Afterschool Care Snacks Cycle
Menus
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.
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