Culinary Skills for School Meals Training
August 14-18, 2023 | South Portland High School
This 5-day, hands-on, intensive culinary training for school nutrition professionals in Maine participating in the National School Lunch Program will focus on foundations for food service; including knife skills, cooking techniques and kitchen efficiencies to improve culinary skills.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Improve the culinary skill level of school nutrition professionals
- Increase the quality and appeal of meals served to students
- Increase the consumption of vegetables, fruits, dairy, whole grains, plant proteins and lean meats within the context of balanced menu planning for school-aged children
- 28 training hours
- Increased confidence with knife skills, meal preparation and cooking techniques
- Opportunity for hands-on experience, learning tips & tricks to share with colleagues, time dedicated to troubleshoot problems, cook and taste 24 recipes each day that can be standardized to fit your kitchen and equipment
- Learn from others in a team environment
- Cooks & kitchen managers
- Staff representing all students grades (K-12) participating in the National School Lunch Program
- Directors or menu developers
- There are 24 spots available
- A maximum of 3 people per school nutrition program
- It is free to attend the Culinary Skills for School Meals Training thanks to funding from Full Plates Full Potential and Let’s Go!
- Yes. There is limited financial aid for mileage, staff time and accommodations
- When considering expenses note:
- Mileage reimbursement rate is 65.5 cents per mile
- Hotel expense approximately $180-250 per night
- The daily schedule is
- Monday- Knife skills
- Tuesday- Vegetable cookery
- Wednesday- Great grains
- Thursday- Sandwiches
- Friday- Salads
- Each day will include:
- Chef Demo
- Culinary hands-on lab
- Nutrition lesson
- Participants will attend all 5 days
- 8 am - 3 pm Monday-Thursday, 8 am - 1 pm on Friday
- Participate in a pre/post survey and 6-month focus group follow-up
- Join us for lunch at least one of the days (Tuesday - Friday)
- Be willing to put ideas, strategies and recipes into practice after the training
- This model has been used and shown to be successful in small rural districts and large urban districts in various locations across the country including:
- Indiana (small and rural districts)
- New York City (large, urban district)
- California
- It’s a model that is adaptable for different size districts.