School Meals Guide
What the labels on a school menu mean, which allergens schools track, and how free and reduced-price meals actually work. This is the background to every menu on this site; the menus themselves live on each school’s page.
The nine major allergens
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recognises nine major food allergens, which between them account for the large majority of food-allergic reactions. Sesame joined the list in 2023 under the FASTER Act. Where a district publishes allergen data, every menu item on this site carries a badge for each allergen it contains, and the filter chips above a menu hide items containing any you select.
Allergen labelling is not a guarantee. Districts vary in how completely they label, recipes change, and cross-contamination in a shared kitchen is not captured by any menu. If your child has a life-threatening allergy, confirm with the school nutrition staff directly — treat this site as a starting point, never as the final word.
Dietary labels
Where a district supplies them, items carry dietary tags as green badges. These are the district’s own classifications, reproduced unchanged.
Free and reduced-price meals
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted meal program operating in over 90,000 schools. It provides nutritionally balanced low-cost or free lunches to nearly 30 million children each school day, and most participating schools run the School Breakfast Program alongside it.
Households below 130% of the federal poverty guideline qualify for free meals; between 130% and 185% qualify for reduced price, capped by law at 40 cents for lunch and 30 cents for breakfast. Children in households receiving SNAP, TANF or FDPIR benefits are usually certified automatically, as are foster, homeless, migrant and Head Start children.
Many districts instead operate the Community Eligibility Provision, under which every student at a qualifying school eats free with no application at all. Several states have gone further and made school meals universally free.
Applications go through your district’s nutrition department rather than the federal government, they can be submitted at any point in the year, and they need renewing each year. The USDA Food and Nutrition Service publishes the current income guidelines.
Where this site’s data comes from
Menus are collected every night from each district’s own nutrition service — Nutrislice, LINQ Connect, or the district’s published menus — and reproduced without alteration. Nutrition and allergen detail is shown only where the district publishes it. Some districts publish item names alone; on those menus you will see no calorie counts, and we do not estimate them.
Spotted something wrong? Tell us — corrections are reviewed by a person.
Common questions
Who qualifies for free or reduced-price school meals?
Eligibility is set by household income against federal guidelines, and is automatic for children in households receiving SNAP, TANF or FDPIR benefits, as well as for foster, homeless, migrant and Head Start children. Many districts also operate the Community Eligibility Provision, under which every student at a qualifying school eats free regardless of household income.
How do I apply for free or reduced-price lunch?
Applications go to your school district, not to the federal government, and most districts accept them online through their nutrition department. You can apply at any point in the school year, and you should reapply each year — eligibility does not carry over automatically.
Which allergens are schools required to label?
The FDA recognises nine major allergens: milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and sesame. Sesame was added in 2023 under the FASTER Act. Labelling practice varies by district and by menu provider, so a missing label is not proof that an allergen is absent.
Are the nutrition figures on this site official?
They come from the district's own nutrition service, unchanged. Where a district does not publish nutrition data we show none rather than estimating it — a generic estimate attached to a specific school meal would be misleading.
What are the USDA rules on school meals?
Meals reimbursed under the National School Lunch Program must meet federal standards for calories, saturated fat, sodium and whole grains, and must offer fruit and vegetables daily. Standards vary by grade band, which is why an elementary and a high school menu in the same district can differ.