|
|
|
Financial Support Resources
|
|
Financial literacy is critical for managing expenses in child nutrition. Identifying ways to identify, streamline and manage costs can help program operators identify ways to operate lean without cutting corners.
Webinar Series Links:
(Click on the links below to register or to view a previously recorded presentation)
Use the + button to expand each section.
Food Cost Basics
Need to Know Information:
- How to calculate cost per meal
- How to calculate meals per labor hour (MPLH)
- Strategies to reduce costs for grab and go meals
- Weights and measures and how to standardize recipes
|
Webinar: Saving Dollars with USDA Foods: An advanced review of forecasting and inventory management tools. Download the slide deck here.
|
 |
Webinar: Making Sense of Food Cost Basics: How to calculate, maintain and manage food costs. Download the slide deck here.
Webinar Resources and Worksheets:
|
|
Financial Management Nuts and Bolts - Common concepts and equations are explained in a simple format to help with financial literacy.
|
 |
Management Tools and Resources - The mission of The Lunch Box is to provide school district administrators, food service directors, and their teams with the tools and resources they need to serve healthy, delicious, scratch-cooked food to every student, every day.
Online Toolbox of Resources including:
- MPLH Worksheet and Reorganization worksheet
- Meal Counts and Revenue Tracking Tool
- Sample Food Inventory Worksheet
- Breakfast District-wide Calculator
- Budgeting ADP for Revenue
|
 |
Essential KPIs for School Nutrition Success - The purpose of this resource is to provide school nutrition professionals with a straight-forward, easy-to-use reference for identifying and applying the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that focus on the most critical aspects of their school nutrition program performance to achieve success. |
|
Financial Management: A Course for School Nutrition Directors - Training to help Child Nutrition Directors become competent in financial planning and budgeting and learn tools to analyze the financial status of a program.
Length: 12, 8 and 4 hour versions available |
 |
Fiscal Survival 101: Financial Success in the Era of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act - Best practices to control food costs, managing labor costs and meal participation. |
 |
TEFAP & CSFP Financial Resource FAQ - This FAQ answers questions like how to use the Pounds Distributed Method to determine indirect cost rate, what pounds should be included in the TEFAP calculation, what can be excluded from the adjusted total pounds calculation, and more. |
Using Production Records to Plan and Reduce Waste
Webinar: Using Food Production Records to Reduce Waste and download the presentation slides here.
Food Production Records:
- The importance of maintaining production records to plan meals
- Food production records can be used to manage waste and reduce expenses
Additional Resources:
 |
Daily Food Production Records Form - To download the form, write “food production” in the form name search box and hit enter. Then you can download the Daily Food Production Record for Central Kitchen, Receiving Kitchen, and Onsite Kitchen Form. This food production record form is intended to be used by CEs to create a single source location for summarizing information on food production and service.
TDA Online Training:
|
 |
Highlighted Food Production Record and Key Points – This document provides an example of the information required to complete a food production record and includes tips for completing it correctly.
|
 |
Sample Waste Log – This document is an example of a log that can be used to track items that have been discarded. Tracking waste is an important step in understanding the costs associated with wasted food.
|
 |
Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs - The Food Buying Guide helps Child Nutrition Programs to navigate food yield information. In addition, users can compare yield information, create a favorite foods list, and access tools, such as the Recipe Analysis Workbook (RAW) and the Product Formulation Statement Workbook. |
 |
Options to Minimize Waste - This webpage on SquareMeals has resources to reduce, recover, and recycle food before it goes to waste. Resources include USDA’s booklet, “What You Can Do to Help Prevent Wasted Food” and two TDA brochures with options for dealing with leftovers and food waste. |
|
Strategies to Reduce Food Waste in Schools & Child Nutrition Programs - This resource from No Kid Hungry highlights some of the most effective strategies to help reduce, recover and recycle food waste from school meals.
|
 |
North East ISD Webinar - presents their current return to school plans followed TDA's School Operations discussing compliance with food production records for different meal service models. Download the slide deck here.
|
View previously recorded webinar: Menu Planning Systems and download presentation slides.
Menu Planning Systems and Benefits
Using a comprehensive menu planning system can provide many financial benefits for your foodservice operation, including:
- Streamlined production record keeping
- Reduced food costs through recipe standardization
- Access to automated forecasting tools, grocery lists, and costing reports to simplify ordering and track food budgets
Additional Resources
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Assistance available in English and Spanish. Please call 877-TEX-MEAL (877-839-6325) for help. Additional translations services available as well.
|
|
In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.
Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ad-3027.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:
|
|
1. Mail:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or
2. Fax: (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
|
|
| This institution is an equal opportunity provider. |
 |
|
|
|