Quality Rating 3: Nutritious Meals & Snacks

Instructions

To meet the requirements for Administrative Policies and Practices: Nutritious Meals and Snacks: ADM 4.3, you will upload:

  • a nutrition policy explaining that your program:
    • monitors food from home
    • supplements when necessary
  • a weekly menu served within the past month, documenting that fresh fruits and vegetables are served at least two times per week

If you do not serve food or snacks, or you do not allow “outside” food in your program, you may leave a comment for your Program Coordinator. A nutrition policy is still required.

The Policy or Statement Builder provides a step-by-step guide for creating policies for your staff.

Nutrition Policy

A nutrition policy communicates to families the importance of healthy meals and snacks and all that your program does to promote healthy eating habits. There are several benefits to a nutrition policy, including:

  • Communicating care and respect for children’s health and development
  • Following best practices regarding the children’s health and nutrition
  • Outlining a clear plan and guidelines for staff and families to follow related to quality nutrition care
  • Promoting consistency related to food and nutrition between your program and home settings

Nutrition policies you should consider:

  • Meals, snacks, and foods your program provides
  • Expectation about the meals, snacks, and foods families need to provide
  • Guidelines and ways your program limits fatty, sugary, and salty foods
  • How your program manages food allergies or other dietary restrictions
  • Food brought from home for birthdays and other celebrations
  • Acceptable and unacceptable (example: candy, soda) food items
  • How your program handles unacceptable food items
  • Other food policies that are relevant to your program and the children enrolled
What does the documentation look like?

Based on your program’s written food and nutrition policy, families and staff have a clear understanding of the kinds of foods served in your program, as well as foods that are unacceptable. Your policy describes how your program handles nutrition and meal planning, including monitoring food brought from home and supplementing with additional food when necessary.

A weekly menu plan shows the foods and beverages your program serves the children for meals and snacks. A written menu plan is a quick visual reference to ensure that a balanced variety of food options are available to the children. Sharing your weekly menu plan with families communicates the careful thought your program devotes to nutrition and healthy food choices, and encourages families to strive for variety and balance in their meal planning at home.

When planning menus, programs are encouraged to:

  • Focus on variety, serving sizes, and nutritional content
  • Choose foods and beverages that are low in saturated fat, salt, and added sugars
  • Choose whole grain options to include in the menu
What does the documentation look like?

Your weekly menu plan clearly shows that fresh fruits and vegetables are served at least two times per week. Consider highlighting / circling where these items are found in your menu. Any combination of fruits and vegetables meets the “two times per week” requirement (examples: two fruits, two vegetables, or a combination of fruits and vegetables), although a balance between fruits and vegetables is highly recommended.

Examples:

Fresh Fruits:
Apples, bananas, peaches, pears, grapes, melon, strawberries, blueberries, tomatoes

Fresh Vegetables:
Carrots, celery, broccoli, cucumber, avocado, cauliflower, green peppers

Policy or Statement Builder

Develop a policy that describes your program’s practices on providing nutritious meals and snacks to the children in your program. The Reflection Questions below will help you think about what you do in your program to capture it when creating your policy. Once you have spent time reflecting on the questions below, you’re ready to build your policy.

  1. What are your program’s policies on serving food with fats, sugars and salt?
  2. How do you ensure that the meals and snacks provided from homes are nutritious and well balanced?
  3. What do you do if food provided from a child’s home is not nutritious or well balanced?

Once you have spent time reflecting on the questions, you have the option to download and save the Nutrition Policy template to create your policy.

Technology Tips

Download the PDF.

Save the PDF.

Print the PDF.

Edit the PDF.

Do you need more time to think about writing your Nutrition policy? Use Writers Tips and Prompts to find examples and get more guidance.

Where can you learn more?

  • Sample Nutrition Policy View this sample nutrition policy for ideas of what to include in your own policy. Notice information that is especially beneficial to families.
  • Fat, Salt and Sugar: Not All Bad The American Pediatrics Academy provides helpful guidelines on appropriate amounts of fat, sugar, and salt for children’s diets.
  • Choose MyPlate The United States Department of Agriculture developed “MyPlate” as a reminder that everything our body consumes matters, and a balanced diet contributes to lifelong healthy habits. MyPlate provides tips, strategies, and ideas for encouraging and promoting healthy habits with the children and families you serve.
  • Sample Menu Plan Maryland State Department of Education Division of Early Childhood provides information on nutrition and menu planning. This resource also includes menu planning charts for programs serving infants and children ages 1 to 12 years old.
  • Nutrition Education in Schools Nutrition education is a vital part of a comprehensive health education program and empowers children with knowledge and skills to make healthy food and beverage choices.