CACFP Standardized Recipes
USDA standardized recipes for child care, ready to drop into your CACFP menus and meal production records. Each one opens as a printable PDF from the Institute of Child Nutrition.
Muffins 3
Muffin Squares 7
Breads 2
Biscuits 3
Base Mix 1
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From recipe to production record
A recipe tells you how to make the food. The meal production record proves how much you needed and how much you served, and that is the document a reviewer asks for.
In CenterPilot these recipes feed production records built on the USDA Food Buying Guide, and quantities are worked out per age group rather than per child. CenterPilot calculates the least amount each group needs. In the worked example from our CN labels webinar that comes out as one ounce of meat and half an ounce of grain for a one to two-year-old, an ounce and a half of meat and half an ounce of grain for a three to five-year-old, and two ounces of meat and one ounce of grain for a six-year-old and up, including at-risk afterschool through age 18.
Those quantities then round up to the next half package, so the record tells you to open enough rather than exactly enough. Serve the whole package and you are covered if everyone turns up.
See what the finished document looks like on the meal production record page, or watch the CN labels webinar for the full worked example, burrito arithmetic included.
Recipes are published by the USDA / Institute of Child Nutrition. In CenterPilot, standardized recipes flow straight into meal production records built on the USDA Food Buying Guide — so quantities are right the first time.
Standardized recipe questions, answered
Are these recipes free to use?
Yes, and you do not need a CenterPilot account. They are published by the USDA and the Institute of Child Nutrition, and each one opens as a printable PDF.
How do these work with meal production records?
In CenterPilot they feed straight into meal production records built on the USDA Food Buying Guide, so quantities are calculated rather than worked out by hand.
What is in the collection?
Muffins, muffin squares, breads and biscuits, plus the Master Mix that several of the others are built on.
Menus that check themselves.
In CenterPilot, your menus validate against CACFP meal patterns and your production records calculate quantities automatically. See it with your own menus.