Skip to content
Login

More Meal Pattern Minutes

Back to Blog

Meal Pattern Minute: Milk Smoothies at Snack

February 14, 2025

Serving snacks in the Child and Adult Care Food Program, helps CACFP operators offer a variety of nutrient-dense foods including fruits, vegetables, meats/meat alternates and whole grains, which helps promote good nutrition and healthy choices. When following the CACFP snack meal pattern, CACFP operators must choose two meal components that meet the minimum serving requirement based on the age(s) they are serving. Examples of CACFP creditable snacks are seed butter and crackers, yogurt and apple slices, jicama and mango spears, and milk served with a blueberry muffin. But what if you serve a smoothie that is made from fruit and milk? Can you only serve this smoothie at snack and claim reimbursement for it? 

Don’t miss this Meal Pattern Minute as Isabel Ramos-Lebron, MS, RDN, LD, clarifies whether a smoothie made from milk and fruit/vegetable can or cannot be reimbursable in the CACFP at snack.  

Need more details on serving smoothies at snack? Take a look at these resources. 

  • Smoothies Offered in Child Nutrition Programs: Attachment Question and Answers
    • Question #7 How does pureed fruit or vegetable credit toward the meal pattern requirements?
      • CACFP operators must limit the amount of vegetable or fruit juice offered to children to one serving per day. Pureed fruit or vegetable included in a smoothie may be counted as the entire fruit/vegetable component at breakfast and snack in the CACFP and SFSP. However, at snack, a smoothie containing juice and milk can credit as either juice or milk as long as there is a separate, second component served in addition to the fruit or vegetable and milk smoothie. Juice may not be served when milk is served as the only other component at snack in NSLP Afterschool Snack Service, CACFP, and SFSP. Furthermore, the total creditable amount in a smoothie may not exceed the volume served.
  • What if you want to serve a fruit and milk smoothie at breakfast? Check out this Meal Pattern Minute, Can I be reimbursed for fruit and milk smoothies at breakfast? 

 

For more information on serving smoothies in the CACFP, refer to the USDA memorandum:Smoothies Offered in the Child Nutrition Programs. For more information on fluid milk and pureed fruits/vegetables, check out these resources:

Want to share this video on Facebook? Click here, and then you'll find three icons along the right side of the screen. Click on the arrow, and you'll be able to choose whether you want to share it to your feed or to a group. You can also include a short note about why this Meal Pattern Minute is so important! Click on the "Post" button when you're finished, and that's it!