The Lunch Break: A Successful School Fundraiser – and a Tasty, Healthy Lunch


Preparing a packed school lunch can be monotonous – for parents and kids. A school lunch fundraiser gives everyone a break and provides schools with needed funds. But finding the balance between raising money and promoting healthy food choices to students can be challenging. Enter Cathy Langdon and The Lunchbreak Catering Co.

Cathy Langdon is a Registered Dietitian – but she’s also a parent – and she knows that there’s no point serving healthy food if kids won’t eat it. She’s combined her parenting expertise with her food service and dietitian background to deliver a school lunch menu that features familiar and popular kid favorites that also meet the nutrition guidelines for Saskatchewan schools.

“Parents and schools want healthy food for their kids,” Cathy says. “I’m trying to help by delivering hot, healthy meals that kids like at a price that is competitive with other school lunch options.”


Lunch Options
Main dishes include Blueberry Pancakes & Syrup with a Turkey Sausage, Turkey and Cranberry Focaccia Sandwich, Pasta and Meatballs and Classic Mac & Cheese. Parents can feel comfortable knowing the house-made focaccia and pancakes consist of 30-40 % whole wheat flour. (Cathy used to sell her focaccia bread at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market and I can vouch for its deliciousness.) There’s plenty of healthy, flavourful goodness in the other options as well.

Side dishes include Fresh Apple Slices, Fresh Veggies & Dip, Milk, and Juice.

Meals are prepared in a public health-inspected kitchen, packaged and labelled individually, and delivered in insulated catering bags that maintain safe cold or hot holding temperatures.

The Lunchbreak Catering Co. accommodates any food allergies or intolerances. The Baked Pasta and the Classic Mac & Cheese are both vegetarian and The Lunchbreak can meet requests for vegan options.

With every lunch sold, Cathy makes a small donation to Hands at Work, a charity working to provide access to food, education, and basic health care for orphaned and vulnerable children in Africa.

Order Online
Schools book a hot lunch date, deciding for themselves how much they would like to add to the cost of the meal for fundraising purposes. Parents then go online to choose and pay for their child’s meal.

Meals can be ordered directly from The Lunchbreak website or from Healthy Hunger, an online management system for school lunch coordinators and restaurants.


Find Out More
 The Lunchbreak Catering Co. is a Saskatoon-owned and –operated company focusing exclusively on providing flavourful, healthy school lunches.

“Lunch catering services that provide nutritious meals to school children have become very popular across Canada,” Cathy says, “but The Lunchbreak is the first of its kind in Saskatchewan.”

If you’d like more information about The Lunchbreak Catering Co, email them at info@thelunchbreak.ca to get started. They’ll be happy to send some information to your school and schedule a short presentation with your principal or school council.

Additional Resources
Healthy Foods for my School: Nutrition Standards for Saskatchewan Schools

Dish It Up – eliminating waste and preparing hot school lunches with reusable dinnerware

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