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Minnesota Toolkit for School Foodservice

Getting food grown by farmers in your community onto your students' lunch trays

Farm to School connects schools with local farms. As a result, kids eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and learn where their food comes from. There are many Farm to School initiatives in Minnesota and they come in all shapes and sizes. These initiatives use local foods in school meals, cooking classes, school gardens, and provide nutrition and agriculture education in their classrooms, farm field trips, fundraisers, and much more! This toolkit helps school foodservice start, build, and sustain their Farm to School efforts.

Getting Started

Resources for building your Farm to School efforts

Using Food

Kid-tested recipes and menu-planning tools

Promoting Food

Fostering a "taste" for local food

Food Safety

Resources and fact sheets on how to buy and keep food safe

Sourcing Food

Tips to find and purchase local food in season

Online Trainings

Short video sessions to help implement Farm to School in your school

How to use this toolkit

Click on one of the pictures above or one of the featured foods below to get started.

This toolkit is designed to be used in many different ways to meet the diverse needs of school districts in Minnesota. School foodservice directors and staff will find ready-to-use cafeteria menus and recipes with information about buying, preparing and serving local foods. School foodservice, teachers, parents and others will find tools to help them promote the food including sample tasting lessons, newsletters, and announcements.

You might use parts of the toolkit right away, parts of it later on, and parts of it never. That's fine. This toolkit will continue to change to meet your needs. If we’ve missed something or you have something to share, please let us know.

Featured Minnesota Farm to School foods

Click on a food below for quick tips on using, sourcing, and promoting it.

Apple	Dried Beans	Bison	Whole Grains	Cabbage
Carrots	Cheese	Cucumbers	Garlic	Green Beans
Herbs	Honey	Lettuce	Potatoes	Rhubarb
Squash	Strawberries	Sweet Corn	Tomatoes	Wild Rice