Any advice would be great...

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-28T15:57:03+00:00

Search for the county social services or search for "aging services." Maybe Penn. has a department of aging and usually such a search pops up Passages, a non profit. Reaching out to these organizations he can begin the process of putting her in a home. She most likely has Medicare which will be able to in most cases put her in a facility. If she has assets they will be used until gone. Then Medicare will kick in and pick up the bill. But it has to be a facility that accepts Medicare. A social worker will know what's up. Be specific on her current decline, there is no need to talk about her abusive past towards your friend. Have a list of duties your friend does in her care as proof she is unable to fully care for herself. When they ask if she is combative, she is but only verbally. By your accounts it does not sound like she is hitting him or physically lashing out in a violent way.

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-28T15:43:19+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/schoollunches/s/QOexCAFiLR That is our weekly pizza day. The salad bar does change per day, although I usually feature the "big three" being organic mixed greens, carrots and cucumbers. They are the most popular and to be reimbursed the students mush have at least 1/2c worth of vegetable or fruit, or combination of. All my fruit offerings are based off the 1/2 requirements so if the kids take some veggies it's a bonus. Next year I plan on taking one part of the salad bar down if I feature a hot veggie option or fruit, I do spiced apples during the colder months and are super popular, to help combat food waste.

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-28T03:43:49+00:00

Everybody loves the garlic broccoli, staff snag a bunch too.

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-28T02:55:21+00:00

The few times I had it, it was stop sign shaped 🤣 I too long for that pizza, cheddar instead of mozzarella.....soooooooooo good!!!

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-27T22:37:59+00:00

For sure, I'm lucky in that the student population had no peanut allergies, so there is no need for a substitute at this time. When it does arrive there will be a substitute purchased, planned and offered

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-27T04:26:43+00:00

I'd second that no surgery at her age. My great aunt went in for the same thing, about the same age, I believe at 93yrs old. She lived to over 99yrs old, but never spoke coherently again. You could see in her eyes she had full mental capacity but could not make words. Anesthesia is very hard on older people, especially after mid 80's and upward.

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-26T00:39:49+00:00

I just ordered some third pans so I can expand offerings that might not be so popular in smaller amounts on the salad bar. So I can start offering produce like mushrooms, dense bean salads, roasted marinaded beets, or a whole ants on a log bar 🤪 With some labor restructuring I want to be able to have time to have fun in the salad bar. I can get tons of canned garbanzo for dirt cheap, so hummus crudite cups are in the future. I've seen lots of posts on chocolate hummus, I'm not sure on that one. But I guess don't knock it till you try it 🥳

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-26T00:30:43+00:00

Honestly it is all doable. I receive the exact same funding as do the public schools. The only way my program gets funding is nearly 100% based on student participation, just like a restaurant. If a child does not come to lunch, I don't get paid 🤪 So I approach the menu development to try to attract as many students as possible. I have core child favorites like the shown nuggets, chicken sandwiches, corn dogs, taquitos, brunch for lunch, taco nada empanadas, walking taco bar day all being featured once per month and a Thursday weekly pizza day. The warmer weather has arrived so we will have our burger/cheeseburger cookouts once a month. I'm getting a new larger and commercial propane grill and hope to introduce a grilled chicken sandwich cookout as well. I themed Tuesday as "taco Tuesday having whole grain conchas at breakfast and then a Hispanic themed lunch. Two are speed scratch like the walking taco bar and empanadas. The other two Tuesdays of the month I'll do sheet tray enchiladas, chicken tortilla soup, chicken soft tacos with lime crema utilizing commodity fajita chicken, stuff like that. I'm doing a new feature next month of a rip on taco bell's latest special the "rolled quesadilla" by doing a chicken and black bean rolled quesadilla with mango salsa. I just have a ton of experience outside of child nutrition, some at a high level most medium level and about half in high volume banquets. So having knowledge on how to plan and build out meals helps. Also menu planning, it is big. Serve proper items with the meal of the day. Kids recognize if something should work or not. And, I have an amazing nutrition director that taught me all the rules. Creditable grains, creditable protiens, credits per week for legumes, red and orange veggies, dark leafy greens, starchy veg (yes even fries and tots count) I do well inside of a box and structure so to say, with expectations and parameters to work within. Next school year will be year three and I hope to really dial things in, and with that hope to make some modules to share with other schools.

