MCDS is revolutionizing lunch with its new international food additions to the menu and fresher ingredients throughout. During the interview with Linda Kilbey, who helps manage the school lunch service, we were astonished to find out that it takes her five hours a day to create the lunches for MCDS students, partly due to the intense planning and preparation that goes into making school lunches.

Kilbey commented, “We have to determine how many students are going to be served, how much food we need for that, and then we want to give them extra because they’re hungry.”  Kilbey, who is a kitchen lead for the company that provides lunch to the Waunakee School District, chops, cuts and heats up the food at school, and then serves it when it’s time for lunch. After lunch, it takes more time for her and her team to clean up, and it helps that they brought in a new person to help.

Kilbey discussed the improvements made with the new menu and food prep system, saying, “We have used a lot of better products.  The food has been upgraded to be a lot fresher. We try not to use frozen products.” She does most of the prep work for MCDS lunches in the Waunakee Intermediate School kitchen.

These upgrades are affecting lots of people from around the school. Sidney ’29 said that the food has really improved, but it is not enough to make her eat hot lunch more often.

But John ’33 said his mother has been signing him up for lunches for years, and this menu is the best he has had. “I really like the choices and my favorite is the pulled pork with the mac and cheese.”