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Meal Patterns for Preschoolers in School Nutrition Programs

Meal Service


Co-mingled Meals and Afterschool Snacks  |   Family Style Meal Service  |   Meal Schedules
OVS  |   Serving the Same Menu to Preschool and Grades K-12
Water Availability During Meal and Snack Service

Co-mingled Meals and Afterschool Snacks

“Co-mingling” is the practice of serving meals or afterschool snacks to a variety of grades in the same service area at the same time. This practice typically occurs due to operational constraints within a school, such as limited time and space. SFAs may use the meal pattern of the older grades for both grade groups (preschoolers and the older grade group) when the co-mingled meal or afterschool snack service meets the requirements below.

  • The preschoolers and students from older grade groups are served meals or afterschool snacks together in the same place at the same time.
  • It is hard to tell the preschoolers from older students.
  • It would be operationally difficult to serve different foods or different amounts of foods during the combined meal or afterschool snack service. 

For example, if the SFA serves lunch or breakfast to preschoolers and grades K-5 in the same service area at the same time, the SFA may choose to follow the K-5 meal pattern for both groups. If the SFA serves afterschool snack to preschoolers and grades K-12 in the same service area at the same time, the SFA may choose to follow the ASP meal pattern for grades K-12 for both groups. 

The preschool meal patterns provide the amounts and types of foods that most younger children need for healthy growth and development. The USDA strongly encourages SFAs to find ways to serve grade-appropriate meals and afterschool snacks to preschoolers and older students to best address their nutritional needs. SFAs must follow the preschool meal patterns when meals and afterschool snacks are served to preschoolers in a different area (such as a separate serving line or meals in the classroom) or at a different time.

Family Style Meal Service

Field Trip Meals

Meal Schedules for Preschoolers

Offer versus Serve (OVS)

Serving the Same Menu to Preschool and Grades K-12

The preschool meal patterns and meal patterns for grades K-12 have different requirements. When school food authorities (SFAs) serve the same lunch, breakfast, or afterschool snack menu to both groups, the menu items must comply with whichever requirements are stricter. For example, the NSLP and SBP meal patterns for grades K-12 have stricter whole grain-rich (WGR) criteria than the preschool meal patterns. Meals served to both groups must comply with the WGR criteria for grades K-12. The NSLP, SBP, and ASP preschool meal patterns require a sugars limit for yogurt and breakfast cereals, but the meal patterns for grades K-12 do not. Yogurt and breakfast cereals served to both groups must comply with the preschool sugars limit. 

Water Availability During Meal and Snack Service

The NSLP regulations (7 CFR 210.10(a)(1)(i)) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) (7 CFR 220.8(a)(1)) require that schools and institutions must make plain potable water available without restriction to students at no charge during the service of reimbursable meals and afterschool snacks. Potable water is water that is safe for human consumption. “Available without restriction” means that students can freely access the water in the location where the meals and afterschool snacks are served.