Suzanne Grass’s Central Kitchen has been humming for several weeks now where staff members have been busy with their most recent project to double the size of their kitchen space and bring in new cooking equipment. The Grass Valley School District’s Child Nutrition Services (GVSDCNS) recently worked with the Department of Public Health to win a US Department of Agriculture Equipment Assistant Grant through the California Department of Education. The Central Kitchen, which currently supplies school meals in Western Nevada County, will receive nearly $100,000 to purchase much needed additional refrigeration and freezer space, as well as cooking equipment. This new equipment will allow them to store and prepare not only produce, which was a real challenge with limited refrigeration space, but more meals from scratch.
Suzanne Grass, Food Service Director, is pleased: “There is still a lot of work to be done at our facility, but this will greatly help with our capacity to store, prepare, cook and serve more fresh food in our school meals. GVSDCNS strives to prepare meals that are not only healthy and meet the USDA requirements, but meet student preferences as well.”
In addition, GVSDCNS is participating in the Western Nevada County launch of “California Thursdays”, which will serve school meals featuring foods that are grown in California. The Central Kitchen is working to source as many as these foods as possible from farmers that are in or close to Nevada County. This is great news not only for our students, but also for our local farmers! Students will get to taste a fresh strawberry, spinach salad with walnuts, olive oil and balsamic vinegar on launch day. Come see how school lunches are changing across Western Nevada County on March 17th! If you would like to visit a school, please contact Sierra Harvest at schoolfood@sierraharvest.org.
Participating Schools in the March 17th California Thursdays Tasting
Alta Sierra Elementary
Bear River High School
Bell Hill Magnet School
Chicago Park
Clear Creek
Cottage Hill
Deer Creek School
Forest Charter
Grass Valley Charter
Grizzly Hill
Lyman Gilmore
Magnolia Intermediate
Mount Saint Mary’s
Nevada City School of the Arts
Nevada Union High School
Pleasant Valley
Ready Springs Elementary
Scotten School
Seven Hills School
Sierra Academy of Expeditionary Learning
Sierra Montessori Academy
Silver Springs High School
Twin Ridges Home Study
Union Hill
Williams Ranch