When it’s chilly outside, these students at Rosa Taylor Elementary School know exactly how to warm up with beef soup.

Multi functional comfort food. And while district nutritionalists can appreciate that about beef soup, they’re more concerned with one thing while preparing the lunch at the district kitchen; health.

“One of the things i like about soup is whatever nutrients might be released from a vegetable during cooking, it’s still in that water and so you’re not going to lose anything”, says Dalia Kinsey, a registered dietitian with the Bibb County School District.

Dalia Kinsey oversees nutrition for Bibb County students and she says that soups are a great way to pack in the vegetables.

Nat sound from district kitchen: after he adds in all the tomatoes, the paste and the sauce, we will also add 10 pounds of okra.

“This is giving them a different option texture wise and flavor wise. So if the kid maybe doesn’t like the flavor of okra, when it’s in the soup it’s going to take on the flavor of all the vegetables and the beef and some people like that more than just okra”, says Kinsey.

Kinsey says comfort foods likes soup are a great way to up the nutrition ante.

“There’s a lot of kids that wouldn’t eat steamed carrots but maybe would eat carrots if they were part of another dish or part of a soup so we’re always looking for ways to add vegetables to other dishes”, says Kinsey.

Without skimping on the comfort.

“I think just in our mind, winter and soup all goes together and people generally do like warm things and find them more comforting”, says Kinsey.

Kinsey says there are different types of soups on the menu during the winter months. To find out what’s being served in your child’s lunchroom, head on over to the Bibb County School District’s website.