Nutritious Meals For Children and
Adults In Day Care Settings

Goal of CACFP
Afterschool “At-Risk” Program
• To meet the nutritional needs of enrolled participants
• To promote healthy eating behaviors
• To improve the quality of after school programs

• At-Risk Snack
• At-Risk Supper

At-Risk Snack —anytime after the school day ends, and anytime on weekends and holidays during the school year.
At-Risk Supper —anytime after the school day ends, and anytime on weekends and holidays during the school year.
**Must have 2 1/2 hours in between start times of the snack and supper if offering both

• Maximum of:
– 1 At-Risk Snack and
– 1 At-Risk Supper per day for each participant
Note: May always serve more meals or seconds, but reimbursement is limited to number of meals/snacks maximums for each program.

Must fulfill requirements of USDA Meal
Patterns for the age group being served

Food Crediting
Standard Reference Tool
• Official reference manual to determine the number of servings of meal pattern components in foods as purchased
• ODE uses to determine creditable amount of meal pattern component foods in recipes

Children
1-2 years
3-5 years
6-12 years
Children 12-18 use the 6-12 age group

1 - 2 years
3 - 5 years
6 - 12 years
(Handout)

Child & Adult Meal Patterns:
Made up of four components:
•Fluid Milk
•Meat/
Meat Alternates
•Grains/Breads
•Vegetables/Fruits

Minimum portion sizes are required for each age group

ACTIVITY: CACFP Meal Patterns
Review CACFP
Meal Patterns for Children in
“Big Red,”
Chapter 8, pg. 8.7
“(Find the portion size for…..???”)

Foods that may be counted toward meeting meal pattern requirements
Big Red, Chapter 8
• Non-Credible Foods List Exhibit
23.26
(Handout)

• Required component for Supper Meals
• May be one of two required components for Snacks

Accompaniment to meal
(rolls, crackers, etc.)
Integral part of main dish
(pizza, spaghetti , sandwich, etc.)
Side dish
(rice, noodles, etc.)

( Big Red, Chapter 8)
All Grain/Bread foods must be whole grain or made from enriched grain flour
First ingredient on label must state
“enriched” or indicate whole grain

Some items may only be served for Snacks
– Toaster
Pastries
– Coffee Cake
– Granola Bars
– Doughnuts
– Fruit Turnovers
– Grain Fruit Bars
– Sweet Rolls
– Cookies
– Brownies
– Cakes
– Dessert Pies
No more than twice per week for Snacks

“Easy to Use”
Grains and Breads
Chart
(Refer to
Handout in
Packet)

ACTIVITY: Find the serving size
1. How many saltine crackers would you serve with a bowl of chili in a reimbursable Supper for
6-18 year olds?
2. What is the serving size for noodles for 6-18 year olds for Supper?
3. How many graham crackers would you serve an 8 year old for a reimbursable Snack?

Component: Meat/Meat Alternates
• Required for Supper Meals
• Optional for Snacks
Meats:
Meat, Poultry or Fish
Meat Alternates:
Cooked dry beans/peas/lentils
Cheese
Cottage Cheese
Eggs
Nuts & Seeds
Peanut Butter
Yogurt
Alternate Protein Products (APP)

Food Rules: Meat/Meat Alternates
• Serving sizes are based on cooked lean meat without bones.
• Cooked dry beans/peas/lentils may fulfill the M/MA component requirement OR the vegetable/fruit component requirement, but not both components in the same meal.
• Nuts or seeds may fulfill only ½ of
M/MA serving size requirement.

Alternate Protein Products (APP’s)
Definition: Commercially produced non-meat items that can be credited as Meat/Meat
Alternates
Currently: Short list of approved products listed Big Red, Exhibit 23.1
Future: ODE will add products as manufacturers submit qualifying information
(Refer to Exhibit 23.1)

Non-Creditable
Meat/Meat Alternates
• Game meats, home-slaughtered meat, and non-commercially caught fish are not allowed.
• Bacon is not creditable.
• Canned cheese sauce or powdered cheese sauce mix are not creditable.
• Cream cheese is not creditable.
(Refer to Exhibit 23.26)

Component: Vegetables/Fruits
• Required for Supper meals
• May be one of two required components for Snacks

Food Rules: Vegetables/Fruits
• Two different servings of vegetables and/or fruits and/or 100% juice required for Supper meals.
• Mixed fruits or vegetables (fruit cocktail, peas & carrots, etc) count as one item.

