A day in the life of the cafeteria staff consists of a lot of behind the scenes work and preparation in order to provide students with nutritious meals.
Child Nutrition Workers start their day at all different times beginning at 5:30 a.m.
The staff has production reports of how much they plan to cook, how much they serve, and what they have leftover to have the day planned out. The morning consists of preparing food for the entire day including their staple foods: hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, and salads. They then continue to prepare their entree for the day by following the recipes provided to them through the district by warming up sauces, traying up food, and getting pans ready to cook.
Additionally to cooking, the morning involves setting up the condiment bar, cutting fruit, and serving breakfast. In between breakfast and lunch, the staff eats their lunch at 8:45 a.m. During lunch part of the staff works on cashiering, while the others serve food to the students. Throughout lunch they will batch cook items such as the fries to ensure they are served fresh.
After lunch, the staff has to clean the kitchen and tables and do dishwashing. These jobs are rotated around so no one gets stuck with the same job. To make sure they move efficiently, they are always helping each other out so they can work as a community. They then spend most of their time doing inventory by counting all of the items they take from the fridge, freezer, pantry as well as counting chips and drinks. They have to write all of these down by hand to keep records. Then they begin any prep they can for the next day until they are finished at 1:30 p.m.
Not all superheros wear capes, some wear aprons.
Our child nutrition workers take pride in providing nutritious meals to students. For some students their only healthy meal of the day is provided at lunch. It is very important for kids to get the proper nutrition so they can perform well in the classroom. Rockwood school districts dietician Katie Dority is in charge of creating the menus and recipes for all Rockwood schools. She has to ensure that every meal has the proper nutritional value for students.
The cafeteria staff has implemented a basket for students to put excess food in for other students who may not have as much to eat for them to have easy access to free food. The staff’s goal is to make an impact on students’ lives and to put a smile on their face everyday. It’s important to them to make sure all students feel included. “Without the students there is no need for us to be here,” Child Nutrition worker Robin said.
