Menu & Food List

Control the foods your participants can select when recording menus.

Decide what can and cannot be served — and enforce it. A standardized, state-controlled food list keeps every menu creditable and cuts the time reviewers spend verifying.

At a glance

Managing your food list has never been easier

Standardized, state-controlled food list built into KidKare.

Centralized, re-usable, and scheduled menus.

Production records with estimated, actual & leftover quantities.

Individual infant menus for the developmentally ready.

Food combination rules and reporting.

Grain Ounce Equivalents calculations.

Capabilities

Six ways KidKare keeps menus creditable

Standardized State-Controlled Food List

A custom state-controlled food list based on Food Buying Guide foods.
State reviewers can be confident that all menu items are creditable.
Participants select foods to build menu templates, daily menus, or re-usable/centralized plans.
Eliminates non-creditable items and reduces verification time.
Doubles as a training tool for new participants.

State-controlled food list

Grain Ounce Equivalents

Once the state approves the food list, every grain item includes the correct ounce equivalents.
Tools help sponsors proactively navigate new USDA requirements ahead of mandates.

Grain ounce equivalents

Daily Menu

Accessible from the menu calendar or left navigation.
Participants select items from the standard food list to meet meal-component requirements.
Meal pattern requirements available as a quick on-page reference.
Actual quantities required calculate automatically once meal counts are recorded.
Estimate quantities by applying attendance trends to selected menus per the USDA meal pattern.
Record actual quantities served when the meal is ready for delivery.

Daily menu

Menu Calendar

A bird's-eye view of all meals planned for infants and non-infants.
Create reusable or cycle menus by copy/pasting a day, week, or full month.
Customizable warnings: incomplete menus, missing estimated attendance, missing actual quantities served.

Menu calendar

Individual Infant Menus

The first infant menu recorded for the day becomes the default.
Tap the fork/knife icon to record an infant meal count and open the infant menu pop-up.
If fed outside the default, toggle the food group and record developmentally-ready items.
Record quantities as needed.

Individual infant menus

Food Combination Rules

Create a rule for any two food items or a group of foods — e.g., french fries and mashed potatoes, or starches like potato soup, potato salad, and potato.
Set actions to Warn or Disallow; they display on the Office Error Report after the claim is calculated.

Food combination rules

Interactive demo

Build a creditable menu

Click through a guided prototype of building a menu from the state-controlled food list — no login required.