School breakfast ensures a nutritious start every day, and expanding breakfast outside the cafeteria is a great way to capture breakfast skippers from all socio-economic levels. Plus, it's an effective way to meet your school wellness goals and activate Fuel Up to Play 60, an in-school nutrition and physical activity program, created by the National Dairy Council and the NFL, that empowers youth to eat nutrient-rich foods, such as low fat and fat-free dairy foods.
Expand your breakfast
Schools find that when they take breakfast to students, instead of expecting the student to come to the cafeteria, more students eat breakfast and perform better on tests, improve daily attendance and participate more in class. Options include:
- Breakfast in the Classroom — Students eat breakfast in their classroom either at the beginning of the school day or early during the day. Serving Breakfast After First Period may work best for middle and high school students. Often breakfast is delivered to classrooms from the cafeteria by students.
- Grab 'n' Go Breakfast — All the components of school breakfast are conveniently packaged so students can easily grab a reimbursable meal quickly, either from the cafeteria line or from carts elsewhere on school grounds. Students can eat in the classroom or elsewhere on school grounds.
- Universal Breakfast – Offering breakfast at no charge to all students, regardless of income, is possible when schools have a high percentage of free and reduced-priced students. High meal participation rates associated with universal breakfast create such economies of scale that schools are able to provide all meals on the reimbursable dollars they receive from the government for those students that qualify for free and reduced price meals.
How to get started
The American Dairy Association Mideast offers milk serving solutions, such as TCB Cold Bags and Cambro Coolers, as well as other resources to assist schools in making breakfast foods available outside the cafeteria. If you are interested in expanding breakfast at your school in Ohio or West Virginia, click here to complete an information request form.
You can also work with your Fuel Up to Play 60 team and use these Healthy Eating Plays to promote and expand breakfast at your school.