Homemade meals made from locally sourced ingredients have made their way onto the Carroll County Schools menu.
Roasted chicken, pork ribs, beef roast and lasagna are just a few of the Manager’s Choice items students can choose from at the middle school and high school. They aren’t offered to elementary children because their palettes aren’t developed enough yet. The items are for sale to the school staff and visitors as well for $4.85 per meal.
Food Services Director Angela Adkins said they can offer the meats purchased from local businesses and farms because of federal funding following COVID. “The purpose was to bring in products from surrounding counties to help with local commerce,” she said.
Students have really enjoyed entrees such as the ribs, but Adkins said a lot of students didn’t know what beef roast or roasted chicken was. They are learning to tweak some of the old staples, such as meatloaf, to make them more appealing to students. “It’s a way of using what has worked and just putting a new twist on it,” she said.
On Manager’s Choice days, everything on the food line is made and processed in the United States. The weeks with a Manager’s Choice will feature two days of foods made from scratch, such as ribs one day and lasagna another, Adkins said.
She purchases a lot of meat from Trackside Butcher Shop and said she would like to connect with local farmers as well. A typical order is 360 pounds of pork ribs and 250 pounds of beef roast. Adkins and her assistant director, Lisa Payton, go pick up the meat.
The CCHS Ag Department produces hydroponic lettuce that’s used in the cafeteria as well and would like to begin growing more vegetables for use at school. “We would like to bring in more produce, but it’s hard because of our area,” she said.
Overall, students have really enjoyed the new offerings, Adkins said. Cooks are learning to approach the food a little differently as well. For example, Adkins said they’ve experimented with seasonings so they can avoid using more salt than is allowed by federal regulations. “It’s been a hands-on learning experience,” she said.
New equipment purchased by the district has helped make it easier to offer the made from scratch foods. Roasting meat overnight is more efficient thanks to new ovens. “It’s a wonderful option. It smells up the whole building and the kids are starving by lunch,” she said.
The next Manager’s Choice will be on March 14 when beef roast is on the menu.