The Secret To Cutting Daycare Food Costs

I don't know about you but I was SHOCKED at how fast gas and food prices skyrocketed during the pandemic and how my grocery bills (both for my house and daycare)  never really came back down.  

But, rather than be shocked, shocked, and (shocked) again here are four hacks I use to cut my daycare food costs in half (and you can use them too)! 

#1. JOIN THE DAYCARE FOOD PROGRAM.

For those who don't know, the Federal CACFP Program is a federally funded program that reimburses daycare providers a portion of the money spent on food each month in exchange for serving healthy balanced meals. 

Sign-up is free, paperwork is minimal, reimbursements are paid like clockwork once a month, and in reimbursements (in most cases) can be up to 50-65% of food costs.  

Since most providers are already serving healthy meals, the CACFP Food Program is a win-win for providers because providers get reimbursed for something they are already doing. 

#2. USE A MONTHLY DAYCARE MENU.  

While most K-12 schools use cycle menus, I find daycares rarely do. 

Cycle menus, simply put, are monthly menus that repeat over a specific period of time such as a week, month, or a season and can provide great savings at the grocery store by giving providers a predictable meal schedule and enabling providers to take advantage of discounts and buy food (such as yogurt, canned vegetables, frozen fruit, eggs, milk, etc) in bulk. 

While cycle menus can be weekly, monthly, or seasonal menus my favorite cycle menu is a monthly cycle menu where weeks 1,3, and 5 are the same and weeks 2 and 4 are the same because it give children lots meal variety while maintaining a predictable meal routine.  

Once I changed to a monthly cycle menu my grocery bills were cut in half and I am never (ever) going back to planning twenty different meals per month again.  

While there are tons of cycle menus on the market, click HERE  for an affordable monthly cycle menu that's CACFP approved!    

#3. BUY A COMBINATION OF FRESH (AND FROZEN) FRUIT. 

If you were to ask me whether I buy fresh or frozen fruit BEFORE the pandemic, I would say "I'm a fresh fruit provider all the way" until prices for fresh fruit such as strawberries and berries became so astronomical I decided to research alternative healthy fruit options.  

 

To my surprise, frozen fruit was at the top of the healthy fruit options list, as 100% of the the fruits nutrients are preserved at freezing time. 

With jumbo frozen fruit bags sold at Costco and Sam's Club (the strawberry/blueberry assortment being my favorite) I save lots of money buying frozen strawberries and blueberries and buying fresh fruit that is generally cheaper and comes in a larger quantity (such as bananas and watermelon to name a few). 

#4. SERVE MILK AT BREAKFAST/LUNCH AND WATER AT AM/PM SNACK.

While the daycare CACFP food program requires milk to be served during breakfast and lunch, providers have the option to serve water, 100% juice or milk to drink during am/pm snack. 

Serving water during am/pm snack cuts down on the amount of milk or juice served during the day, thereby reducing the amount of money spent on milk and/or juice during the month and teaches children healthy drinking habits (ie: drinking water twice a day) that will help hydrate their body and keep them healthy throughout the day.  

While FOOD PRICES are high, they don't have to get the best of us providers! Use these 3 hacks to save at the grocery store each month!