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Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs

The Food Buying Guide is being updated in phases to include resources for the new Nutrition Standards for School Meals. The following changes have been issued or are in progress:

• Separation of Vegetables and Fruits Section
• Meat/Meat Alternates Section
• Milk Section
• Grains Section (under construction)
• Appendix A Recipe Analysis (under construction)

For up-to-date information, please refer to the Nutrition Standards for School Meals site.

The Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs has all of the current information in one manual to help you and your purchasing agent 1) buy the right amount of food and the appropriate type of food for your program(s), and 2) determine the specific contribution each food makes toward the meal pattern requirements. You can print the entire manual, individual sections, or just updated pages to insert into your 2001 print copy. We have also updated the Vegetables/Fruits, Meat/Meat Alternates, and Milk Sections for use with the School Meal Programs. The full manual includes an introduction, appendixes, and information on Meat/Meat Alternates, Vegetables/Fruits, Grains/Breads, Milk, and Other Foods.

Printed: November 2001

Revised: January 2008

Revised Vegetables/Fruits Section for School Meal Programs: July 2012

Available: A CD copy of the Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs is included as a bonus CD in the revised USDA Recipes for Child Care publication which may be ordered from Team Nutrition.

Also Available: Online Food Buying Guide Calculator for Child Nutrition Programs

Download PDF:

• Revised Sections for School Meal Programs
• Food Buying Guide Replacement Pages
  
• Cover
• Introduction
  
• Meat/Meat Alternates - Contains more specific cuts, game
  meats, cooked ham and the Institutional Meat Purchase
  Specification (IMPS) number for certain items.
  
• Vegetables/Fruits - Contains many ready-to-use items and
  new items such as kiwi, star fruit and yucca.
  
• Grains/Breads - Contains a worksheet to calculate grams of
  flour, new classifications based on the grains/bread instruction,
  and information on how to determine if a product is creditable.
  
• Milk - Contains a more complete list of fluid milk available and
  their updated product names.
  
• Other Foods - Contains additional items.
  
• Appendix A Recipe Analysis
  
• Appendix B Using Column 6 for Recipe Analysis
  
• Appendix C The USDA Child Nutrition Labeling Program
  
• Appendix D Food Purchasing: A Summary of First Choice
  and Choice Plus
  
• Appendix E Resources -Quick Website and Phone Number
  Reference Guide
  
• Index of Foods