Nutritional requirements

The school canteen is a service that is increasingly in demand in Spanish primary schools, where about 40% of the school population at this educational level have their main meal of the day.

School canteens play an important social function, allowing families who work at midday or live far from schools to remain calm while their children, without having to leave the school, have enough safe, generally healthy food at the right time and in a favorable environment.

For the students, the school canteen not only gives them quick access to food, but also provides them with a space to relax and strengthen emotional ties with their classmates and schoolmates, in a more open and relaxed environment than the classroom.

The school canteen is an ideal setting for encouraging good eating and behavioral habits, healthy hygiene patterns, and respectful and supportive relationships among students and with educators.

Although a good part of Spanish parents are often dissatisfied with the quality of the food offered in the canteens, they are not aware of the active role they must play on a daily basis to complement the work of the canteens at home from a nutritional, educational and affective point of view.

Functions of the school canteen

• To make possible the feeding of schoolchildren by providing them with a quality menu that allows them to satisfy their nutritional needs.
• Contribute to the acquisition and development of healthy eating and hygienic habits, as well as to the improvement of skills for the proper handling of table utensils -fork, spoon, knife, etc.-.
• Stimulate the interrelation and human coexistence; promoting respect and cordial relationship among students, educators and other workers.
• Encourage the following of a healthy culinary culture, based on a diet that includes a great diversity of foods, ways of preparing and presenting them.
• Contribute to the development of the formal education of schoolchildren.

How to complement school meals at home?

Parents or caregivers of children who eat in kindergartens or schools, should maintain close contact with the people responsible for the feeding of students to plan at home, a diet that harmonizes with the one received in the institution. To do this, they should know:

• The distribution of meals during school hours.

• The foods that make up the menu of each of the meals, as well as the quantity and quality with which they are offered.

• Receive periodic information on the level of acceptance of meals, by all students in general and by their child in particular.

• To know the requirements established for compliance with hygienic and environmental standards in the kitchen and the school dining room.

To guarantee that the child has a complete breakfast before leaving home, so that he/she has the energy and hydration levels that allow him/her to achieve maximum performance in the physical or intellectual tasks that he/she has to perform in the morning schedule. Breakfast also serves other important functions:

• It allows the inclusion of basic foods in the child's diet, such as cereals, dairy products, and fruits.

• It helps to balance the energetic intakes throughout the day, allowing the child not to arrive at the remaining meals of the day with an exaggerated appetite that stimulates "binge eating", the main cause of overweight and obesity in children.

The elements that cannot be missing in a complete breakfast are:

• Dairy products: 1 glass of milk, 1 yogurt or a piece of cottage cheese or cheese little elaborated.

• Whole-grain cereals: breakfast cereals, whole-grain bread or crackers.

• Fruits: Preferably eat them whole. Alternatively, it is possible to offer freshly prepared juice, without adding sugar.

• Water should always be served.

• It can be complemented with other protein foods such as a well-cooked egg or nuts.

In order to promote communication among the family and strengthen bonds of affection, it is recommended to encourage at least one "daily meeting" around the table to share breakfast, lunch or dinner in a family atmosphere.

Plan the snack and dinner taking into account the food served at school so as not to repeat some of the main dishes.

• The snack should provide about 10% of the daily caloric needs and may consist of water, fruit and a sandwich of whole wheat bread and olive oil, fish or cottage cheese.

• The dinner menu should be moderate and should not include heavy f