Afterschool Snack Guide

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2 Age Eligibility Children age 18 and under can receive snacks. If the student turns 19 during the school year, he or she is still eligible for the program. Program Administration The school nutrition department usually submits an addendum (supplied by the state) to its existing school meals application. The snacks must include two out of the following four components: milk, fruits or vegetables (including juice), grains or grain alternatives, and meat or meat alternatives. A few of the required amounts for snacks are slightly different from the school lunch requirements. A list of USDA’s nutritional requirements for snacks is available at: www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Afterschool/factsheet.htm or www.frac.org/html/building_blocks/nutritionalguidelines.html. Programs are required to keep meal counts and attendance rosters. Even though the school district administers the NSLP, there is no requirement that the foodservice staff distribute the snacks, keep the attendance roster or take the meal count. Many schools train the after-school program staff to be responsible for these tasks in order to decrease labor costs. The school nutrition department must monitor each after-school program twice a year. The first review must be done within the first four weeks of operation. During the review, the department must determine the program’s compliance with counting and claiming procedures and with the menus. Examples of monitoring forms are included on in the “Snack Programs in Action” section of this guide (see page 5). The logistics of the snack program will in large part be determined by the school’s resources. The common design is for the cafeteria staff to put together the snacks and store them in a designated area within the kitchen or outside the kitchen. Perishable items are often stored in coolers. (A school nutrition department can work with the after-school program to raise funds for coolers or receive them as in-kind donations from local civic organizations, grocers, or children’s health and hunger agencies.) The after-school program picks up the snacks, serves them to the students in the cafeteria or another designated area, fills out the paperwork and cleans up the area afterwards. Leftover snacks often can be re-stored as long as the food is kept at the proper temperature. Additional information on logistics is explored in the “Snack Programs in Action” section of this guide. For additional information on NSLP snacks, visit: www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Afterschool/default.htm or www.frac.org/Out_Of_School_Time/Afterschool/index.html. Even though the NSLP snack is available to any school participating in school lunch, some school nutrition directors may choose not to participate in the NSLP snack especially if a small percentage of low-income children participate in the program. Regardless of whether the school uses the child nutrition programs, it is still important that children receive a nutritious after-school snack. School nutrition departments can provide a healthy snack to the afterschool program and charge the program the cost of the snack if necessary.
Providing Suppers After School Providing a supper is a great way to support working families, to ensure that children are receiving enough nutrition to get through the afternoon, and to increase the financial viability of feeding children after school. The supper requires five nutritional components versus the two that the snack requires, but the free supper reimbursement rate is nearly four times the free snack reimbursement. Even though suppers are not available through the NSLP, school nutrition departments can provide suppers as well as snacks through the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). Seven states — Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Oregon and Pennsylvania — are part of an afterschool supper program pilot project, which follows the same area eligibility rules as the snack program. After-school programs located in low-income areas in these states receive the free reimbursement rate for suppers served to children age 18 and under. Additional states that may join the pilot will be listed on FRAC’s website, www.frac.org. In other states (and in areas in the pilot states that are not low-income), children age 12 and under can receive federally funded suppers. Regardless of the location of the after-school program, children are individually qualified for free, reduced-price or paid meals. The school meals applications already qualify children for free or reduced-price school meals, so providing suppers with minimal additional paperwork is feasible. To provide suppers or snacks, the school nutrition director should speak with the state CACFP agency. A complete list of the state CACFP agencies and additional information is available at: www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Contacts/StateDirectory.htm or www.frac.org/html/building_blocks/afterschoolcontacts.html. Additional Resources In 2004, the School Nutrition Association conducted a survey of nearly 500 child nutrition directors on feeding children after school. The survey found that 74 percent of respondents provided snacks through the NSLP and 11 percent offered food through the CACFP. It also calculated the average food costs for snacks (44 cents per snack), identified common logistical practices of schools and covered other helpful topics. It is a useful resource for any child nutrition director who is considering providing snacks after school. The full survey results are available at: www.schoolnutrition.org/uploadedFiles/ASFSA/newsroom/bookstore/pmsnackrpt04.pdf. The following websites offer additional information on the federally funded snack programs: • United States Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Services, www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Afterschool/default.htm • Food Research and Action Center, www.frac.org • National Dairy Council’s Nutrition Explorations, www.NutritionExplorations.org 3
Page 1 and 2: Guide Guide Snack After-school Afte
Page 3: Feeding Children After-school With
Page 7 and 8: Snack Programs in Action Across the
Page 9 and 10: ReCharge! Healthy After-school Snac
Page 20: © 2005 National Dairy Council ®

Afterschool Snack Guide

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