The introduction of free school meals for all Reception, Year One and Year Two pupils from September means 2,000 extra meals will be cooked every day.
Councillor Angela Douglas, cabinet member for Children and Young People, says: “Our policy of buying all of our ingredients from local suppliers ensures that local farmers and local businesses benefit from the money we spend. That’s good news for the North’s economy.
“From September, we are expecting to cook an extra 2,000 meals every day, and virtually all of the raw ingredients for those meals will come from local suppliers.
“This means that not only will children be benefiting from a freshly-cooked and nutritiously-balanced meal every day, but the local economy will directly benefit, too.
“It’s true that we could probably make our meals more cheaply if we used processed, pre-prepared foods from some of the national industrial food suppliers, but that’s not the kind of food we want to serve to our children - and it’s not the sort of meals that their parents would want them to have.
“By keeping it local, we can guarantee better quality, help reduce unnecessary food miles, reduce harmful CO2 emissions and help the local economy.”
The council expects to spend more than £2m on raw ingredients in the coming year and almost all of it will be spent with businesses in the region.
The introduction of Universal Infant Free School Meals also means that dozens of new kitchen workers are being recruited to cope with the task of preparing those extra meals a day.
Work is already underway on kitchen improvements in schools across Gateshead to cope with the expected increase in demand.
Schools were assessed during the spring and where necessary a range of improvements including new ovens, extractor hoods and other equipment are being installed. Work will continue throughout the school summer holidays in readiness for the start of the new academic year.
Some £375,000 of government funding has been secured to pay for the improvements.