What is a Fresh Food Buffet?

A Fresh Food Buffet (or Salad Bar) is an array of delicious fresh vegetables, fruits, grain products and protein foods brought to your school to encourage healthy eating.  A CHEP Fresh Food Buffet typically offers:
5 vegetable choices (eg. broccoli, carrots, cucumber, celery, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes)
3 fruit choices (eg. apples, oranges, pineapple, grapes, melons)
2 grain product options (eg. tortillas, whole grain buns, bannock, pitas)
3 protein choices (eg. milk, seeds, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, bean salad)

At the Fresh Food Buffet, children are given the opportunity to serve themselves. This allows them to make healthy choices by selecting what they wish to eat and how much lunch is right for them. With supervising adults encouraging students to try something new and to select choices from all food groups – but not serving the children – the ‘fear factor’ associated with trying new foods is minimized.

Why a Fresh Food Buffet?

Fun – this is a great time for children to interact outside the classroom
Novelty – by trying a variety of foods, kids might discover a new favourite
Health – exposure to a variety of new and different healthy foods counters the influence of fast foods
Colour – offering foods of all different colours allows students to make a rainbow on their plate
Role modeling – creating this healthy food environment encourages kids to make healthy choices
Empowerment -- Presenting this lunch in a kid friendly set-up gives students the freedom to make their own food choices

What have kids said about the Fresh Food Buffets?

“I wish we could have this for lunch every day!”
“I like that I got to pick what I wanted from all of the food”
“My favorite was ALL OF IT!!  I filled my pita with almost everything you had there.  It was great.”
“It helped us so much, kids learned that healthy food can taste good”
“It had some new food I never tried before”
“I was looking forward to the Fresh Food Buffet for weeks.  Who knew health could be tasty!  It was awesome because fruit and veggies rock!”

What have teachers said about the Fresh Food Buffets?

“The students seemed calmer [after the salad bar lunch compared to other hot lunch days]”
“Students were happy and satisfied”
“It was well organized and students got to make choices”
“[The students] got a chance to eat things they have not experienced”
“Proves that students enjoy eating vegetables”
“Students weren’t as hungry in the afternoon [after the salad bar lunch]”

How do Fresh Food Buffets work?

Contact Robin, CHEP’s nutritionist, for help arranging a Fresh Food Buffet. She will help to plan what foods to choose, how much food you will need to order, how many volunteers you will need to help as well as any other questions you may have. You can call her at 655-5311 or email at robin@chep.org. 

As soon as you choose a date for the lunch, you will want to call your School Board Resource Centre to book the Fresh Food Buffet equipment kit. 
Saskatoon Public School Division – phone 683-8329
Saskatoon Catholic Schools – phone 659-2003

We encourage schools to talk about nutrition with students a few days before the Fresh Food Buffet.  There is a Fresh Food Buffet education kit with lesson plans and activities around healthy food for students in K – Grade 8.  Schools can borrow this kit by phoning your school board resource centres.

On the arranged day, a group of teachers, staff, parents and/or students prepare fresh vegetables, fruit, grains, milk and alternatives and meat alternatives at the school.  When the buffet is set up, students are invited to serve themselves and enjoy the food!

What is in the Fresh Food Buffet Equipment Kit?

All of the cutting boards, knives, containers and tongs you will need to host a Fresh Food Buffet lunch for 200-250 kids.

What is in the Fresh Food Buffet Education Kit?

A Resource Manual: “Salad Bars in Schools: A Fresh Approach to Lunch”

Lesson plans and activities for:

• Kindergarten and Grade 1
• Grade 2 & Grade 3
• Grade 4 & Grade 5
• Grades 6, 7 & 8

Sanitation guidelines for salad bars

Posters promoting vegetables and fruit

Electronic copies of the resources

Local Food...

Both CHEP and the Fresh Food Buffets aim to purchase fresh vegetables and fruits locally wherever possible and where practical.

CHEP already has connections with many local farmers and can connect schools to farms to offer wonderful fresh, local food at the Fresh Food Buffet lunch.

What else do I need to know?

Click here to see CHEP’s “How-To Manual” for Fresh Food Buffets.  We have compiled all of our experience helping schools to host a salad bar lunch at their school in this manual.

Click here for CHEP’s “A Fresh Food Buffet is Coming to Your School” poster.  You can print this off and post at your school to promote an upcoming lunch.  Or contact CHEP for copies of the poster.

With thanks to FoodShare Toronto and their manual Salad Bars In Schools: A Fresh Approach to Lunch.
See the link for Food Share’s manual: http://www.foodshare.net/publications_09.htm