What is a healthy canteen menu?
There are so many different types of food and drinks available, that choosing what to sell in your canteen can be difficult. School Food Matters uses a set of nutrient criteria known as the National Healthy School Canteen Guidelines to decide what types of food and drink are best to include on a school canteen menu. The guidelines are based on the current Australian Dietary Guidelines which give general advice on the amount and kinds of food that we need to eat for good health.
The National Healthy School Canteen guidelines use a traffic light system to categorise foods as GREEN, AMBER or RED depending on how nutritious they are.
Meal Deals are a great way to add variety and interest to your canteen menu. Many schools use meal deals to offer special dishes that are not on the regular canteen menu or to market new menu items.
To complete this section of the program your menu needs to be assessed. A SmartFood team member will gather information on the types of foods and drinks available on your canteen menu/s, counter sales, specials and meal deals. This may include information on brand names, serve sizes, nutrition information and recipes. You might like to have this information ready when you first meet with one of our SmartFood Project Officers.
