Otter Food Services

08/27/2026

School meals are free for all students this year, but filling out a meal application is still vital for our community.

Even though every student eats for free, our school district relies on these applications to secure essential state and federal funding. When eligible families apply, it directly supports our local programs and unlocks additional benefits for students.

Please take a moment to look at the household income guidelines to see if your family qualifies:
https://education.mn.gov/mdeprod/idcplg?IdcService=GET_FILE&Rendition=primary&RevisionSelectionMethod=latestReleased&dDocName=056144

If your family fits the guidelines, please consider applying online today by visiting foodservices.fergusotters.org and clicking the meal application button. It only takes a minute of your time.

We need your help to make sure every family in our district sees this. Please like, comment, and share this post to help us spread the word!

08/20/2026

Chef Otto has been so busy making all of these different foods they forget to point out all the things we make ourselves. Actually, it's enough things, Chef probably can't name them all. What to do?

Introducing your sign that the item served is scratch made in house. This icon will be appearing on the displays in the RCFC, on the serving lines at REC as well as the elementary schools and eventually moving to the menus.

Elementary students will know when it's ours and Secondary students will have what they need to know to make an informed choice.

Yet another reminder that we are not your typical school lunch!

08/20/2026

I wish we had smell-a-vision. Two 25 # inside rounds roasted slow and low all day. Half will be for beef deli sandwiches and the other half for hot beef commercials. You can have so many more options with food when you do things yourself. By yourself, I mean by my highly talented team!

08/20/2026

Scratch made tandoori chicken today. It's what we use to make our Butter Chicken recipe.

08/19/2026

Sure, we could try to buy frozen in a box pork in pulled, carnitas, pork nuggets and pork verde. Or butter chicken or all our chicken in general. Or we could buy premade Philly cheese steak, stir fry beef, braised beef or carne colorado.

The truth is that just isn't our style. And half of that simply isn't available to buy premade. So we make it all ourselves. This week we are processing nearly 600 pounds of fresh raw meats into our needed items. It's hard work but we feel the results are worth it. How about you?

08/14/2026

Step five of increasing food safety at home is properly thawing frozen foods. This and all 7 of our Food Safety at Home tips can be found at foodservices.fergusotters.org click on the button that fits.

08/14/2026

Have you checked out the September menu yet? This might be helpful 🤣 Three Cheese Cavatappi

08/13/2026

08/13/2026

It can be really difficult pulling off our magic when we are short handed. Please consider subbing for us or for any of the other wonderful programs here. For more info, see below!

08/12/2026

🎉 10 WEEKS. 910 registered children. 51,180 meals served.

🎉Today is officially a wrap, and our hearts are completely full!

On top of those tens of thousands of meals, we also distributed hundreds and hundreds of pounds of fresh carrots, russet potatoes, zucchini, sweet potatoes, and corn on the cob to our amazing community.

We are incredibly grateful to be in a position to help and support our local families. Thank you to every volunteer, staff member, and supporter who made this massive effort possible.

It’s a great day to be an Otter! 🦦❤️ Every child fed, every family supported—we did this together!