Child care is an opportune setting with unlimited possibilities to introduce young children to a variety of vegetables. One helpful guideline to serving more vegetables is the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) updated meal patterns. Last year’s updated meal patterns separate the fruit and the vegetable components at lunch and supper for meals served to preschoolers. Because of this update, child care providers can serve a fruit and a vegetable at lunch and supper or two vegetables at lunch and supper, substituting the fruit component with a vegetable. This change helps providers plan menus that feature more variety, as well provide young children with more opportunities to experience a variety of vegetables. See the following Sample Daily Menu chart to gain a better idea of how a menu might look when planning to serve two vegetables.
