Central Kitchen

With malnutrition and obesity rates high among low-income children, the nutrition provided by Central Kitchen is essential to the health and well-being of at-risk children in Utah. Central Kitchen prepares nutritious foods from scratch and delivers meals to children enrolled in Head Start, both during the school year and in the summertime. Central Kitchen also serves children in after-school and child care programs, including Boys and Girls Clubs, University of Utah children’s programs, and more.

    Services & Benefits

    For some Utah children, the meals they receive at Head Start are the only meals they’ll receive during a day. For others, the diets they have access to outside of our program may be high in fats and sugars. Central Kitchen helps ensure that all Head Start children go home with at least two-thirds of their daily meals and that the nutritional value of these meals is as high as possible. This program also ensures that all children in the community have access to healthy dinners during the summer school closures when food insecurity increases.

    School Meals

    Healthy eating is essential for healthy childhood development. Utah Community Action’s Central Kitchen prepares nutritious foods from scratch and delivers meals and snacks to children enrolled in Head Start, after-school and childcare programs throughout Salt Lake and Tooele Counties. Meals are CACFP compliant and help children to develop the lifelong healthy eating habits they’ll need to reach their full potential.

    Summer Dinners

    During the summer, UCA’s Central Kitchen continues to deliver meals to our year-round students. Additionally, the Central Kitchen runs the summer food program at 3 sites throughout Salt Lake County. This program runs for 10 weeks each summer.

    Eligibility

    School Meals
    Preschool children aged 0-5 who are also enrolled in Utah Community Action Head Start or Early Head Start are eligible to get daily meals through the Central Kitchen. Daycare or childcare programs are also able to sign-up to receive deliveries of our made-from-scratch meals. To inquire about our meal services, contact our Culinary Director Dewayne at 808-281-9268.

    Summer Dinners
    All children 0-18 are eligible for free dinners at one Utah Community Action locations throughout the summer months.

     

    Our Story

    Founded in 2009, what began as a small program to feed nutritious meals to UCA’s Head Start children has grown into a thriving social enterprise that serves children, adults, and senior citizens, Money generated from our nationally recognized program goes back into our Head Start and Nutrition programs, to serve children from at-risk backgrounds and address food insecurity within Utah.

    Healthy Eating Standards

    As part of the Central Kitchen initiative started in 2009, Utah Community Action established its own best practices for healthy eating.

    Implications

    The Head Start Central Kitchen initiative focuses on the individual/interpersonal level of the socio-ecologic model (children and their teachers and parents), with a secondary focus on the organizational level (preschools).

    Equal Opportunity Provider

    Utah Community Action is an equal opportunity provider and does not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age.

    Contact Us

    If you would like more information on our school meals or summer dinners programs, fill out the form below and our Nutrition team will get back to you as soon as possible.