Albuquerque Public Schools
APS Cafeteria Teams Sharpen Skills for Healthier School Meals
Hands-on training with Brigaid chefs is helping APS Food & Nutrition Services prepare for a new state mandate that will bring more fresh, scratch-cooked meals to students starting this fall.
Inside Albuquerque Public Schools’ central kitchen, the sounds of chopping vegetables, measuring ingredients and sizzling pans filled the room as Food & Nutrition Services team members rolled up their sleeves for a hands-on cooking lesson.
About 60 APS staff members, including area managers, site supervisors and cooks, recently participated in scratch-kitchen training led by chefs from Brigaid. The training was sponsored by the New Mexico Public Education Department’s Student Success and Wellness Bureau to help school districts prepare for the scratch cooking requirements of the state’s Healthy Universal School Meal Program.
For APS, the training marks an important step toward a major shift in how school meals are prepared.
“This is the first of hopefully many training opportunities with Brigaid,” said Marie Johnson, executive director of APS Food & Nutrition Services. “They’re here to really work with our team side by side, hands-on, boots on the ground, helping us adapt what they know so we can successfully transition to scratch cooking.”
Starting Aug. 7, the first day of the school year, more than half of the items on APS school menus must be prepared from scratch.
“All of our menus will be 51% scratch or more,” Johnson said. “This is a fun journey. There’ll be lots of training over the summer so we are ready to go in August.”
During the training, participants practiced foundational culinary skills such as knife techniques, reading recipes, measuring ingredients accurately and building flavor. The chefs guided teams through preparing dishes that will appear on school menus, including sloppy Joes, calabacitas, cornbread, pico de gallo and pancakes with a cinnamon swirl.
One key focus was helping staff understand the difference between measuring by weight and volume, a critical skill when cooking large quantities.
“We want them to know how to read recipes and understand weights and measures,” Johnson said. “There’s a distinct difference between weight and volume, so we really want them to get that dialed in so recipes are executed properly and there’s no confusion.”
While some components of meals will continue to be prepared at APS’ central kitchen, many fresh ingredients will be handled directly at school sites.
“Veggies, fruit and things like that will be done at the school site,” Johnson explained. “The main dish will come from here.”
For longtime APS Cook and Baker Francisca Segura, the training felt familiar in the best way.
“I love it,” Segura said. “We are learning a lot, and it’s a good idea. This will be healthy for the children. I hope they like the flavors.”
Segura, who has worked in APS kitchens for 20 years, said scratch cooking reminds her of how school meals used to be prepared.
“When I started cooking and baking, it was like that,” she said. “I started cooking beans, meat and all this stuff. I like it.”
Johnson said the training is also about building confidence among staff as they prepare for the transition.
“We really want to break down the barriers and let our team know they can do this,” she said. “It just takes a little bit of tweaking in the skills they already have. We’re going to do just fine. We’re just trying to knock off the fear.”
More training opportunities are planned throughout the summer, with additional sessions scheduled before the school year begins.
Students will also see some new menu items inspired by the shift toward scratch cooking. One dish Johnson is especially excited about is the “Southwest Joe,” a New Mexican twist on the classic sloppy Joe.
“In our variation, there is red chile,” she said. “It will offer a quarter cup of red-orange vegetables, and it’s delicious. I think the kids are really going to like it.”
Early feedback has already been promising.
“The kids who have tried it have said yes,” Johnson said with a laugh. “I think we’re going to get famous on that.”