School Breakfast Pizza – Should These Be In Cafeterias?
The school breakfast pizza is becoming a thing in some cafeterias. Should your district add one to the menu? Can you pack one to go?
As summer vacation slowly comes to its sad end, families are gearing up to get their children ready for the new school year. School clothes, school supplies, and lunch boxes are sure to be some of the big-ticket items leaving retail stores in droves. The question then becomes, do students go to school with a full belly, ready to take on the school world, or do they get to campus early enough to eat breakfast there? Either way, the next question is what do they put in their stomachs? A bowl of cereal or a school breakfast pizza?
WHAT IS A SCHOOL BREAKFAST PIZZA?
There are a number of different variations of school breakfast pizzas, but in general, they are exactly like a pizza you would get for dinners or big birthday parties. Instead of your traditional pizza toppings such as pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, and peppers, a school breakfast pizzas fixings include eggs, bacon, sausage, and cheese. Does this sound tempting? Wait, there is more to a school breakfast pizza than you may think. Much, much more.
YES, SOME SCHOOL DISTRICTS OFFER SCHOOL BREAKFAST PIZZA
So, now that you know exactly what a school breakfast pizza is, you may be wondering if your school district has this on its menu. The answer to that is a resounding…maybe. It all boils down to individual school districts, though it could also be depending on the state you live in. Some states appear to be more health conscious than others, so a school breakfast pizza may be the last thing they would serve.
One school district, the Pascagoula-Gautier School District in Pascagoula, Mississippi, is one that proudly serves a school breakfast pizza. Their child nutrition department has even taken to Facebook to promote their breakfast pizza. They describe it as a nice slice of pizza pie that comes with sausage, bacon, eggs (scrambled), and cheese, all layered on a whole grain crust. It is on their menu every Thursday.
The Los Angeles School District is another one that hands out school breakfast pizza. This one appears to be on a regular slice of pizza (with red sauce) that also has scrambled egg, sausage, and cheese on top. From that perspective, they are playing a bit fast and loose with the breakfast part of things.
IT’S A FREE FOR ALL
If you happen to live in the state of California and have school-aged children, you should know that beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, the state of California will become the very first state across the nation to offer free meals for students, regardless of family income, for both breakfast and lunch.
This means if your child’s school is offering a school breakfast pizza, they can snag one in the mornings for free. Another thing that will make the slice of breakfast pizza go down easy is the new California law that introduces later school start times for middle school and high school students. California law now says that middle schoolers cannot start school before 8 a.m. while high school students can no longer get into class before 8:30 a.m. This means your children will have more time to enjoy their breakfast pizza, providing their school serves it.
WHAT IF…?
Okay, so what if your children’s school doesn’t offer a school breakfast pizza but for some crazy reason, a breakfast pizza was one meal they simply had to try? There are two ways you can go about this. The first is heading to the grocery store and buying one or two to try. The second is actually making one yourself from scratch. Let’s talk about the first option first.
The grocery stores (when in stock) have a number of different breakfast pizza pies for sale. One of the bigger names is DiGiorno, a company well-known for its frozen dinner pizzas. As far as the school breakfast pizza menu goes, DiGiorno serves up three different options. The first is what they call their eggs benedict-inspired breakfast pizza. With this, they serve eggs, ham, and cheese on a croissant crust. The second option is their sausage and gravy breakfast pizza. This flaky croissant crust is topped with sausage, gravy-style sauce, mozzarella, and cheddar cheeses. The third type of breakfast pizza DiGiorno offers is their Cinnamon Roll pizza. This time their croissant pizza crust is topped with cinnamon cream sauce, cream cheese crumbles, and churro pieces.
DiGiorno is not the only frozen school breakfast pizza you will find in the frozen section. Tony’s is another brand that offers up a nice pie that has turkey sausage and country gravy as toppings. If frozen isn’t how you want to introduce your kids to a breakfast pizza, then perhaps you want to make one yourself.
As you can see, putting one of these breakfast pizzas can be as simple or as intricate as you want it to be. You can start off with a pizza crust you find in the grocery store where you find Pillsbury biscuits or croissants. From there, it all comes down to what you wish to put on top of the breakfast pizza, which can be limitless.
Figure out what type of sauce you want to have on top. A sweet sauce, a savory sauce, or even a gravy? Once you decide that, you can go any way you want. If you are going the sweet route, you may want to consider apples, berries, honey, yogurt, bananas, or even maple syrup as toppings. For the savory flavors, you may want to consider bacon, sausage, eggs, potatoes, avocados, or even cauliflower and broccoli. If you want to add some kick to your school breakfast pizza as we know some of you out there love to splash a little tabasco on your eggs, you can also include chipotle chiles, chile flakes, jalapeños, and even wasabi.
The choices are endless and only limited by your imagination. But as these are meant for your children’s breakfast before they head off to school, you’ll probably have to cater to their wants and desires. You may also have to look at just how healthy these breakfast pizzas are, especially if you are opting for one of the frozen delights.
JUST HOW HEALTHY IS A SCHOOL BREAKFAST PIZZA?
As with any frozen meal you get in the grocery store, nutrition many times is secondary. Typically, a frozen meal is built for comfort and speed. So, when perusing the frozen aisle for a tasty school breakfast pizza, try to consider the health factor.
Now, if you are putting one together from scratch, you can make your breakfast pizza as healthy as you want. From the type of crust you use to the toppings you add, your breakfast pizza can be a much healthier choice than say, a bowl of sugary sweet cereal, or pancakes layered in syrup. The choice is yours, you can easily make the healthy one.
FINALLY
We know, too many of you, the idea of putting scrambled eggs on a pizza crust is one horrific thought. We, traditionalists, like our pizzas with a healthy dose of red sauce, a thick and chewy layer of cheese, and traditional toppings such as pepperoni and mushrooms. Who doesn’t like a full-on combination pizza?
But there are some who do like having the option of a breakfast pizza and kids may certainly take to them. So, does your child’s school district serve school breakfast pizza? If so, what type do they serve? Do your kids like the idea of scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage with creamy gravy sauce? Let us know what you think about school breakfast pizza in general.
