Menus and Variety

Plan your menu ahead of time to ensure nutritional quality and variety.

The best practices (per GO NAPSACC) and the related resources in this section focus on planning menus in advance that promote balanced, nutritious meals and snacks over the course of a week. Making sure you include a variety of foods can also help children get different nutrients and try new foods. If you plan for foods that are seasonally available, this may help save money. 

Best Practices

The resources in this category are the same for the following two GO NAPSACC best practice goals:

  • "The program’s menu cycle is 3 weeks long or longer and changes with the season."
  • "Weekly menus always include a variety of healthy foods."

Resources

CACFP 6-Week Sample Menu

Summary: 6-week sample menu cycle, fulfilling CACFP regulations.

Source: Michigan Department of Health and Human Services

CACFP Training Tools

Summary: Training materials for the Child and Adult Care Food Program. Includes menu planners for breakfast, snack, infants, and toddlers.

Source: United States Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service

Child Nutrition Recipe Box

Summary: USDA standardized recipes for child nutrition.

Source: United States Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service

Education and Training Resources

Summary: In-person, virtual, and on-demand training courses and educational material related to CACFP meal patterns are available for professional development credit. Registration is free.

Source: Institute of Child Nutrition

Farm to School Directory

Summary: Search tool that allows child care providers to find local produce suppliers.

Source: Taste the Local Difference

Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs

Summary: Available in three formats: an interactive web-based tool, a mobile app, or a printable document. It makes it easy to search and navigate food lists for programs and buy the right amount of food. It also determines the specific contribution each food makes toward the meal pattern requirements. In both the web-based tool and the mobile app, a profile can be created to save food items to a favorites list.

Source: United States Department of Agriculture

Go Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (NAPSACC) Bilingual Self-Assessments

Summary: Free for providers. Contacting a consultant and completing the online version of the social emotional assessment opens a suite of planning, learning, professional development, and implementation tools to understand further what the best practices are and how to make them happen in your child care.

Source: Go Nutritional and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (Go NAPSACC)

Local Food for Little Eaters - A Purchasing Toolbox for the Child & Adult Care Food Program

Summary: This toolkit is designed to help early care providers purchase local food for their programs. It gives step-by-step instructions for purchasing from a variety of local food sources. The instructions include successful strategies and examples of how early childhood programs nationwide are purchasing local food.

Source: Michigan State University - Center for Regional Food Systems

Michigan Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) Network

Summary: Search tool that allows child care providers to find local produce suppliers.

Source: Michigan CSA Network

Model Policies for Creating a Healthy Nutrition and Physical Activity Environment in Child Care Settings

Summary: This nutrition toolkit describes model policies and provides tips to on how to fulfill them.

Source: Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, Bureau of Community Food and Nutrition Assistance

Nutrition and Wellness Tips for Young Children

Summary: Collection of tip sheets for nutrition and physical activity. Each tip sheet focuses on a specific topic and includes a practical application section to help apply the tips to a child care program for children ages 2 through 5 years old. See pages 5-49.

Source: United States Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service

Seasonal Produce Guide

Summary: See what produce is available in spring, summer, fall, and winter. Clicking on each item will take you to further information and educational resources about it.

Source: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – Education, United States Department of Agriculture