Breakfast and Lunch

The Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education recognizes the important connection between a healthy diet and a student’s ability to learn effectively and achieve high standards in school.

Breakfast

Berkeley offers free breakfast to all students. 

All students may eat a free nutritious breakfast every day as part of the Universal Breakfast Program. Teachers do begin instruction during breakfast time, so regardless of whether or not your child chooses to eat Universal Breakfast, it is important that your child arrive to school on time at 8:10 a.m. Breakfast items include fresh fruit, yogurt, cereal, and a muffin or bread. See the BUSD menu on the BUSD Nutrition site to know what they will be serving each day.

Lunch

All students are automatically eligible for free breakfast and free lunch every day they are in school, however, it is very important to fill out the free/reduced price school meal application form at ezmealapp.com, regardless of income. Even if you don’t intend to use the free lunch program, every application brings funding to our schools. For help, call the Office of Family Equity and Engagement at 644-8991. Additionally, if your child qualifies as “free” or “reduced”, you can use the Eligibility Letter we provide to show eligibility when applying for other benefits.

Lunch from School

The BUSD School Lunch Initiative (SLI) has two primary goals: 1) to serve more nutritious and delicious, freshly-prepared meals using locally grown food to all of our students, and 2) to educate children in kitchen, garden and academic classrooms about their food choices and the impact those choices have on their health, the community and the environment. See the BUSD menu on the BUSD Nutrition site to know what they will be serving each day.

Lunch from Home

If your child brings a lunch from home, please pack nutritious foods in a lunch box or sturdy bag—strive for a zero-waste lunch with reusable, recyclable, or compost degradable packaging.

We want to encourage all students to develop healthy eating habits. As part of our schoolwide rules and BUSD nutrition guidelines candy, chips, soda, and gum are not allowed at school.

GREEN WASTE

Sylvia Mendez has green waste bins and recycling set up in the cafeteria so that students can separate their trash and food waste when they are finished eating. By “going green” we aim to reduce the amount of cafeteria waste that once ended up in landfills.  You can help too - when sending food from home, strive for a zero-waste with reusable, recyclable, or compostable packaging.