The new School Food Standards in England put pulses firmly on the school lunch menu
In September, the UK government announced new standards for school food in England. This is a positive step and porivdes an opportunity for school menus to lean more heavily on fruit and vegetables, wholegrains and pulses, meaning more nourishing fibre rich-recipes, and boosted nutrition.
What’s new?
The new standards require that:
• All main meal items must contain a protein source
• Pulses (beans, lentils, and chickpeas, excluding baked beans) can serve as the protein source on three or more days each week, and must be included in at least one vegetarian main
• All main menu options must include a portion of pulses at least once per week
At School Plates, we’ve already worked with over 100 catering partners to do just this. We work with school caterers to increase beans and pulses on their menus by creating simple and delicious recipes centered around these ingredients, as well as providing practical training to catering teams on how to cook them. Pulses are good value, packed with fibre, and incredibly versatile.
Opportunities for enriched nutrition
The updated standards are a great opportunity to see how easily beans and pulses can be woven into school menus. They can be incredibly tasty and add heartiness and texture to dishes when cooked and flavoured well, alongside potentially reducing costs for caterers by focusing on whole food plant-based proteins.
School Plates Programme Co-ordinators Ellie Murphy and Polly Higginson use their nutrition and recipe development backgrounds to share five easy wins for boosting beans and pulses:
Blending veg, beans and pulses into meat-based dishes
Focus on popular and familiar dishes that kids already love, such as lasagne, spaghetti Bolognese, chillis etc. Start by replacing 25% of the meat in a dish with lentils (red or brown work well here). Our experience shows that children will not notice any difference to the dish at this ratio. You can gradually increase the lentil amount to your preference, and reduce the meat amount as students get used to it. We’d suggest starting this now before the standards come into place in September 2027 so you’ll be one step ahead and your students will be familiar and enjoying lentils already.
Choose the right bean for the right dish
Go for lentils or beans that fit in well with the existing texture and colour of the dish. Red lentils and white beans work well for creamy textures, black beans are soft and sweet, and brown lentils blend well with minced meat dishes.
Super sauces
Try blending white beans into creamy sauces as an easy way to add extra fibre and protein. We have some great example recipes such as our super green risotto and pasta shells with creamy tomato sauce.
Make the most of hummus
Chickpea rich hummus has become a household staple in the UK, and children love it. It’s a great plant-based cold sandwich/wrap filling but there are endless possibilities with white beans, lentils, and blending in vegetables too. Check out our rainbow dips for inspiration.
Global menu inspiration
Indian inspired curry dishes are very popular on school menus across the UK. Introducing a curry which contains a portion of beans or lentils is a really easy way to include them in a dish as they take on the delicious flavours of the curry. Try our Sri Lankan Sweet Potato and coconut curry, Katsu Curry, Curry Club Dal, or look at adding or blending beans and lentils to an already popular animal-based curry dish.
Want to learn more?
You can find further support and information on pulses and blending in lesson 3 and lesson 5 in our online Plant-based cooking in schools course. Simply register with your email address. The full course only takes 1 hour to complete with a certificate of completion at the end. If you need further support please get in touch with us at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to help.
We are partners in the Bang in Some Beans campaign and are excited to be sharing more bean-powered recipes nationwide.
