Local, Sustainable, Nutritious
These last few days have been busy ones for Jonathan Stubbs our Catering Manager and his team of chefs and kitchen staff.
Local – The quality of the ingredients that feed our school community is paramount and this week we moved away from a non-specialist national supplier and have chosen to source all of our fresh produce, milk and eggs from M. Hughes. Hughes are a specialist produce supplier based just across the A55 in Mochdre who supply a host of North Wales restaurants, hotels and kitchens. We know that using such a great local supplier will enable us to maintain the quality of our school food and also to eliminate issues with supply chains and deliveries which have proven a problem in recent months.
Sustainable – Clearly, using a local supplier cuts down on food miles and also allows us to order more regularly, keeping our offering fresh and helping to reduce food waste.
Did you know that our school community consumes over 5000litres of milk each academic year? And, that up until recently the majority of the milk that our Prep pupils drink came in individual plastic containers? As part of our catering objectives, we aim to reduce both food and general waste and to move towards more sustainable sources. Working with the team at M. Hughes, we are now ordering our milk in larger, containers and asking our Prep staff to give each pupil their morning milk in a reusable container.
Maria McLean, Commercial and marketing Manager who also leads on our relationship with Holroyd Howe comments ‘I am delighted that we are able to move away from national wholesalers and can work with local food suppliers. It is vital that we source the best quality ingredients for our pupils and also look for more sustainable ways to feed our school community’.
Nutritious – As part of our relationship with Holroyd Howe we are able to access a host of specialists and Ellie Olds, one of the senior nutritionists recently visited school to work with pupils and to encourage them to make healthy eating choices. Ellie spoke to Prep pupils to encourage them to try new foods and also with our senior sporting teams to discuss the best way to prepare for training sessions or to be match ready.
Boost It – As part of our work with Ellie we will be continuing to replace some of our most popular menu items with a more healthy version. Who knew that the celebrated RPS Brownie would taste just as good (if not better!) with the refined sugars replaced by beetroot!