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The CACFP meal pattern in plain words

Checked October 31, 2026

The CACFP meal pattern is USDA's list of what a meal or snack must hold for the food program to pay for it. Breakfast needs three components: milk, a vegetable or fruit, and a grain. Lunch and supper need all five: milk, a meat or meat alternate, a vegetable, a fruit and a grain. A snack needs any two of the five, but not milk and juice alone. Each age has its own amounts, and your sponsor has the last word.

What each meal must hold

  • Breakfast: all three of milk, a vegetable or fruit (or both), and a grain.
  • Lunch and supper: all five of milk, a meat or meat alternate, a vegetable, a fruit and a grain.
  • Snack: any two of the five components. Milk and juice can't be the only two.

Meat alternates include cheese, eggs, yogurt, and cooked beans, peas and lentils. Babies under 12 months have their own infant pattern (breast milk or formula, and solid foods once a baby is ready), which the menu planner prints as USDA writes it.

How much, by age

The smallest amounts USDA allows, for the three child age groups:

  • Milk: ages 1–2, 4 fl oz at every meal and snack; ages 3–5, 6 fl oz at meals and 4 fl oz at snack; ages 6–12, 8 fl oz.
  • Breakfast vegetable or fruit: ¼ cup for ages 1–2; ½ cup for ages 3–5 and 6–12.
  • Lunch and supper: meat or meat alternate 1, 1½ and 2 oz equivalents; vegetable ⅛, ¼ and ½ cup; fruit ⅛, ¼ and ¼ cup (ages 1–2, 3–5, 6–12).
  • Grains: ½ oz equivalent for ages 1–2 and 3–5; 1 oz equivalent for ages 6–12, at every meal and snack.
  • Snack vegetable or fruit: ½ cup for ages 1–5; ¾ cup for ages 6–12.

Milk: unflavored whole milk at age 1; unflavored fat-free or low-fat (1% or less) from 2 through 5; fat-free or low-fat, flavored or not, from 6.

The rules people trip on

  • At least one grain a day, across all meals and snacks, must be whole grain-rich.
  • Grain-based desserts (cookies, cake, sweet rolls, granola bars, graham crackers) never count as the grain.
  • Juice must be pasteurized, full-strength, and can count at only one meal or snack a day.
  • At lunch and supper a vegetable may take the place of the fruit; two vegetables must then be two different kinds.
  • At breakfast, a meat or meat alternate may take the place of the whole grain, up to three times a week.
  • A snack can't be milk and juice alone.
  • Breakfast cereal: no more than 6 g of added sugars a dry ounce. Yogurt: no more than 12 g of added sugars per 6 ounces.
Try this Plan the week in the menu planner: mark each food with its component and it flags a lunch with no vegetable, a second juice, a day with no whole grain, or a fourth meat-for-grain breakfast.

Who has the last word

This is USDA's national pattern as its pages and 7 CFR 226.20 said on 31 October 2026. Your sponsoring organization or state agency decides what credits on your claim, and some foods (combination dishes, store-bought items) need a label or a crediting sheet. Ask them before you change a menu they have already approved.

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Sources

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