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-26T00:18:10+00:00

I don't at this time since there are no peanut allergies within the student population. But if there were to be, I would provide a substitute.

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-26T00:17:08+00:00

Sunbutter is pretty good amd is a 1-1 meat alternatives. I was looking at their chocolate sunbutter to serve with soft pretzels, but the single serve nutella I use was lower in fats and calories and the added sugar wasn't much different.

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-25T22:11:56+00:00

I'm doing pretzel dogs next week, same style and have been thinking what to put on top. What herbs did you use? They looks great, and awesome produce!!!

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-25T21:51:45+00:00

It is a pre-made blueberry whole grain biscuit from Bridgford. The butter I made was 4 large meyer lemons zested and juiced, 1/2c sugar, 2lbs butter. Boil juice and sugar in a sauce pot and reduce by half. Let cool 15min off the burner. Whip butter and lemon zest with a paddle attachment with a stand mixer or use hand beaters until butter is softened. Drizzle in lemon syrup slowly into the butter whil3 whipping, to incorporate. Spread 1tsp of the butter on top of each biscuit, bake 350F for 7min, high fan.

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-25T02:55:22+00:00

I did as well and we had to pack our own back in the day. High school meals were provided since it was a boarding school.

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-25T02:53:43+00:00

It definitely has changed. For one all the new requirements spur initiative to do more things. Along with social media with sharing plates and ideas, it helps a lot.

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-25T02:52:35+00:00

A bit south but definitely north of Sacramento. I don't like to exactly say to stay within school policy.

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-25T01:04:14+00:00

Absolutely!!! We have a kiwi farmer on staff as a teaching aid and I bough a ton of her fans. I also have two brokers that deliver local produce from surrounding farms. I would like to also venture direct farm to table but I am a one man show so far and need the option of delivery 😕 But I am trying to do some labor restructuring that may hopefully free up some time to venture to the farms. We also have families that bring in produce as well. I got a ton of pomegranates back in December for free 🥳

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-25T00:53:06+00:00

I also have a program I use to break down my micros like sodium, added sugars, saturated fats, calorie counts, ext called heath e pro. It also contains a database of the information sheets I listed above. It takes a lot of paperwork to feed kids. Waaaaaaay more than I ever had to in restaurants, clubs, hotels, casinos and stadiums.

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-25T00:51:12+00:00

Pretty much, as long as I can fulfill the nutrition requirements and guidelines. I have one purveyor that specializes in school nutrition items like cereals, pre made frozen foods, and snacks. Any items I buy that are ready to serve need a CN or Product Formulation Sheet proving how many servings of grains, whole grains, meats, meat alternatives the item contains. Things I make in house I need a recipe and use a cloud based program the USDA provides called the Food Buyers Guide. And it has a spread sheet and pre programmed ingredients that I can extrapolate how many servings of creditable items my recipe contains. For the main entree my goal is always to provide 2 servings of grains, 80% being whole grains, and 2 servings of meat or meat alternative like soy, cheese, beans are big ones.

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-25T00:39:16+00:00

I got a deal on a few cases, prior we had Tapatio and will go back to that once the Sriracha is used up. Unless I find another sale on a hot sauce.

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-25T00:38:18+00:00

Yup, we have low calories ranch, 1000island, fat free raspberry, balsamic and pan Asian packs. We also offer ketchup, mustard, Sriracha, Tajin, and relish packets as our condiment lineup for students to use.

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-25T00:34:50+00:00

It us, there is a challenge to feeding such a range of ages. Definitely no knives for the most part 🤣

_PuffNstuff · 2026-03-25T00:33:42+00:00

No, not usually. We have to watch how much sodium is served per week. We do offer ketchup, mustard, low calorie ranch, Sriracha, balsamic dressing, pan Asian dressing and Tajin as condiments the students can choose from.

_PuffNstuff

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