What if a Yogurt Parfait Could Teach us a Better Way to Design the Entire Menu?
A few weeks ago, Gaia founder Souha Alameddine hosted a Gaia Collective conversation with Sarah Kimiecik, Director of Child Nutrition at Pleasanton Unified, and me. We talked about making scratch cooking practical and financially sustainable through smarter menu design.
If you missed the webinar, here is a link to the replay.
We covered budgets, participation, staff buy-in, and, yes, rice. But one of my favorite examples was the humble yogurt parfait.
Most of us see one finished breakfast item. The Planned-Overs Approach invites us to see three hardworking components: yogurt, fruit, and granola.
Start with plain yogurt instead of a presweetened, single-purpose product. You get to control the sweetness and flavor, and that same yogurt can become a smoothie base, dressing, dip, Raita, Tzatziki, or bakery ingredient.
Prepare fresh fruit salad for Monday’s lunch and intentionally make enough for Tuesday’s parfaits. Any remaining fruit mixture can then become a smoothie base or be puréed to make a delicious vinaigrette.
Single serving, packaged granola has a very narrow purpose, but make scratch granola in bulk, and now you have a multi-purpose ingredient. It can top parfaits, become a crunchy muffin topping, part of a fresh-fruit Bionico, or support another breakfast item.
The parfait is the finished item. The components are the system.
That is Planned-Overs in action: we aren’t only planning what we will serve today. We are planning what else the food can become tomorrow.
Leftovers happen. Planned-Overs are intentional.
Watch the Gaia Collective webinar recording
Here is another reason I encourage you to join the Gaia Collective: school nutrition leaders are constantly asking, “What are other districts actually doing, and what is really working?”
The Collective’s Slack workspace gives directors, chefs, and operators a place to ask those questions, exchange practical ideas, and learn from people facing the same operational realities.
Join the Gaia Collective and become part of the conversation.
Ready to build a stronger start to your school year?
A confident, well-prepared team of school food pros doesn't happen by chance, it happens with the right training, systems, and support in place. Chef Kent Getzin Consulting works alongside school food pros to build the skills and systems that make cooking with whole food ingredients sustainable, starting on day one. Ready to start the conversation?
Keep on cooking!
Chef Kent Getzin
Chef Kent Getzin Consulting
