As students, teachers and parents settle into a new school year, they can rest assured one thing hasn’t changed: nutritious meals provided by the county’s child nutrition program.

The Chilton County Child Nutrition Program is once again providing breakfast and lunch options for full, reduced and free opportunities in the 2015-2016 school year.

Program director Rachel Rachels encourages all students to take advantage of the meals provided at school, which are USDA approved, healthy and more cost efficient than typical packed lunches and home breakfasts.

Breakfast is $1 and lunch is $2.50. Reduced rates for breakfast are $.30 and the reduced lunch rate is $.40.

Rachels said typical breakfast items include sausage, biscuits, eggs, cereal bars, yogurt, fruit, waffle sticks and more, with a protein, dairy and fruit offered every day.

Lunch items, according to Rachels, vary greatly and always feature a protein, whole grain, dairy, fruit and vegetable.

“We try to mix it up a lot. We have the chicken nuggets for the picky eaters, and things like jambalaya on other days,” Rachels said. “We also have brown bag options for the kids who may not want the tray lunches.”

The “brown bag” lunches cost the same as a tray lunch, and offer school lunches in a non-traditional way: a Lunchable-style ham and cheese cracker meal is offered on “Munchin’ Mondays”; Tuesday’s bags offer chicken salad sandwiches; “Wow Wednesday” offers peanut butter jelly sandwiches or sandwiches with “Wow” butter for schools with students who have peanut allergies; “Turkey Thursday” offers turkey wraps; and “Favorite Fridays” are selected by students each month, based on their favorite meals.

“We’ve seen participation rise since doing this,” Rachels said. “The kids like to have choices, and either meal is still healthy.”

Menus for each month may be viewed on the Child Nutrition tab on the school system’s website: www.chilton.k12.al.us.

Each student’s free or reduced status will remain the same as the child’s status for the 2014-2015 school year until September 22, when the students’ lunch forms have been processed.

All students may apply for reduced or free lunch, which are based on parents’ income.

Rachels said the program has been forced to make changes in its menu because of USDA regulations, such as sodium restrictions.

“For example, grades kindergarten through fifth can’t have more than 1,230 milligrams in their lunch,” Rachels said. “It may sound like a lot, but we’ve had to come up with new recipes for mac and cheese and mashed potatoes to make the food healthy and still taste good.”

As part of the sodium regulation, students may not bring soda into the lunchroom unless it is in a thermos or other container.

“The sodium rules have really forced manufacturers to reinvent their recipes, and we’ve had to reinvent a lot of our recipes at the schools and make things from scratch,” Rachels said.

The program is also integrating more whole grain bread and pasta into its menu.

For drink choices, students will have the option of water and low-fat milk.

Rachels encourages parents who pack their child’s lunch to remember food safety, and keep their child’s lunch cool with a “cool pack.” Also, parents should remember that students have no way of heating meals that should be served warm.

“Research shows that kids who eat better breakfast and lunch perform better academically and are more disciplined,” Rachels said. “Hungry kids can’t learn. We have to take care of these needs before anything else.”

For more information on the child nutrition program, visit the school’s website or contact Rachels at (205)280-2992.