Food Rules: Vegetables/Fruits
• Fresh, canned, or frozen fruits or vegetables may be served.
• Cooked vegetables are drained before
measuring.
• Canned or frozen, thawed fruit is
measured with it’s liquid.
• At least 1/8 cup (2 Tbsp) of vegetable or fruit must be served to count toward the meal pattern requirement.

Food Rules: Vegetable/Fruit Juices
• Juice may not fulfill more than half the V/F meal pattern requirement for Supper meals
• Juices must be pasteurized.
• Juice cannot be served for Snacks when milk is the only other component served.

Non-Creditable
Vegetables/Fruits
• Home canned products are not creditable for health and safety reasons.
• It is impractical to serve only raisins or other dried fruit to meet the vegetable/fruit requirement.
(Refer to Exhibit 23.26)

• Required for Supper meals for children
• May be one of two required components for Snacks

• Must be pasteurized, fortified with
A&D vitamins, meet State standards for fluid milk.
• Skim, 1%, 2% or whole milk allowed.
• Flavored, lactose-reduced, buttermilk, and acidified milk allowed.

• Milk may not be served for Snacks when juice is the only other component served.
• Milk used in recipes, cooked cereals, puddings, soups, etc. is not creditable.
• Raw (unpasteurized) milk is not allowed.
(Refer to Exhibit 23.26)

How do you assure minimum portion sizes are served?
• Refer to the USDA
Food Buying Guide to determine how many portions are in a purchase unit
• Refer to the
Easy to Use Grains &
Breads Chart in your packet

Meal Service Styles
• Restaurant Style
• Family Style
• Combination Restaurant/Family
Style
• Cafeteria Style
(Refer to Big Red, Page 8.22)

Meal Service Styles, cont’d
Restaurant Style
All components portioned and served together on plate/cup for individual participants.

Meal Service Styles, cont’d
Family Style
All components are placed on table in communal serving dishes and participants serve themselves. Participants must be able to serve themselves with minimal help from
supervising adults.
Enough food must be on the table or “readily available” to give every participant and all adults eating at the table full portions of all meal components. This rule applies ONLY to
Family Style Meal Service.
Supervising adults must actively encourage children to take full servings of all components.

Meal Service Styles, cont’d
Combination
Restaurant/Family Style
Full portions of some foods are served on each child’s plate/cup and some foods are placed on the table in communal serving dishes.
All foods must be served to participants at the same time – cannot serve child main dish and milk, then bring serving dishes with vegetable, fruit and bread to the table ten minutes later.

Meal Service Styles, cont’d
Cafeteria Style
Common in school settings where children select food from a cafeteria line.
Also common in some adult day care programs
Participants must take at least the minimum required portion of all meal pattern components before leaving the line because no food is available at the dining table.
Program staff must monitor the end of the line to insure reimbursable meals are taken.

Meal Service Styles
• Restaurant Style
All components portioned and served together on plate/cup for individual participants.
• Family Style
All components are placed on table in communal serving dishes and participants serve themselves.
• Combination Restaurant/Family Style
Full portions of some items are served on plate to each participant with some foods placed on the table in communal serving dishes.
• Cafeteria Style
Participants select food from a cafeteria line. No food is served at the dining table.

• Meal counts must be taken and recorded at the “point-of-service”
• Point-of-service means when the participant has received a reimbursable meal in a cafeteria line, or when the participant is seated at the dining table with the complete meal set on the table

• Both the Actual Count method and
Head Count method require a Point-ofservice meal count
• Participants who come to the table with the intention of eating and are served a reimbursable meal may be included in the meal count, even if they do not eat.

The following meal count methods are not acceptable:
• Counting the number of meals sent by the kitchen
• Counting the number of leftovers
• Counting trays or plates
• Using attendance or “teachers’ memory”