Meal Pattern/Meal Service
In this section we will discuss the various meal pattern and meal service options available to sites operating the At-risk Afterschool Meal Program. First lets discuss the basic meal service responsibilities that will apply to all of the various options. Staff must be familiar with and know the various requirements of the program meal pattern they are using. This is important not only to meet basic compliance standards, but also keep in mind that the primary purpose of the federal nutrition program is to ensure that children have regular access to safe, and healthy foods so they can develop and meet their full potential.
The menus you create can go a long way in achieving that mission and hopefully supporting your organizations objectives in improving the lives of the children you serve. The federal nutrition programs provide a very basic and minimum set of standards to follow. If you are interested in ways to go above and beyond these standards to maximize the effectiveness of the program contact our office and we can introduce you to the Healthier CACFP initiative. In addition to planning great menus you will also need to: Purchase enough food for every meal, plan and prepare correct amounts of food at each meal, and fill out the appropriate meal service paperwork correctly and on time.
Likewise our responsibilities as a state agency are to ensure that all meals that have been reimbursed: Have been prepared, served, documented and claimed according to the applicable federal guidelines. Next lets discuss meal times. While there are no specific meal times set forth in regulation there are still a few requirements to consider. Meal service must take place between the times approved on your site sheet in CNPweb. Meal service must take place after the school day ends. There must be a reasonable amount of time between the snacks and meals. Our office will consider meal time approval on a case, but case basis, but the general idea is to ensure sposnors are serving a snack and a meal to meet a need, and not soley to maximize reimbursement. Ensuring a reasonable amount of time elapses between meals will also help to eliminate unnecessary waste of uneaten food.
There are a lot of different situations that may arise with regard to meal times. There is a comment box on the site information sheet where sponsors can explain anticipated variations to their normal meal service schedule. For example, maybe for your sites a supper meal is to start at 5 and end at 6 Monday through Thursday. However, Friday is early release day and the students get out at 1 o'clock instead of the normal 3 o'clock. Consequently, you would like to begin the Friday meal service at 3 instead of 5. This is perfectly acceptable but must be approved in C.N.P. web in advance by our office. Remember, meals served outside of the approved meal time are not reimbursable.
Menus planning and crediting is based on which meal pattern the sponsor is using. Schools or centers contracting with schools to provide meals may use the NSLP or CACFP meal patterns. While the details regarding the various meal pattern options will not be discussed in this section, training on the two meal pattern options and associated record keeping requirements, along with information on accommodating special diets are available as stand alone trainings which can be accessed from the At-risk Meals training page in Canvas.
If a sponsor is using the standard CACFP meal pattern, they may choose to offer meals in a pre-plated or cafeteria style or choose family style meal service. If offering meals cafeteria style, the sponsor may implement offer versus serve which allows students to decline a specified number of components, yet the meal is still reimbursable. Sponsors using the National School Lunch Program meal pattern may also implement offer versus serve but cannot offer meals family style. Remember, offer versus serve is not an option at any snack service.
For sponsors operating a pre-plated or cafeteria style meal service they may also serve and claim 2nd meals and snacks. A second meal or snack may be served and claimed for reimbursement if the following conditions are met: Site has been approved by the our office to claim 2nd meals at the site. This is done on the site information sheet in CNPweb; Sites using family style meal service are not eligible; All participating students must be served a 1st meal/snack before a 2nd can be served; A complete reimbursable 2nd meal/snack was served; 2nd meals/snacks must be counted separately from first meals; Menu planner determined the number of meals to prepare with the intention of serving only one meal/snack per participant and has good forecasting procedures in place.
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