The Santa Ana Unified School District is working to serve more meals from scratch — everything from chicken alfredo to birria.

Santa Ana High School started last winter and now serves scratch-made meals three to four times a week, with the goal to make them an everyday thing.

NBC Los Angeles visited the school’s cafeteria on Friday, when birria was being prepared and served.

“Right now, we’re taking off all the gummy meat,” Nadine Nunez, part of the nutrition staff at Santa Ana High, told NBCLA. “I say gummy meat because it’s not good when you chew it.”

Peppers and spices were blended before getting added to the meat, which cooks low and slow until the birria is ready for the lunch rush.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it to see the kids happy,” Nunez said.

This is all part of a bigger shift across the SAUSD, which started its scratch-cooking initiative in 2021.

“We’re going from processed, ultra-processed, to things that are processed just in-house: fresh, simple ingredients,” said Jacob Roojas, the district’s coordinator of culinary.

Roojas is one of two chefs hired by the district. He, along with two nutritionists, develop the recipes, and so far, he says they’ve rolled out birria, tinga, carnitas, fettucini alfredo and fresh baked bread.

But the goal goes beyond what is being made in the kitchen. The district is also working with local farms to get more fresh produce on students’ trays.

“Keeping it locals means we also know where the stuff comes from,” said Moises Munoz, coordinator of the Farm to School program for the district.

Munoz helps with connecting the district with local farms and says about 5% of the district’s vegetables are locally grown.

According to district leaders, good school meals matter even more now as some families struggle with the cost of food and changes to food assistance programs.

“Parents are calling me and saying, ‘We’re so glad that the meals you are making are improving because we are telling our kids to eat the meals because we can’t afford it,'” SAUSD director of nutrition services Josh Goddard said.

The staff at Santa Ana High says a little more work in the kitchen means putting a meal in front of students they can feel good about serving.

“We love our kids,” Nunez said.