Chef's Corner

Introduction

Odyssey has tried to strike an appropriate balance between what we know is good and healthy for children versus what they’ll actually eat and we are very proud of our food program’s nutrition, tastiness, variety, volume and appeal to children.

However, we also know that no one menu is going to be viewed equally by all of our families. So, if you ever have a question about our food service program, please don’t hesitate to bring it to your Director’s attention.

Infants

DHR guidelines prohibit our teachers from preparing food for infants. This means that our parents must pre-mix / pre-prepare any foods that their baby will be served. This practice ensures that your child receives exactly what you intended.

However, as your child reaches the age where you want them to begin trying certain new foods from Odyssey’s menu, please ask your child’s teacher if you see something on our daily menu and they will be happy to get some for your child.

Meal Times

We serve Breakfast at approximately 8:30 am, Lunch at approximately 11:30 am, Afternoon Snack at approximately 2:30 pm and Late Afternoon Snack at approximately 5:00 pm.

If your child cannot make it to school by the time one of those meals is going to be served, please feel free to call ahead and we will hold a plate for your child.

Meal Sizes

At breakfast and lunch, the children will receive a full-size meal that gets bigger as they age. Meal portions are based on generally-accepted nutrition guidelines for each age group and a part of the goal of Odyssey’s meal program is to teach the children about good nutrition practices including appropriate serving sizes. That said, and without exception, if a child at least tries each item on their plate, then they can have seconds, thirds, etc. (literally as much as they want) until the kitchen runs out of food for that meal. Our goal is that no child will ever go home hungry.

Outside Food

Alabama DHR and Health Department guidelines prohibit Odyssey from providing any of our children food that was not prepared in a commercially-licensed kitchen. This means that parents can only bring store-bought goods for special occasions such as birthday parties.

Alternate Meals and Allergies

Odyssey is very sensitive to and respectful of our children and families when it comes to food issues affected by religious, medical or other nutrition issues. When Odyssey serves a meal that can be easily modified to meet a broader spectrum of these issues, we will make that modified meal available automatically. An example would be to modify our Spaghetti with Meat Sauce by cooking a separate pan of Spaghetti with Marinara Sauce (no meat).

In each of the four weekly menus, we have identified the Alternate Meal that we will automatically serve on those days. If a family desires that their child also not eat the Alternate Meal, they are free to bring their child a Sack Lunch from home, provided that it does not require refrigeration, heating or other teacher preparation.

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Chef's Corner

MENU 4: Jun 5th — 9th