Welcome to St. Nicholas’ Rocket Way Cafe!

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St. Nicholas School Child Nutrition Program
continually strives to decrease the use of
processed foods in favor of fresh and “made from
scratch”recipes. We serve healthy lunches
everyday…starting with fresh vegetables, fruit,
wheat breads and buns. Healthy food choices of
all kinds! Your student’s health is very important to
us and we want their lunch experiences to be
delicious and happy ones! 

 

Good nutrition leads to great academic
performance. Your body needs healthy fuel to
perform, to grow and to ward off illness and
disease. Good nutrition has a positive and direct
impact on your ability to do well in school. When
your nutritional needs are met, you have the cognitive energy to learn and achieve. You will be better prepared to learn, more likely to attend school, and are more apt to take advantage of learning opportunities.

 

In an effort to continually improve the quality of the menus we offer our students we are raising the bar on the standards of our school meals. Our focus is on enhancing the diet of students with more nutritious choices here at school and by providing nutrition education that will help students form healthy habits that last a lifetime!

Federal legislation known as Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 authorizes funding and sets policy for USDA’s core child nutrition programs: the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Summer Food Service Program, and other federal food programs. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act allows USDA the opportunity to make real reforms to the school lunch and breakfast programs by improving the critical nutrition and hunger safety net for millions of children. This act has establish the healthy guidelines that form the basis for good nutrition in schools. We encourage you to follow similar healthy guidelines at home.

Key enhancements include an increase in the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat fluid milk in our meals. We are also reducing in the levels of sodium, saturated fat and eliminating added trans fat in meals. We do not supersize our meals, but instead strive to meet the nutrition needs of students within their age specific calorie requirements.

 

Protein, or meat and alternatives to meat, is a vital source of energy and an indispensable nutrient that can be found throughout every tissue in our body. It is served as one of our main meal components. Protein is important for our immune function, and proteins transport vitamins and minerals throughout our body. 

We offer age appropriate servings to include at least one ounce daily and 8 to 10 ounces weekly for grades K through 5, and 9 to 10 ounces weekly for grades 6 – 8.

 

Eating fruit provides health benefits — people who eat more fruits and vegetables as part of an overall healthy diet are likely to have a reduced risk of some chronic diseases. Fruits provide nutrients vital for health and maintenance of your body.

We offer fruits and vegetables daily and students are required to take at least one with every school meal. Any fruits that are frozen or canned fruits are packed in natural juice, water or light syrup whenever possible. We will be offering ½ – 1 cup of fruit every day. Students must select at least ½ cup of fruit or vegetables or a combination of the two. 

 

Eating vegetables provides health benefits — people who eat more vegetables and fruits as part of an overall healthy diet are likely to have a reduced risk of some chronic diseases. Vegetables provide nutrients vital for health and maintenance of your body. It is important to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables representing all the colors of the rainbow. Natural foods with bright, rich colors are not just nice to look at they provide powerful benefits to keep you healthy. These foods are packed with powerful compounds called flavonoids and carotenoids that can fight the damaging disease causing free radicals in your body and help to lower inflammation. 

Additionally, each week we serve a variety of nutrient packed vegetables which include dark green, red and orange, and starchy vegetables. This also includes beans and peas and other choices of legumes. We offer vegetables and fruits daily and students are required to take at least one with every school meal. We will be offering ¾ – 1 cup of vegetables. Students must select at least ½ cup of fruit or vegetables or a combination of the two. 

 

Eating grains, especially whole grains, provides health benefits. Dietary fiber from whole grains, may help reduce blood cholesterol levels and lower risk of heart disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. Grains are important sources of many nutrients, including several B vitamins, magnesium and selenium.

We offer age appropriate servings of grain components in our meals to include at least one ounce daily and 8 to 9 ounces weekly for grades K through 5, and 8 to 10 ounces weekly for grades 6 – 8.

 

Milk and dairy products are especially important to bone health during school aged years, when bone mass is being built. It provides important sources of calcium, potassium and vitamin D, and help to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and help to lower blood pressure in adults.

We will offer at least two choices of milk with our school meals. Unflavored milk may be non-fat or low-fat (no more than 1%), flavored milk must be skim.