Foodservice Update

According to Lt. Sheila LeJeune, MS, RD, food service director of Lafayette Parish Correctional Center in Louisiana, her department serves at least 1,000 inmates per meal for approximately $2 a day. Lt. LeJeune has been with the facility for more than 24 years, having been hired after a federal inmate who did not receive requested diabetic meals won a 1982 lawsuit against the Lafayette Sheriff's Department. In addition to the diabetic meals, Lt. LeJeune attempts to offer nutritionally complete meals for inmates who follow special dietary patterns. Since time and budget are limited, many menu items are prepared so they fulfill the requirements of several different dietary patterns.

LeJeune's focus is to try to keep food costs low while running a safe and sanitary food facility and offering high-quality meals. With 10 food service personnel and 20 inmates assisting, the department serves approximately a million meals each year. Of these meals about 160,000 are special diets, including diabetic, low-salt, bland, modified consistency, pregnancy, renal, and vegetarian.

Menus are planned so inmates receive approximately 3,000 calories per day. Inmate employees can have double portions if desired, plus additional food items and coffee. There is also a canteen where inmates can purchase additional foods.

Vegetarian in a Minute

We know that institutional meal preparation and serving time is short and budgets limited. Vegetarian menu items can still be easy to prepare and to serve, and they may be acceptable to the general population as well as the vegetarian population. Here are some suggestions for fast, lower-budget vegan menu items.

Entrées

Three-Bean Tamale Pie:

Alternate three types of cooked beans with salsa, top with prepared vegan cornbread mix, and bake. If cornbread is usually prepared with dairy and/or eggs, substitute seasoned mashed potatoes. (The seasoning could include dried parsley, ground black or white pepper, and garlic powder.)

Chili Sauté:

Add chopped bell peppers, onions, and garlic to three- or four-bean chili, and sauté or bake. Serve over steamed rice, vegetarian cornbread, or mashed potatoes.

Veggie Shepherd's Pie:

Top vegetable stew– a mixture of carrots, celery, onions, and mushrooms or mixed vegetables combined with cooked beans–with prepared mashed potatoes and bake.

Pasta Bake:

Combine cooked pasta with tomato sauce, chopped tomatoes, and diced mushrooms. Season with ground basil and oregano and bake.

Lentil Stew:

Combine cooked lentils with cooked, quartered steamed potatoes; cooked carrot slices; diced celery; and chopped tomatoes. Season with pepper and dill, and simmer until ready to serve.

Veggie-Size:

Serve veggie burgers topped with vegetarian chili and chopped veggies. Serve on a hamburger bun or toasted bread.

Burrito Wrap:

Fill a large tortilla with mashed beans, sliced chilies, chopped tomatoes or salsa, and sliced onions. Heat in the oven or microwave and serve hot.

Side Dishes

Garlic Mashed Potatoes:

Prepare mashed potato mix with hot water and vegan margarine, which contains no dairy ingredients. Add granulated garlic.

Herbed Potatoes:

Coat small, cooked potatoes with vegetable oil spray. Toss with dried herbs, and bake until crisp.

Refried Beans:

Mash cooked pinto or black beans with sautéed onions and bell peppers. Steam or bake to heat.

O'Brien Potatoes:

Add diced peppers, chopped onions, and cut corn to hash browns. Bake to heat.

Rice Pilaf:

Sauté cooked rice in a small amount of vegetable oil or steam in vegetable broth or water. (You can use water that has been drained from cooked vegetables.) Garnish with cooked peas, carrots, mushrooms, and chopped nuts.

Desserts

Peach or Cherry Cobbler:

Top frozen or canned pie filling with strips of vegan pie crust, chopped nuts, and raisins, and bake.

Baked Apple:

Stuff cored apples with raisins and ground cinnamon. Sweeten with orange juice concentrate, and bake.

Apple Bread Pudding:

Combine shredded rolls and bread with apple pie filling, and bake. (Use applesauce for additional moisture.)

Fruit Compote:

Stew dried fruit (such as raisins, apricots, prunes, and apples) with peeled, sliced apples and pears. Season with cinnamon, mace, and lemon zest. Serve hot or chilled.

Think Versatility

Vegetarian ingredients are versatile and adapt easily to different dishes. Canned or cooked lentils can be mashed with stewed eggplant or zucchini, fresh tomatoes, onions, and garlic and then used as a sandwich filling. Tomato salsa can be a salad dressing, the flavoring for soup, and an ingredient in casseroles. Orange or apple juice concentrate can flavor a salad dressing or marinade, replace sugar in baking recipes, or add ‘zip' to a sweet-and-sour sauce. Cooked black beans can be tossed in salads, simmered in soups, baked into breads, or smashed into spreads, or they can stand on their own, garnished with sliced onions.

Think Efficiency

Develop time-saving production techniques for preparing vegetarian and non-vegetarian menu items. For example, preparing steamed vegetables with nonhydrogenated vegan margarine rather than butter or using vegetable stock or base rather than meat stock means making only one batch for everyone. Purchase canned vegetarian refried beans (for the same price as the non-vegetarian variety), canned fruit packed in juice or water, and frozen fruit processed without sugar.

Sysco food service, a national purveyor, carries the Moonrose line of vegetarian products. Many of these items are helpful for vegetarian quantity feeding, including soy pasta and several veggie meats that can be used for vegan meatballs, ‘steaks,' and chops.