School Nutrition Programs

School Nutrition Programs

ADAI is pleased to offer resources for Indiana’s school nutrition professionals, including webinars, downloads and more.

Featured School Toolkit

Hot Chocolate Milk in Schools

Warm. Delicious. Nutrient-rich. Student-approved.

When temperatures drop, or when you simply want to boost participation, serving hot chocolate milk can be a game-changer for school breakfast and/or lunch.

Milk is already a cornerstone of school meals, providing 13 essential nutrients students need to learn, grow, and stay focused, including protein, calcium, potassium and vitamin D. Offering it warm and flavored—especially as hot chocolate—can make milk even more appealing and significantly reduce waste.

Click HERE to see benefits and key takeaways from a National Hot Chocolate Milk Pilot Program.

With this kit, you’ll find FAQs, preparation and service instructions, and promotion/marketing ideas and templates—making it easy to offer hot chocolate milk any time of year (especially on cold mornings, theme days, and for special events).

Let’s make milk the highlight of your meal service!

Downloadable toolkit pieces include:

Additional School
Resources

School Meals

Smart Swaps: Simple Solutions for Evolving Standards

Big changes are coming to school meal standards and Smart Swaps makes it easy to stay ahead. Created with schools, for schools, Smart Swaps helps you keep milk and dairy favorites on the menu while meeting new USDA nutrition guidelines.

Here’s what you’ll find:

  • Kid-approved recipes with less added sugar and plenty of flavor
  • Protein-packed menu ideas that keep students full and focused
  • Step-by-step instructions and training to make swaps simple
  • Smart solutions for meeting added sugar and sodium targets


Delicious, compliant, and ready to serve because fueling students shouldn’t be complicated.

Visit Smart Swaps
School Nutrition Programs 10

Additional Resources

No Kid Hungry
Lend a Hand, Stop the Hunger Food insecure families often rely on multiple sources of food assistance. Free or reduced school meals are critical in providing much needed nutrition to children, but sometimes this isn’t enough. School hunger relief programs can help feed students and their families, even after the school day ends. Take time to consider whether a program like this is something your administration could implement. Download the toolkit now!
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The Food and Nutrition Service
The Food and Nutrition Service administers several programs that provide healthy food to children including the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, the Summer Food Service Program, the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program and the Special Milk Program. Administered by state agencies, each of these programs helps fight hunger and obesity by reimbursing organizations such as schools, childcare centers and after-school programs for providing healthy meals to children.
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The National Dairy Council
Milk, cheese and yogurt contribute important nutrients to the school meal programs. In fact, milk is the number one food source of calcium, Vitamin D and potassium in children’s diets. National Dairy Council offers resources, such as sample menus and analysis that meet nutrition guidelines, to support School Nutrition Professionals in efforts to provide healthy meals to students. Sample menus utilized USDA Recipes or products currently in the marketplace and feature Offer verses Serve options overall (not with each food station).
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The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC)
The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) seeks to improve nutrition and health through research, partnerships and advocacy. Find more information on the value of school meals and other community health nutrition efforts here.
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Feeding America
Feeding America is the largest charity working to end hunger in the United States. Find the latest research, resources and statistics for hunger in America here.
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