“What’s for lunch?” This is a question many students ask every single day. Although it may be a simple question to answer, what goes into food preparation every day? I interviewed Mrs. Jennifer Wagner, the head cook at Potosi schools, to get an inside look at what goes into figuring out and preparing school lunches.
The first question I asked Mrs. Wagner was about the rules and restrictions she has to follow for school food programs. She said, “The Department of Public Instruction sets all guidelines along with the Public Health Nutritionist from DPI. Each district signs a contract stating they will follow the meal pattern and requirements to be eligible for a state program. The district also receives two state inspections yearly. Every school has an Administrative Review by DPI every three years - this year in April 2025 for Potosi, and Cassville in January 2025. They will bring two or three staff from the Department of Public Instruction and review meal patterns, applications, policies, and all foodservice-related criteria.”
When asked how she can cook lunch so fast and in time for lunch every day, she said, “In the kitchen, we have three large ovens and two large warmers to hold food. The kitchen staff cooks in batches for each lunch period. In less than two hours, we serve about 300 kids [their] meals for lunch, and breakfast [is] about 180 in 30 minutes.”
I also asked Mrs. Wagner how she decides what is for lunch, and if she has a meal plan before she purchases the food. She responded, “Yes, there is meal planning involved, and regulations to take into consideration. My Plate [formerly the food pyramid] has daily requirements and weekly requirements; with that you have to watch the sodium, grains, meat or meat alternatives, and sugar content added. All items are entered into a calculator to give the accurate amount of minimums so students aren’t “overfed”. The reasoning is to have well-balanced meals and offer more fruit and vegetables. School is the one place students can count on a hot meal; for some students that is the only meal they know they will receive each day.”
Not only does Mrs. Wagner have to follow the guidelines, prepare things quickly, and decide what is for lunch every day, but she also has to be mindful of the budget. “Each year the cost seems to be going up; food costs have gone up for everyone,” she stated. She went on to say, “Food alone costs about $194,000 [per year]. Milk is about $22,000. Potosi Schools also belongs to a purchasing group (WiSNP) that helps keep costs down and does all the bidding of food for audit time and for our distributor.”
We continued the conversation about costs and she went on to add, “Meal prices are approved at the start of each school year by the school board. The prices for this school year, 2024-2025, are student breakfast is $1.80, student lunch is $3.30, and adult lunch is $4.65.”
Mrs. Wagner stated that many things have changed since she started working here. “We offer more fresh fruit choices daily, a full salad bar to all students as a part of their meal, at no additional charge, we have purchased local fresh beef, and we have updated the kitchen with new equipment to keep things more efficient and safe for staff.” All of these changes have helped to make the lunch program even more successful.
Finally, I asked Mrs. Wagner if she liked working at Potosi and she stated, “Potosi is a very nice school and its meal program has been very successful. We currently are feeding over 85% of the students lunch, and 51% breakfast.”