Scratch cooking—meals prepared from fresh, wholesome ingredients instead of pre-packaged, highly processed items—offers our schools the chance to bring real food back to the lunch table. When students are served meals made from scratch, they eat better, feel better, and are more likely to see the cafeteria as a place where healthy habits begin. Beyond nutrition, scratch cooking connects our schools to local farms, strengthens community ties, and helps children build a lifelong relationship with fresh food.

This pilot program would:​
 

• Provide competitive grants to Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) ready to expand or transition to scratch cooking in their cafeterias.
• Invest in training for food service staff and necessary cafeteria improvements.
• Gather data on costs, student participation, nutrition outcomes, and operational feasibility to guide future expansion.

The vision is simple: give schools the resources and flexibility they need to serve meals that are fresh, nourishing, and made with care—while evaluating how scratch cooking can be scaled into a sustainable model for school nutrition across the Commonwealth.

At the heart of this bill is a commitment to our kids and our communities. Imagine a student enjoying a warm bowl of soup made from local vegetables, or a farmer knowing their harvest is nourishing children just down the road. That’s the promise of scratch cooking—and we have the opportunity to make that dream a reality.

Please join me in co-sponsoring this initiative to put healthier meals on students’ plates, support Pennsylvania’s farmers, and strengthen our school meal programs.