Cafe Gwinnett is gearing up for an exciting and nutritious new school year! Gwinnett County Public Schools’ award-winning school nutrition program (SNP) provides tasty, nutritious meals to students at an economical price. Unlike prices at the grocery store and local restaurants, school meal prices remain the same this school year: $1.50 for breakfast ($.30 reduced price), $2.25 for ES lunch and $2.50 for MS and HS lunch ($.40 reduced price).
MyPaymentsPlus allows families to manage a student's meal account online, making deposits and create settings to auto-replenish a student’s account or receive reminders when the balance is low. Click here for an application for free- and reduced-price school meals. This year, Gwinnett County Public Schools is implementing a change to its meal charge procedure, setting a new limit on the amount students and adults are allowed to charge for meals. (Remember that even though a student has met the charge limit he or she will still have the opportunity to eat a designated alternate meal at no charge.)
Gwinnett cafeterias serve many of the brands families use at home, such as Tyson, General Mills, Kellogg’s, and Land O’ Lakes. In addition, students are served a variety of fruits and vegetables, many locally grown, through Gwinnett’s Farm to School program. In fact, last year, GCPS cafeterias served more than 11.8 million servings of local produce, including pumpkins, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelon, apples, grapes, carrots, green beans, and broccoli! (Find monthly Georgia Grown produce highlights and recipes online.)
On average, 177,449 meals (breakfast and lunch) were served each school day in the district’s 132 cafeterias last year. More than a third of our schools have grant-funded student salad bars, and the district boasts 143 edible gardens at our schools. In addition to all those fruits and vegetables, students have several new options for entrees, including ciabatta and panini sandwiches, house-made chicken salad with saltines, tangerine glazed chicken and rice, grilled chicken breast for sandwiches and salads, and globally inspired meals. Families can find school-specific menus on the Nutrislice web page, or download the menu app from Google Play or the App Store.