CACFP: the food money that isn't a grant (but should be)

If you serve meals and snacks to the children in your care — and you do — the government will pay you back for a lot of it. That’s CACFP, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and it is the single most under-used pot of money in family child care. Providers skip it because it sounds like paperwork, or because they think it’s a grant they have to win. It’s neither of those things.

First, get the category right: this is reimbursement, not a grant

CACFP is not a grant and you should never think of it as one. There’s no competitive application you can lose and no fixed award. It’s a reimbursement: you serve qualifying meals and snacks following the program’s meal patterns, you keep records, and USDA pays you back per meal. It’s ongoing, it’s year-round, and it renews as long as you participate. That makes it more reliable than any grant — a grant is a one-time event; CACFP is a revenue stream.

What it pays

Rates are set per meal and adjusted every July 1 for inflation. For 2025–26, a day care home in the contiguous states earns $1.70 per Tier I breakfast and $0.61 per Tier II breakfast, with higher rates for lunches and suppers. Those per-meal amounts look small until you multiply by the number of children, meals, and days you already serve — over a year it’s real money you’re currently leaving on the table.

Two things to confirm before you count on a number: the 2026–27 rates publish in a new USDA notice each July, so pull the current figures from the FNS site rather than trusting an old blog. And your tier (I or II) depends on eligibility rules — confirm yours with your sponsor.

How a home provider joins

Home providers almost always participate through a CACFP sponsoring organization — a local agency that handles the administrative side, trains you on the meal patterns, reviews your records, and passes your reimbursement through. Centers can participate independently or through a sponsor. To get started:

• You generally need to be a licensed or state-approved provider (see the licensing gateway).
• Search “[your state] CACFP sponsor” or ask your CCR&R for the sponsoring organizations in your area.
• Get an EIN first so you’re not handing your Social Security number to a sponsor — our checklist covers this.

The honest catch

CACFP comes with real recordkeeping — menus, attendance, meal counts — and critics fairly point out that the per-meal rates haven’t kept pace with food costs. Both are true. But it’s money for food you’re buying anyway, it stacks cleanly on top of subsidy and quality grants (it’s one of the four doors), and once your routine is set the paperwork becomes habit. For most family child care providers, it’s the highest-return hour of admin in the week.