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Menu Planning for Child Nutrition Programs

Cycle Menus

The CSDE encourages sponsors of the Child Nutrition Programs (CNPs) to use cycle menus for reimbursable meals and snacks. A cycle menu is a series of menus planned for a specific period with a different menu for each day. At the end of the cycle, the menu repeats in the same order.

Benefits of Cycle Menus

A typical cycle menu might be four to six weeks. Offering a cycle menu of at least four weeks increases the variety of offered meals and snacks and ensures that participants are not served the same combination of foods too often.

  • Structure and predictability: Cycle menus provide structure and predictability, which helps CNP sponsors with planning and documenting menus that meet the meal patterns. Predictability also provides familiarity for participants, who look forward to their favorite meals being repeated in a predictable way.
  • Save time and labor costs: Menu planners will spend less time gathering information, planning menus, developing product specifications, and checking deliveries. This also helps to standardize purchasing procedures and reduce time spent on purchasing.
  • Improve staff efficiency: As menu items are repeated, food service staff become more familiar with the standardized recipes and are more efficient in producing them. 
  • Control food costs: Menu planners can more easily predict the correct quantity of foods to purchase when previous menu data is available. Cycle menus also help decrease food costs by allowing CNP sponsors to purchase regularly used items in bulk and take advantage of seasonal foods. In addition, CNP sponsors may qualify for volume discounts when buying larger amounts of the same items.
  • Reduce food waste: Menu planners can more easily predict how much of each menu item to prepare when menus are used repeatedly, so less food is left over.
  • Control inventory and storage costs: Menu planners can better estimate the correct quantity of foods to purchase, which helps keep stock at appropriate levels.

Guidance and Resources