Please Click Here to View the Current Month’s Lunch Menu
Please Click Here to Visit Mealtime On-Line Now
Welcome to our Food Service Program!
The Forest Hills Food Service Department is dedicated to serving nutritious and healthy food every day to over 10,000 customers. Last year, Forest Hills Public Schools prepared, serviced and sold a total of 825,000 meals. In addition to the traditional way of paying for your student’s lunch with cash or check, Forest Hills Public Schools offers another alternative through Chartwells where you can create an online student account and manage your child’s lunch account from any Web browser.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: Where can I view my child’s school lunch menu?
Please click here to view the current month’s lunch menu.
Q: How much does lunch cost?
Elementary (Grades K-4): $2.45 (includes milk)
Secondary (Grades 5-12): $2.60 (includes milk)
Milk-only: $0.50
Adult: $3.60
Q: How do I pay for my child’s school lunch?
Forest Hills Public Schools accepts cash and checks at each school in addition to offering an online payment option, Mealtime On-Line. Mealtime On-Line is a secure, online lunch fund account that enables you to create a personal lunch fund account for your child so that you can add funds via a credit card to your child’s lunch account, view your child’s current balance at any time, and view purchase history. For each deposit you make you will receive a receipt to print out and an e-mail to verify the deposit.
Q: How do I use Mealtime On-Line?
STEP 1: Visit Mealtime On-Line Now. This link will take you to the online payment website where you can create your account.
STEP 2: To Create an online account for your child/ren). To create the account, click on “Create an Account” just below the login and password and fill in the information as needed. (NOTE: You will need to know your child’s school ID number in order to create the account.) Once you have entered the information needed, you will be able to create a new username and password so only you will be able to access your child’s account.
Once you have created the account, you can gain access to your child’s meal information, and you will be able to make credit card deposits. PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS A THREE PERCENT FEE to your credit card for each deposit and also a minimum deposit amount of $25.
Q: Why did I receive a letter stating my child’s lunch balance is low?
Research shows that children who are well fed learn better than students who are hungry. The food service staff strives to feed a nutritious lunch to each child every day.
Please help us make the lunchroom a fun place for your child by keeping an adequate balance in their lunch account to cover the meals they purchase. To help you ensure that your child has an adequate balance in their account, we will begin to send home a “LOW BALANCE” letter each week at the elementary level if the child’s account has fallen below $6.00. If the child’s balance falls into arrears, you will receive a “Negative Balance” letter each week, alerting you to please deposit funds as soon as possible so your child can continue to purchase lunch.
School Lunch Nutrition Standards:
Forest Hills Schools has teamed up with Chartwells to provide nutritious lunch menus. Visit www.eatlearnlive.com for nutritional and other informative information. You can also sign up to receive free e-newsletters to be sent directly to your e-mail address.
Our aim over the next year is to further improve the quality of our meals by strengthening our nutritional standards. Chartwells has established its latest Food and Nutrition Standards for all schools. Our comprehensive wellness program, Balanced Choices®, establishes nutrition standards that meet or exceed gold level status of the Healthier U.S. School Challenge. Our recent improvements include:
Increasing Whole Grains: Increasing whole grains to a minimum of three servings per week, including hamburger buns; hot dog buns; sandwich breads; dinner rolls; pre-made pizza products; pizza dough products; pastas and rice. Our plan is to exceed the minimum and serve as many whole-grain bread and bakery products as are available.
Varied Vegetables: In addition to having more vegetables available, we will offer more dark green and orange vegetables at least three times per week. Richly colored vegetables are nutrient-dense, packed with vitamins and minerals, and low in calories.
Skim Milk District-Wide: We will continue to offer low-fat flavored 1% milk and skim milk. Milk contains Vitamins A and D, calcium, and protein, all essential to a healthy lifestyle.
Sustainability Efforts: We will continue to purchase sustainable and environmentally responsible foods such as hormone-free milk (all of our milk is hormone-free), cage-free shell eggs, and antibiotic-restricted poultry (when available).
Local/Regional Purchasing: We will continue to purchase Michigan-grown produce whenever available and in season. We began this effort last year and were very pleased with the quality and variety of foods. Most of our produce purchases in the fall months of September and October (around 75 percent), are sourced from Michigan growers. We are able to serve some products, like Michigan apples, year-round.
Reducing Sodium: In addition to using more low-sodium products, we will reduce our use of cured, smoked, and salted meats, as well as reduce/eliminate pickled vegetables (pickles, peppers, olives). Commercially pickled and brined items have a high salt content as well as little to no nutritional value. Instead of pickles served with cheeseburgers, we will have lettuce and tomato available.
Financial Assistance
If there is a need for financial assistance with the lunch programs please call the Food Service Office at 493-8774 for CONFIDENTIAL help in applying for the free or reduced priced lunch program or download the application that applies to your child’s needs. Print and complete the application (see below) and mail it to: Forest Hills Public Schools, Food Service Department, 160 Alta Dale Drive SE, Ada, MI 49301.
Click here for the 2011-2012 application and instructions for the Free and Reduced Lunch Application.
Free or Reduced Lunch Applications also are available in school offices. Our goal is to have healthy, happy, and well-fed children who learn to the best of their abilities. Please help us by keeping an adequate balance in your student’s lunch account.
