60 APS staff, including area managers, site supervisors, and cooks, participated in scratch-kitchen training led by chefs from Brigaid.
The New Mexico Public Education Department’s Student Success and Wellness Bureau sponsored the recent training. It aims to help school districts prepare for the scratch cooking requirements of the state’s Healthy Universal School Meal Program.
“This is the first of hopefully many training opportunities with Brigaid,” said Marie Johnson, executive director of APS Food & Nutrition Services. “They’re here to really work with our team side by side, hands-on, boots on the ground, helping us adapt what they know so we can successfully transition to scratch cooking.”
Johnson said there will be lots of training over the summer so the team is fully equipped by August. “All of our menus will be 51% scratch or more.”
Mastering Measurements and Menus
During the training, participants practiced foundational culinary skills such as knife techniques, reading recipes, measuring ingredients accurately and building flavor. The chefs guided teams in preparing dishes that will appear on school menus. They included sloppy Joes, calabacitas, cornbread, pico de gallo, and pancakes with a cinnamon swirl.
One key focus was teaching staff the difference between measuring by weight and volume. This skill is critical when cooking large quantities.
“We want them to know how to read recipes and understand weights and measures,” Johnson said. “There’s a distinct difference between weight and volume, so we really want them to get that dialed in so recipes are executed properly and there’s no confusion.”
APS will continue preparing some meal components at its central kitchen, while staff will handle many fresh ingredients directly at schools.
“Veggies, fruit and things like that will be done at the school site,” Johnson explained. “The main dish will come from here.”
The Training Experience
Longtime APS Cook and Baker Francisca Segura said the training felt familiar in the best way.
“I love it,” Segura said. “We are learning a lot, and it’s a good idea. This will be healthy for the children. I hope they like the flavors.”
Segura, an APS cook for 20 years, said scratch cooking reminds her of the way school meals were once prepared.
“When I started cooking and baking, it was like that,” she said. “I started cooking beans, meat and all this stuff. I like it.”
Johnson said the training is also about building confidence among staff as they prepare for the transition.
“We really want to break down the barriers and let our team know they can do this,” she said. “It just takes a little bit of tweaking in the skills they already have. We’re going to do just fine. We’re just trying to knock off the fear.”
Additional Trainings Eyed This Summer
The team plans more training opportunities throughout the summer and schedules additional sessions before the school year begins.
Students will also see some new menu items inspired by the shift toward scratch cooking. Johnson is especially excited about one dish, the “Southwest Joe,” a New Mexican twist on the classic sloppy Joe.
“In our variation, there is red chile,” she said. “It will offer a quarter cup of red-orange vegetables, and it’s delicious. I think the kids are really going to like it.”
“The kids who have tried it have said yes,” Johnson said with a laugh. “I think we’re going to get famous on that.”