Meals & Snacks

Regular intake of nutritious food helps ensure students are physically primed to learn. San Diego Unified School District serves a nutritious breakfast and lunch every school day. Please support your child's learning by making sure your child has access to these meals, along with adequate, healthy snacks.

Free and Reduced Price Meals

All students receive a multi-child Free and Reduced Meal Application on the first day of school. Please complete the application and return it to the school the following day. This application should be completed regardless of income and must be resubmitted each year. If a student's family does not meet the criteria for free or reduced meals, he or she may purchase breakfast for 50 cents, lunch for $1.25 and, if desired, an extra milk for 25 cents.

Meal Accounts

Student meals may be paid for in advance. To make payments or monitor a student's meal account--either online or over the phone--you may use the PayPAMS system . The system is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and accepts Discover, MasterCard, or Visa. Registration is required to use PayPAMS services. To do so, you will need your child's student ID or PIN. If you do not have this information, please call the Food Services Helpdesk at (858) 627-7330 for assistance. Registering for PAYPAMS will not affect your child's current account balance. To get started, go to www.sandi.net/food/payment.htm . It may take up to 24 hours for student accounts to be credited.

To pay by cash or check, place the payment in a sealed envelope marked with the student's name and his or her teacher's name. Please make checks payable to Zamorano Cafeteria. Students should take all money to the cafeteria first thing in the morning to ensure funds are available for later that day.

Funds are maintained in a student account until they are used, regardless of how often a student eats in the cafeteria.

If a student does not have funds for a meal, a staff member may, at his or her discretion, loan money to the student. Students are expected to pay such loans back as soon as possible. Students with outstanding loans will not be given additional money. Instead, they will be given a small snack and something to drink. To avoid this situation, please take a moment to send a check to the cafeteria, or take advantage of the PAYPAMS system and pay online or by phone.

For more information on the school lunch program and menus visit the district web site at http://sandi.net/food .

Kid's Choice Café

The district's award-winning Kid's Choice Café program encourages students to eat at school more consistently and helps to guide them toward healthier food choices.

Breakfast

Students are encouraged to eat breakfast every day to give them the opportunity to come to class adequately prepared for learning. Kid's Choice Café breakfasts offer three entrée choices including yogurt and a variety of non-sweetened cereals. Bright red, kid-sized salad bars are also used to serve a variety of fruits and other breakfast favorites.

Lunch

Zamorano has three 40 minute lunch periods. Students are escorted by their teachers to the cafeteria when their lunch period begins. For each lunch period, the students are allotted 20 minutes to eat and 20 minutes to play. At the conclusion of the first 20 minuets, the students are then escorted by a noon duty supervisor to their designated play area. Through the Kid's Choice Cafe program, lunch offers four entrée choices and includes a salad bar where students can select from an array of fruits, vegetables and healthy toppings every day. Students are expected to eat in an appropriate manner and remain seated until dismissed by a designated staff member.

Snacks

Parents are encouraged to send children to school with healthy snacks, such as fruit, vegetables or yogurt. Items such as chips, cookies, candy and similar non-nutritive foods are not acceptable.