Is Scratch Cooking in Schools Making a Comeback?

It’s true! Scratch cooking in schools has recently been making a comeback in parts of the US. It’s been found to increase participation, improve attendance, and strengthen academic performance. Some have even discovered that scratch cooking has enabled them to better connect with their increasingly diverse student populations.

The classic definition of scratch cooking is starting with raw ingredients such as meats, fresh vegetables, and whole grains to cook meals, rather than serving commercially processed and packaged meals or meal components. If you’re not doing any scratch cooking now, that may sound overwhelming.

Fear not! Today’s scratch cooking doesn’t have to be all or nothing. We now also have speed scratch cooking and scratch-ready food products to help prepare fresher meals for students. Even if you don’t go all-in, you can still enjoy the opportunity to get more creative, enhance your program’s food quality, and develop your team’s culinary skills and job satisfaction.

What tools and equipment do you need for scratch cooking?

Here’s a rundown of the key tools and equipment you’ll need for prep and cooking. Even if you aren’t scratch cooking now, odds are good you already have many of the items you need to get started. It’s also a good idea to check your storage rooms and closets to see if you have functional prep equipment that hasn’t been used for a while.

Prep Tools

Mercer Culinary Millennia Colors Knives are a natural for school kitchens. Contoured and textured handles make them safer and easier to use, and their one-piece Japanese steel blade makes them easy to keep sharp. 

Color-coded handles for dedicated use applications such as produce, poultry, or meats help reduce the risk of cross-contamination. Mercer Millennia Colors knives are available in blue, brown, green, purple, red, yellow, and white. The Millennia Cutlery line is also available in black.

Mercer Millennia Colors Level A4 Cut Gloves offer an additional layer of cutting safety for kitchen staff, especially for those who are just learning knife skills. They’re also comfortable and provide great dexterity.

Grippy™ Cutting Boards from TableCraft also support safer prep. Sanitary and dishwasher safe with an integrated handle, corner grips help hold these polypropylene boards in place. 

Grippy boards are sold separately in white, green, red, yellow, blue, and brown for color coding to reduce the risk of cross-contamination. 

They’re also sold in convenient multi-color variety packs of 4 or 6, in 18" x 12" and 15" x 20" sizes.

Perfect Grip Utensils by TableCraft have comfortable, ergonomic handles that are also slip-resistant—even with wet hands. The Perfect Grip Line includes 24 dishwasher safe, scratch-cooking essentials like paring knives, peelers, kitchen shears, spatulas, and more. 

They’re made of Stainless Steel and come with a hole for hanging to keep them organized and accessible.

Covering pans and containers or wrapping fresh fruit is a quick and clean job with the TableCraft KenKut 3 Film Dispenser. 

It can hold 12-18" rolls of film or foil up to 6" diameter (3,000 ft² roll) and has both a slide cutter and metal safety blade, plus non-slip feet, for easy two-handed use. The hygienic patented design is dishwasher safe and complies with HACCP and food code standards.

Prepping fresh fruits and vegetables can be faster than you think! The Edlund ARC XL Manual Fruit & Vegetable Slicer is a non-electric wonder that uniformly slices almost anything, from apples to zucchini.

Kitchen staff can even tackle tough jobs like slicing super-sized onions, full heads of iceberg lettuce, large tomatoes, and more with minimal effort.

Prep Tables, Sinks, and Dollies

Aero Stainless Steel Work Tables provide the commercial grade construction needed for safe, hygienic, and comfortable food prep. A stainless steel top with a backsplash with marine edges on the front and sides of the table inhibits spillage and minimizes cleaning time. Stainless steel legs with adjustable stainless steel feet keep the work surface level, even if the floor isn’t. Aero Hemmed Safety Edges™ on tables and undershelves prevent cuts from rough edges.

Aero Stainless Steel two-compartment prep sinks are built with ¾" pitched drainboards for proper drainage, a full 10" backsplash, hemmed rolled safety edges, and stainless steel legs. 

Aero also offers 3 and 4-compartment sinks needed for washing large pots and pans.

If you’re tight on workspace, the New Age Industrial Mixing Bowl Dolly with Built-In Pan Storage is a handy, mobile solution. 

The dolly elevates your 30-quart mixing bowl to a comfortable and ergonomic working height, while serving the dual purpose of holding up to four full-sized sheet pans (18" x 26") or eight half-sized sheet pans.

Cooking Equipment

It’s a grill, it’s a griddle, it’s a kettle. It’s the Cleveland Power Pan Tilting Skillet, and it will give you menu flexibility like no other single piece of equipment. 

Use it to grill sandwiches, brown ground meats, sauté fresh vegetables, simmer soups, stews, sauces, and more. 

Scratch cooking requires ovens that are powerful enough to thoroughly cook raw foods. 

The Garland Master Series Convection Oven provides a temperature range of 150°F to 500°F. Its patented safety door system features a 60/40 dependent door design with a double pane thermal window in both doors. 

The oven interior is porcelain enamel and well-lit for visibility and safety. Double deck and deep depth models are also available.

The Convotherm Maxx Pro Combi Oven/Steamer provides multiple cooking modes to support evolving menus: hot air, steam, combi‐steam and retherm. 

With its disappearing door feature, the open door slides back and neatly out of the way along the side of the oven to prevent burns and keep kitchen walkways clear. The Maxx Pro’s ConvoClean fully-automatic cleaning system makes cleaning as easy as touching a button.

The Garland Master Series Heavy Duty Range is available in two, four, or six burner models to meet your cooking needs, small or large. Choose from open burners, front fired hot tops (French tops), or even heat sections.

Why should restaurant staff have all of the fun? If you’re ready to explore the possibilities of scratch or speed scratch cooking in your child nutrition program, we can help. Contact us.

More helpful scratch-cooking resources:

The Lunch Box 

Center for Nutrition and Health Impact

School Nutrition Association