Daycare menu template: CACFP weekly planner

What a CACFP menu has to show

A CACFP menu is built from five components: milk, meat or meat alternate, vegetables, fruits and grains. Breakfast needs three of them (milk, a vegetable or fruit, and a grain). Lunch and supper need all five. A snack needs any two. The minimum portion for each one depends on the child's age band, which is why the planner asks for the age group first and shows the minimum beside every line.

The point of checking the menu before you cook it is money. A meal that is missing a required component is not a reimbursable meal, and at this year's free-category lunch rate for centers of $4.76 that adds up quickly across a room. The full rate tables live in our guide to CACFP reimbursement rates, and whether the paperwork is worth it for your program is weighed up in CACFP vs private-pay food.

Minimum quantities from 7 CFR 226.20, Table 3. Ages 13-18 match the 6-12 column. Fetched 2026-10-18.

How to use this planner

1. Pick the age group. Portions and the milk rule change with it. In a mixed-age room, each child still needs at least the minimum for their own age.
2. Work through one day at a time. Type the food for each component. Tick Whole grain-rich on any grain that qualifies and 100% juice on any juice.
3. Clear the flags. Each meal shows what it is missing. The day tabs count open problems so you can see which day still needs work.
4. Print the week or copy it. Print gives one page with the full week. Copy pastes plain text into a parent email, your app or the parent handbook section on meals.

The rules that trip up real menus

Milk changed this year. A final rule that took effect June 8, 2026 lets programs serve whole and 2% milk to children two and older. One-year-olds still get unflavored whole milk. Children two through five still get unflavored milk only, but any fat level now counts. Flavored milk stays limited to age six and up. When we checked on October 18, 2026, USDA's own breakfast pattern page still carried the older low-fat wording, so go by the regulation text.

Whole grain-rich, once a day. At least one grain served across the day's meals and snacks has to be whole grain-rich. Grain-based desserts never count toward the grain component.

Juice, once a day. Full-strength juice can fill the fruit or vegetable slot at only one meal or snack per day, and milk plus juice cannot be the only two items in a snack.

Breakfast protein swaps. Eggs, cheese or another meat alternate can replace the whole grain at breakfast up to three times a week. The planner counts them across the week.

A vegetable can stand in for fruit at lunch, but when two vegetables are served they have to be two different kinds. Thursday's sample lunch does exactly this with sweet potato and peas.

Keep the menu after you serve it

Copies of menus are on the list of records a CACFP institution has to maintain, and the regulation says a failure to keep required records is grounds for denying reimbursement for the meals in that period. Day care homes are told the same thing in their own section: menu records document that meals met the pattern. Save the printed week with any substitutions written on it in pen, because the menu should match what was served.

Many licensors and sponsors also expect this week's menu posted where families can see it. The rule on posting varies, so check with your licensor or sponsor. The menu also belongs in the budget: the daycare budget template carries the food line this plan drives, and what each child actually ate goes on the daily sheet that goes home.