This is not the time to abandon our commitment to the highest quality food, but rather the time to double down on this commitment.

We don’t know what type of issues may arise in the future that will affect school closings or modifications, but we do know that schools need to be prepared to serve meals to their communities during crisis situations. Challenging environments will likely lead to a variety of adverse effects, pushing school food programs to provide emergency hunger relief and nutritional support. The food we serve during emergency response matters more than ever.

This food section will provide support for food service teams who are striving to stay committed to serving fresh, healthy, whole-ingredient based food through emergency situations.

Milk Carton Shortage

With the current milk carton shortage, we are here to provide you with some tips and resources to help during these challenging times.

The USDA released this Policy Memo on October 25th, 2023 to provide further clarification for state agencies on how to handle this issue. Based on this memo, we encourage you to work with your state agency if you are experiencing milk carton shortages in your state.

Additional Suggestions:

• Document and date when you experience shortages. Work with your state agency to understand your state guidelines and if serving alternate forms of fluid milk or serving without fluid milk is allowable.

• Bulk milk dispensers are an effective way to serve milk to students without using milk cartons. Visit our Bulk Milk page for more information.

• Ensure water is available for students during the lunch period. To encourage water consumption, be sure students know where bottle filler stations are, consider supplying reusable cups (or disposable cups if reusable are unavailable) for students, or provide students with fruit infused water through water dispensers and provide reusable (or disposable) cups.
  • Please note: Water is not a replacement for fluid milk in a reimbursable meal unless otherwise stated by your state agency.

Additional Resources:

- Milk Packaging Shortage Overview

- CDE’s Strategies for Navigating Fluid Milk Supply Disruption

Food Budget

Emergency Feeding Services

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are a written set of step by step instructions that an organization develops for staff members to follow while performing routine duties. Having SOPs creates efficiency, communication, safety for staff and customers, and can be used for both training and accountability purposes.

During emergency situations, school food programs may have to pivot and find new ways to serve their students. We would like to share some SOPs that can help program operators find new ways to serve meals during challenging times.

SOP Examples

Food Boxes

Food Boxes are an effective way to distribute food during emergency situations. See how Chef Ann used this method during the COVID-19 pandemic:

Please reach out to submissions@chefannfoundation.org if you are using your salad bar in a unique way. We would love to feature you and spread the word!