Homestyle Soups and Stews: A Smart Solution for School Foodservice

Soups and stews have a long, budget-friendly history. They were first made thousands of years ago as a way to tenderize and “stretch” low-quality ingredients such as scraps and tough meats in a water base. Throughout history, this hearty meal has made it easy for families and more recently, foodservice, to serve more for less.

Fast forward to today, and soups and stews are a natural fit for school menus. They offer the warmth, homestyle comfort, and nourishment students truly look forward to. From hearty chilis and chicken noodle soup to globally inspired stews, these versatile dishes make it easy to serve nutritious, balanced meals packed with vegetables, protein, and whole grains. They’re cost-effective, scalable for large volumes of students, and ideal for batch cooking, which helps maximize efficiency while delivering consistent quality.

The clay pot was the ancient secret to successful soups and stews. Today, we have modern equipment to bring this nourishing menu staple to the K-12 table.

The Case for Canned Vegetables

A low-labor means to help meet meal pattern requirements, canned vegetables are a great way to make fast-scratch soups. With the right equipment, they’re easy to store, transport, and open.

The New Age Industrial Heavy-Duty Mobile Can Rack makes one-handed loading and unloading easy. 

The taller, half-size model maximizes vertical storage, while the counter height model provides easy access and the ability to integrate into existing work surfaces. Both heights offer significant capacity for storing and transporting #10 and #5 cans.

The Edvantage® #1 Manual Can Opener has a 4-sided knife that can be flipped and rotated a half turn to ensure a sharp, efficient blade for up to 10,000 openings before it needs to be replaced—no tools required. 

An ergonomic knob and Edvancoat™ technology make it smooth and comfortable to operate.

Pro Tools for Fresh Vegetable Prep

Want to use fresh produce? Save prep time with the Edlund VariCut Food Processor! 

Built to handle the daily demands of your busy child nutrition program with a 7-in-1 adjustable thickness blade and over 30 cutting disc options for slicing, dicing, shredding, and more, its components are removable and dishwasher safe for quick and hygienic cleanup.

Versatile Cooking Equipment

The Garland Master Series Open Burner Range provides heavy-duty performance for soups, stews, sauces, gravies, and so much more. Available with a standard oven, storage cabinet base, or as a modular top, its two-piece Starfire Pro® open burners are rated at 35,000 BTU/hr. The grate design allows pots to slide easily across the surface from burner to burner.

Soup or stew may be the star of today’s menu, but tomorrow’s cooking needs will be different. Cleveland Tilting Skillets can do it all, from grilling and braising meat to steaming vegetables and rice to simmering soups, sauces, and gumbos. 

You can cook almost any menu item in this one type of equipment, instead of needing, three, four or more different kinds of kitchen equipment. Cleveland has the right size for you, from 10 and 15 gallon tabletop models to 30 and 40 gallon floor models with the ultra “power burner” system. 

Steam jacketed kettles are also ideal for soups, sauces, pasta, gravies, desserts, stews, braising meats, rice, reheating dishes and holding them until serving. 

Cleveland Steam Jacketed Kettles offer faster cooking times because 2/3 of the cooking surface comes into contact with the product at a much lower temperature than stock pots that cook from the bottom only. They're also easier to use and clean.

Ready to treat your students to comforting soups, stews, and gumbos? We’re here to help. Contact us!