Food Services
At Hamilton Southeastern Schools, we provide our students with nutritious meal options every day including milk, protein, fruits, vegetables, and grains.
While the most nutritious lunch contains all of the options, we understand that sometimes our students do not like some of the items we serve. To make our young customers happy, we like to give them the option to decline items they do not want to eat. In order to be in compliance with Offer Versus Serve standards set by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), students are required to take at least three components for their meal. One of these must be at least ½ cup of fruit or vegetable.
Taste of HSE Culinary Challenge 🥗🥘🍽️
This school year, Hamilton Southeastern Schools is celebrating student creativity, innovation, and flavor through a series of exciting culinary challenges! Students of all grade levels are invited to compete within their age group and showcase their cooking skills. The competition kicks off this September with our intermediate and junior high schools.
Menus and Resources
Food Safety Tips
Chances are, you worry more about whether your children will eat their food in their school lunch boxes than about whether that food will be safe to eat. But children are the most vulnerable to food poisoning, so it makes sense to take extra precautions when preparing the lunches they take to school.
DOWNLOAD OR PRINT FOOD SAFETY FLYER
Did you know?
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1 in 6 Approximate number of Americans stricken with food poisoning each year.
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128,000 Estimated annual hospitalizations from foodborne illnesses.
- 42,000 Estimated annual reports of Salmonella infections, the most frequent cause of foodborne illnesses.
- Of the estimated 42,000 annual Salmonella infections, almost 50% of those are in infants and school-age children.
- Because many milder cases are not diagnosed or reported, the actual number of Salmonella infections may be 29 or more times greater. That's more than 1.2 million estimated cases annually.
Tips to Keep Your Kids Healthy
CLEAN
Be sure to wash your hands and use clean cutting boards, utensils, and countertops before preparing food.
SEPERATE
Use one cutting board for fresh produce and a separate one for meat and poultry to avoid cross-contamination.
COOK
Cook foods to the right temperature using a food thermometer (e.g., cook poultry to 165 degrees).
CHILL
Make sure to pack perishable food items with at least two cold sources (e.g., ice packs or frozen water bottles).
Pack a Safe Lunch
Send your kids back to school with safe and satisfying lunches by following these simple tips:
Tip 1
Frozen Juice boxes can also be used a freezer packs. By lunchtime, the juice should be thawed and ready to drink!
Tip 4
If possible, your child's lunch should be stored in a refrigerator. But leave the lid of the lunchbox or an insulated, soft-sided bag open in the fridge so that cold air can circulate and keep the food cold.
Tip 2
Perishable food can be unsafe to eat by lunchtime if packed in a paper bag. Use an insulated box or bag instead.
Tip 5
If you're packing a hot lunch, like soup, chili, or stew, use an insulated container to keep it hot. Fill the container with boiling water, let it stand for a few minutes, empty it, and then put in the piping hot food. Tell your child to keep the insulated container closed until lunchtime to keep the food hot, 140 degrees or above.
Tip 3
Children should wash their hands for 20 seconds with warm, soapy water before eating. Have them sing the ABCs twice while washing if they sometimes finish early.
Tip 6
After lunch, discard all leftover food, used food packaging, and paper bags. Do not reuse packaging because it could contaminate other food.