Top 9 free CACFP menu templates and menu tools for child care (2026)
Checked October 2026For TeachersGrades Infants to preschool (ages 0 to 5), and school-age in child careKind Free websitesNo affiliate links, no paid placement. How we chose
One entry, Peabody Teach CACFP menu planner, is our own free tool. It is marked Ours and ranked against the same criteria as the others.
Quick answer
The Institute of Child Nutrition's Cycle Menus for Child Care: Preschoolers is our number one: sixteen weeks of menus for ages 3 to 5, four for each season, with the meal pattern charts, free to download. Peabody's own menu planner is second for writing your own week and seeing a missing component flagged as you type. USDA's planners, recipes and handbooks follow. Your sponsor or state agency has the last word on what credits.
Top 9 free CACFP menu templates and menu tools for child care (2026): comparison
A 2025 booklet of cycle menus for preschoolers ages 3 to 5: four weeks each for spring, summer, fall and winter, followed by the CACFP meal pattern charts, seasonal fruits and vegetables, ways to prepare them, and food safety tips. It is listed on ICN's CACFP page.
Free download
Watch for Written for ages 3 to 5; menus for toddlers and school-age children need adapting.
Plan a week or a four-week cycle of breakfast, snacks, lunch and supper for ages 1–2, 3–5 or 6–12. Mark each food with its component and it flags what the USDA pattern says is missing: no vegetable at lunch, a second juice, a day with no whole grain-rich grain, a grain-based dessert counted as a grain. Prints the posted menu; kept on your device.
Free, no sign-up, no email and no ads
Watch for It checks components, not portion sizes or crediting of store-bought foods; your sponsor has the last word.
3. It's Breakfast Time! CACFP breakfast menu planner
USDA Team Nutrition
Best for breakfast ideas that already credit
Free
A menu planner and recipe booklet for CACFP operators serving breakfast to children 3 to 18, with sample menus, checklists, menu planning activities and 20 USDA standardized breakfast recipes. USDA says all are welcome to download it and make copies.
Free download
Watch for The page says it is under revision to match current meal pattern requirements; check new rules (such as added sugars) yourself.
The snack companion to the breakfast planner: sample menus, checklists, menu planning activities and 20 USDA standardized snack recipes for children 3 to 18, free to download and copy.
Free download
Watch for Also marked as under revision for the current meal pattern.
USDA standardized recipes for child nutrition programs, sorted by who cooks them, including CACFP family child care homes (6 servings) and child care centers (25 to 50 servings). Each recipe lists nutrition information per serving.
Free to browse
Watch for A recipe site, not a planner: you still build the week yourself.
USDA's technical assistance handbook (FNS-425) on how foods credit toward the meal pattern components, to help operators plan menus that meet the requirements. Free to download and copy.
Free download
Watch for The page says it is under revision for current requirements; ask your sponsor about anything new.
USDA's yield and crediting reference: how much of a food to buy and what it credits as, with a calculator for shopping lists, a grains tool and a recipe analysis workbook.
A USDA tool; a registered profile is needed to save lists
Watch for Built for school and child care food buyers alike, so it takes some learning; full use needs a profile.
Paid food program software for independent child care centers filing directly with their state: menus with a built-in food list that flags missing components, attendance and meal counts from any device, and claims with edit checks.
Food Program $129 a month or $1,199 a year; with Parachute, $163.99 a month or $1,479 a year (as of 2026-10-31)
Watch for This price is for single-location centers filing their own claims; KidKare has separate pages for family child care providers and sponsors.
National CACFP Association menus: Cycle and sample menus listed on its Menus page; all NCA material is copyrighted, so read its usage instructions.
How we chose
We weighed these, most important first. The order is our judgement against them, not a score or a vote, and a different teacher could reasonably order it differently. Our own tool sits where those criteria put it; we built it after studying the others, so read its entry with that in mind.
Free and official. Whether it costs nothing and comes from USDA, the Institute of Child Nutrition (USDA-funded) or a tool that checks against USDA's pattern.
Ready for a child care week. Whether it gives menus, templates or a planner a home or center can use this week, not only rules to read.
Checks the meal pattern. Whether it shows or checks the CACFP components for each meal and snack.
Current. Whether the page says it is up to date or under revision for the current meal pattern.
We took no money, free products or affiliate commissions for any place on this list, and no link here carries a tracking code. Every fact was read on the maker’s own page on October 31, 2026; prices carry that date because they change. See how we choose and the ad-free promise.
Questions
Is there a free CACFP menu template?
Yes. The Institute of Child Nutrition's Menu Planning Basics guide has a blank menu template and checklist in its appendix, and Peabody's menu planner prints a posted menu from your own week. Both are free.
What does a CACFP menu have to show?
Each meal's foods, so they can be read against the meal pattern: breakfast needs milk, a vegetable or fruit and a grain; lunch and supper need all five components; a snack needs two. Your sponsor or state agency says what your posted menu must include.
Why are some USDA planners marked under revision?
USDA's pages for It's Breakfast Time!, Let's Make a Snack! and the Crediting Handbook said on 31 October 2026 that each is being revised to match current meal pattern requirements. They are still useful; check new rules, such as limits on added sugars, against the current pattern.