Daycare Food Menu Meal Planning Guide
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Planning nutritious meals that meet food program requirements and the kids will actually eat can be a daunting task. Check out this daycare food menu meal planning guide for help! If you’re wondering about the child and adult care food program for daycare providers, check this out.
Check out this daycare food menu meal planning guide for more ideas on how to plan out your menus well. These resources are going to be a great help to you! And if you want to buy menus already planned out, check out Daycare Time Solutions for monthly menu plans, click on shop all and menu plans for menus that meet food program requirements. Or if you want a sheet with a sample week and shopping list to get you started, check out this planning pack.
The biggest complaint I hear about meal planning is that people are sick of wasting food the kids won’t eat. Of course, there will always be the ultimate picky eater and there’s not a lot we can do about that except be patient and keep trying. But we can plan a great menu that most of our kids will learn to love to eat.
Kids may be used to McDonald’s happy meals and lunchables so it make take a little time to convert them to a fairly healthy eater, but don’t give up hope! If you want a ton of idea for how to help your family and daycare kids learn to like healthy food, check this out.
Daycare menu
Kids like simple food. They’d rather have a cheese stick than a gourmet lasagna. Remember when planning meals, finger foods and simple foods are best. Items like garlic butter pasta, mac and cheese, or just a simple pasta with a meat and a vegetable are kid’s favorites. You can get kids to try a lot of new things if you put them on a pizza.
Some favorites at Little Sprouts are:
- cheese and crackers,
- cheese quesadillas,
- ham sandwiches,
- meatballs with a piece of bread or garlic butter pasta
- anything on pasta,
- chicken and rice,
- hot pockets,
- empanadas,
- tuna casserole,
- scrambled cheesy eggs,
- cottage cheese
I do a lot of raw sides, like apple slices, bananas, oranges, watermelon, peaches, carrot sticks (microwave for one or two minutes for really young eaters), broccoli, cauliflower, sauted cabbage, cucumber slices, roasted asparagus, and things like that.
If you keep introducing these foods to kids and don’t get emotional about it, over time when they see you eating them, they will want to try them. There are more ways you can encourage kids to try new foods such as letting them help prepare them and more.
The food program or CACFP has requirements for each meal. Those include:
Breakfast
- Fluid milk
- Fruit or vegetable
- Bread (protein is allowed to be substituted for bread up to 3 days a week)
Lunch
- Fluid milk
- Fruit or vegetable
- Another vegetable
- Meat
- Bread
Snacks
Choose any two
- Milk
- Meat
- Bread
- Fruit or vegetable
The food program has other requirements as well. And remember to check this out for how to navigate CN labels on processed foods.
Some favorite breakfasts here are cereal with fruit and milk, hot cereal like cream of wheat with fruit and milk, sausage biscuits and fruit and milk, pancakes with fruit and milk, toast with fruit and milk, banana bread with fruit and milk and other meals like that.
Proteins could be:
- Sausage
- Ham
- Cheese sticks
- Cottage cheese
- Eggs
- Peanut butter
Breads could be:
- Cereal hot or cold
- Toast
- Biscuits
- Pancakes
- Waffles
- Muffins
- Sweet bread
- English muffins
- Bagels
- Breakfast pizza (this could have veggies on it too)
Obviously, there are others, but these are some ideas to spark your thought process. And check out these cheap breakfast ideas for daycare too.
For lunch some of our favorites are cheese quesadillas with two veggies and milk, taco soup with a side fruit and milk, ham and cheese sandwiches with two veggies and milk, and cheese and crackers with two veggies and milk.
Fluid milk, as always has to be fluid milk.
Proteins could be:
- Nuts
- Beans
- Cheese sliced
- Cheese sticks
- Chicken
- Fish
- Cottage cheese
- Eggs
- Ham
- Turkey
- Beef
- Pork
- Nut butters
Breads could be:
- Rice
- Cereal
- Crackers
- Pasta
- Pancakes
- Biscuits
- Muffins
- Sweet Breads
- Waffles
- Buns
- Bread
- English muffins
- Bagels
- Tortillas
- Pita
- Rolls
Snacks require that you just pick two categories. Some of our favorite snacks are cheese and crackers, peanut butter sandwiches, crackers and fruit, pretzels and fruit and muffins and cheese sticks.
Bread could be:
- Pretzels
- Crackers
- Cereal
- Muffins
- Toast
- Bread
Protein could be:
- Cheese slices
- Cheese sticks
- Nuts
- Peanut butter
- Ham
- Yogurt
- Cottage cheese
There are such a range of choices available for fruits and vegetables. Use your imagination and change it up sometimes. You’ll enjoy serving and eating so much more if you change it up a bit sometimes.
