Welcome to The Lunch Box!
The nation’s trusted resource for scratch cooking in schools, featuring recipes, tools, and operational knowledge.
Understanding the School Food Workforce
We’re seeking proposals for research projects that will increase understanding of the current state of the school food workforce in the United States.
Our Top 15 School Food Recipes
Out of hundreds of recipes, we picked out 15 of our top recipes of all time.
Pre-Apprenticeship Application Open In CA & CO!
Gain experience in healthy scratch-cook school food programs through our Pre-Apprenticeship program!
The Lunch Box
Welcome to the largest online resource for scratch cooking in schools! A program of the Chef Ann Foundation, this site features step-by-step guides, tools, and other resources to help schools improve their meal programs and convert to scratch-cooking.
By cooking from scratch (with whole, fresh ingredients), school food programs can provide delicious, nutritious meals for students. Research has shown scratch-cooking to have incredible benefits, like increased meal participation, improved student attendance, and decreased risk of diseases like diabetes.
SCALE platform for self assessment
We’ve built the first free-access digital platform that offers the first comprehensive self-assessment focused on enhancing school meal programs and increasing scratch cooking.
You have a wealth of valuable information for school districts to use. Thanks for all you do in providing schools with the tools they need to provide nutritious meals to our students.
Great tips and recommendations here to help implement change in our public schools. I am a substitute school nurse in Northern NJ with three kids in public schools and have been searching and searching for ways to help implement change for increasing plant-based foods in school lunches. This is a little slice of gold I have found in your site. I thank you very much!
Your website is impressive and I love the huge emphasis on nutrition education. I think this is a key component of our salad bar success!
New Content Areas
With this latest redesign of The Lunch Box, we’ve added a ton of new content for school food operators. Check out our newest additions below!
New Content Areas
With this latest redesign of The Lunch Box, we’ve added a ton of new content for school food operators. Check out our newest additions below!
Featured New Recipe
Apple Cinnamon Sheet Pan Pancakes
This recipe was developed by CAF’s Director of School Food Operations, Brandy Dreibelbis. We love it because it is a fast and easy kid-favorite!
Featured New Recipe
Apple Cinnamon Sheet Pan Pancakes
This recipe was developed by CAF’s Director of School Food Operations, Brandy Dreibelbis. We love it because it is a fast and easy kid-favorite!
Program ImpactThe Lunch Box provides many digital resources and tools for school food professionals. Online registration also helps us track impact and support funding initiatives. |
27,539
site users registered |
157,706
downloaded resources |
6,794
school districts registered |
Program ImpactThe Lunch Box provides many digital resources and tools for school food professionals. Online registration also helps us track impact and support funding initiatives. |
27,539
site users registered |
157,706
downloaded resources |
6,794
school districts registered |
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