Providing snacks for after school programs is a great opportunity to help
students practice healthy eating and help adults promote a healthy eating
environment. You will be able to strengthen the role of the Food and Nutrition
Service as a partner in education as well as health. The Department of
Agriculture’s National School Lunch and Child and Adult Care Food Programs were
expanded through the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-336) to
provide cash reimbursement for snacks provided to children through age 18 years in certain
after school programs. Two four-week cycle menus have been planned to help you get
started serving healthy snacks that your participants will enjoy. One cycle menu is
for those programs with limited kitchen facilities, and one cycle menu is for those
programs that have more traditional kitchen facilities.
Programs offering after school snacks that have limited kitchen facilities are programs
that do not have traditional institutional kitchen equipment (such as ovens, freezers,
refrigerators, blenders, etc.), but do have access to limited kitchen equipment such as
coolers, small preparation areas, cutting boards, knives, spoons, can openers, etc.
Programs offering after school snacks that have traditional kitchen/institutional
facilities are programs that have access to traditional institutional kitchen equipment
found in many schools and child care centers, such as refrigerators and freezers,
conventional and/or convection ovens, microwaves, blenders, etc.
The Afterschool Snacks meal pattern is based on the nutritional needs of children ages 6
to 12 years and is as follows:
Two different components from the four listed must be served:
|
Milk, fluid |
1 cup (8 ounces) |
|
Meat or Meat alternate |
1 ounce |
|
Fruit or Vegetable or full-strength juice |
3/4 cup |
|
Grains/Breads |
1 serving |
Because Afterschool Snacks are available for children through the age of
18 years, additional foods may be needed to meet the calorie and nutrient needs of
children ages 13-18 years. To assist snack providers, each cycle menu has been divided
into two age categories: ages 6-12 years and ages 13-18 years. For each menu, the required
two components in the appropriate amounts are included. In addition, one optional food
component is added for the 13-18 years age group. This optional component is included to
assist providers in offering a satisfying snack and in meeting the nutritional needs of
the older age group. The optional items are marked on the menus with an "O".
Many after school care programs (like the Department of Education’s 21st Century
Schools Program) provide some funding for snacks and may supplement what you receive from
USDA should you find that participants require a larger snack than USDA reimbursement
rates will provide.
Additional points to keep in mind when serving these snack menus:
-
When juice or milk is planned as an "optional" component, water has been
included as a beverage in case the snack provider chooses not to serve the juice or milk;
-
USDA quantity recipes have been used and are annotated in bold type and the source
cited. Programs that have limited kitchen facilities can self-prepare products using these
recipes or purchase products commercially; and
-
USDA donated commodities have been incorporated into the snack menus and are annotated
with an asterisk (*).
The following resources were utilized in developing these cycle menus:
You can get information on how to obtain these recipes from USDA or the National Food
Service Management Institute by clicking on the links above.
Back to the Top
