Grant helps Mississippi school district swap out fryers for oven steamers

Krista Davis, child nutrition director for the Cleveland School District, is making leaps and bounds in regards to nutritious meals for students.

Cypress Parks Elementary and D.M. Smith Middle School will both be installing new kitchen equipment, including combination oven steamers, which will replace the existing fat fryers.

CLEVELAND, Miss. — This healthy change is made possible by a Nutrition Integrity grant that Cleveland School District received this year from the Mississippi Department of Education Office of Child Nutrition, funded by the Bower Foundation.

According to a press release Davis said, “A combination oven steamer uses super-heated steam to cook foods with less fat, saturated fat, and trans fats.

“Since school meals are such an important way to insure that our children are fit, healthy, and ready to succeed, we want the foods we serve to be as nutritious and appealing as possible.”

The new equipment will help the foodservice staff improve the 15,000 breakfasts and lunches served every month to students and staff in the Cypress Park Elementary and D.M. Smith Middle School cafeterias.

Installing new kitchen equipment and lower-fat cooking methods are two of the many ways that Cypress Park Elementary and D.M. Smith Middle School is focusing on the health of students.

“We recognize the critical connection between good health and success in the classroom, so we are extremely excited to have the opportunity to make our student’s meals even healthier,” said Cypress Park Principal Angela Towers.

“In addition to replacing our fryers with this new combination oven steamer, our school writes a monthly newsletter that includes healthy recipes and physical activities for the whole family to enjoy. Each student participates in 150 minutes of health and physical education each week and our teachers also take brain and body breaks with their students by using Move to Learn videos in their classrooms. We have also had a Zumba Fun night at one of our recent Parent Teacher Student Association nights," said Towers.

Davis said there are plenty of healthy options that will now be offered to students in place of fried foods.

"We now can cook items such as French fries, tater tots, chicken tenders, crispy baked chicken, and fish in the combination oven steamers. Basically anything that can be fried in a deep fat fryer can be cooked in the combination oven steamer.

“The new ovens have an automatic browning and crisping setting in the final stages of the cooking process for anything that you would desire to have a crispy texture; just as you would from a deep fat fryer, but minus cooking oil and fat," said Davis.

"The ovens can also be used to bake bread items and steam vegetables. Vegetables are able to retain their natural color so they are more vibrant when cooking from a combination oven steamer," she said.

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