Health-e Pro is an online menu planning software for CACFP. All of the CACFP age-grade grouping meal pattern standards are included with Health-e Pro, making it easy to stay compliant.

From the USDA: “Through CACFP, more than 4.2 million children and 130,000 adults receive nutritious meals and snacks each day as part of the day care they receive.” That is a lot of children and adults that are impacted by the CACFP Meal Program!

Last year, Health-e Pro attended the national show in San Antonio and has become fully engaged in menu planning software for CACFP. In anticipation of the national show this year in Chicago, we are sharing some feedback from our CACFP customers and other CACFP organizations.

2018 was a big year for CACFP since the implementation of new meal standards started in October 2017. CACFP organizations were faced with the task of regulating their entire meal program differently and that is why centralized menu planning using menu planning software for CACFP has become so important.

We have gotten feedback from current Health-e Pro, CACFP customers, as well as CACFP organizations that are in search of menu planning software for CACFP, and here are some of the things we have learned.

Since CACFP is now following meal contribution regulations, the key piece sites are looking for is consistency in their menu planning, production records, and recipes.

Organizations need an easier way to pull all their data together because they have so many sites where everybody is expected to follow the same menu, but it’s hard to export consistent information out to everyone.

Training is also fundamental. Since CACFP just started with meal pattern regulations, they need training and software support. With Health-e Pro, training and support are included. Read more about our Support in “Top 4 ways to leverage our support team.”

Because of their unique needs, many of our CACFP sites with central kitchens and scratch cooking have benefited from the extra support we offer.

Health-e Pro’s menu planning software for CACFP also makes it easier to juggle multiple menus with multiple regulations. For example, one CACFP organization uses NSLP, Summer Feeding Program, and CACFP standards–all of which are pre-loaded into Health-e Pro’s menu templates that you build.

Part of Health-e Pro’s menu planning software for CACFP is online production records. With some states requiring production records, it becomes so important to work with a software that can streamline the process for you and your staff. In Health-e Pro, all production records are saved and stored electronically instead of having to manage paper records. This also saves your organization a lot of money on printing costs!

The new regulation of meal patterns has also caused standardized recipes and consistency to become a focal point for many organizations. Many are looking to implement a more manageable process for their central kitchen to get their recipes to their satellite sites and Health-e Pro makes that easy!

The new standards mean CACFP organizations need to learn new meal patterns to stay compliant. With Health-e Pro’s built-in menu standards, if anything is added to the menu that doesn’t meet regulations, the menu flags for compliance errors.

In addition to the centralized menu planning software for CACFP, Health-e Pro can also help manage meal components, allergen and attributes, and online menus for parents to see.