Scratch Cooked Meals for Students Act of 2026

Grants for scratch-cooked school meals

If enacted, the Secretary would start a Scratch Cooking Pilot within 180 days to award competitive grants to school food authorities. The pilot would authorize $20 million per year for fiscal years 2027 through 2031. Grants would run for 2 school years and schools would apply to the Secretary. Grantees would use funds for staff training, cafeteria equipment and infrastructure, extra food-preparation pay, procurement software, student taste tests and education, recipe development, and other activities to meet school meal nutrition standards. The Secretary would prioritize schools with the highest share of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, self-operated authorities (or those that will be self-operated), and authorities with or planning collective bargaining. The Secretary would contract nonprofits to run a technical assistance and resource center. Not more than 15% of funds would be used for that center (including admin) and not more than 5% for other administrative costs. Each grantee would work with the center to do a needs assessment and strategic plan, and would report within 180 days after the grant ends comparing pre- and post-grant shares of whole/raw ingredient spending and scratch-cooked menu items.