Fruit for CACFP
- Raisins
- Bananas
- Apples
- Oranges
- Watermelon
- Cantaloupe
- Cherries
- Grapes
- Applesauce
- Berries such as blueberries, strawberries and so on
- Kiwi
- Peaches
- Tangerines
- Apricots
- Pineapple
- Papaya
- Pears
- Grapefruit
Vegetables for CACFP
- Butternut squash
- Zunnini
- Peas
- Corn
- Green beans
- Beans
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Brussel sprouts
- Cabbage
- Sweet potatoes
- Tomatoes
- Peppers
- Cucumbers
- Celery
- Lettuce
- Kale
- Spinach
- Mushrooms
Obviously, these are not an exhaustive list. But just inspiration to give you some ideas of some things you might not have been using that would be healthy, and easy to serve that kids might like. My kids love a great variety of foods, and the more I expose them to new things, the more they will try.
Sample daycare menu
This sample daycare menu can help you come up with ideas of your own, or you can click on the link at the bottom and print it out and use it as is.
Click here for:
Breakfast
- 1% milk
- Oatmeal
- Apple
Lunch
- 1% milk
- Hot turkey sandwich on whole-wheat bread
- Green beans
- Pears
Snack
- Strawberries
- Vanilla yogurt
Breakfast
- 1% milk
- Whole-wheat bagel
- Blueberries
Lunch
- 1% milk
- Chicken Nuggets, homemade
- Brown rice
- Garden salad
- Cantaloupe
Snack
- Broccoli florets
- Cottage cheese
Breakfast
- 1% milk
- Waffles
- Peaches
Lunch
- 1% milk
- Roast beef
- Butternut squash
- Fresh pear slices
- Crackers
Snack
- Pretzels
- Cheddar cheese cubes
Breakfast
- 1% milk
- Wheat Chex
- Strawberries
Lunch
- 1% milk
- Bean chili
- Whole-corn chips
- Sautéed carrots
Snack
- Cucumber slices
- Whole-grain crackers
Breakfast
- 1% milk
- Scrambled egg
- Sweet potato hash
Lunch
- 1% milk
- Roast pork
- Corn bread
- Roasted red potatoes
- Corn
Snack
- Triscuits
- Cheddar cheese
Breakfast
- 1% milk
- Oatmeal
- Orange slices
Lunch
- 1% milk
- Egg salad on whole-grain wrap
- Cumber salad
- Cherry tomatoes
Snack
- Apple slices
- Peanut butter
Breakfast
- 1% milk
- Scrambled eggs with cheese
- Banana
Lunch
- 1% milk
- Baked fish
- Whole-wheat noodles
- Steamed broccoli
- Carrot sticks
Snack
- Carrot sticks
- Hummus
Breakfast
- 1% milk
- Cream of Wheat
- Banana
Lunch
- 1% milk
- Chicken stir fry with snow peas and cabbage
- Brown rice
- Oranges
Snack
- 1% milk
- Soft pretzel
Breakfast
- 1% milk
- Bean burrito
- Applesauce
Lunch
- 1 % milk
- Meatballs
- Spinach
- Carrots
- English muffin
Snack
- Pineapple cubes
- Yogurt
Breakfast
- 1% milk
- Pancakes
- Mixed berries
Lunch
- 1% milk
- Hamburger
- Bun
- Strawberries
- Beets
Snack
- Peanut Butter
- Crackers
Breakfast
- 1 % milk
- Whole grain waffles
- Bananas
Breakfast
- 1% milk
- Ham
- Hashbrowns
Lunch
- 1% milk
- Cheese quesadilla
- Tortilla
- Applesauce
- Cucumber slices
Snack
- Bread
- Zucchini
Breakfast
- 1% milk
- Oatmeal
- Apples
Lunch
- 1% milk
- Ham and Cheese hot pocket
- Dough
- Lettuce
- Grapes
Snack
- Crackers
- Raisins
Breakfast
- 1% milk
- Sausage biscuit
- Watermelon
Lunch
- 1% milk
- Cheese pizza
- Pizza crust
- Cantaloupe
- Pickles
Snack
- Applesauce
- Cheese stick
Breakfast
- 1% milk
- French toast
- Banana
Lunch
- 1% milk
- Beef nachos
- Tortilla chips
- Tomatoes
- Strawberries
Snack
- Pretzels
- Carrot sticks
Breakfast
- 1% milk
- Cereal
- Bananas
Lunch
- 1% milk
- Mac and cheese
- Pasta
- Corn
- Green beans
Snack
- Yogurt
- Blueberries
Free printable sample menu pdf
Little sprouts learning sample menu
My hope is that this menu set will be a great help to you and you will be able to use and enjoy it with your kids.
For more daycare meal ideas, check these out:
I see that some meals don’t have a fruit
Component . Breakfast and lunch must have them in the food program correct?
For the CACFP breakfast you can choose a fruit or a vegetable and for lunch it can be one of each or two veggies.