CACFP food program: meal counts and claims
Counting meals where they're served, income forms, the meal-pattern checks, and turning a month of counts into a claim.
Where to find it
Everything lives in one sheet, CACFP Reports, with the tabs Entries, Menu, POS, IEF, Reimbursement, Edit Checks, Meal Pattern and Deadlines. Directors, assistant directors and admins can open it three ways:
- More → Operations → Admin & compliance → CACFP Report
- More → Daily Reports → Analytics → CACFP meals
- More → Marketplace → Compliance & Programs → Food program (CACFP) → Open
Teacher-level staff who open Operations see CACFP Report too. They can record meal counts, and they can also read and add income forms, household income included. Exporting a claim and deleting an income form are director level. If you don't see CACFP anywhere, your center may not have it turned on. Everything is kept on RoundUp's servers, so every director sees the same numbers.
Recording meal counts
On Entries, tap Add Meal Count and fill in the Date, Meal Type, Age Group (Infant, Toddler, Preschool or School-Age), Eligibility (Free, Reduced or Paid) and Count, then Add Entry — one entry per meal, age group and tier. If your published menu for that meal doesn't meet the pattern for the age group, the sheet says so before you save.
Leave Claim component on Standard unless the meal was served under the at-risk afterschool program. At-risk afterschool meals always reimburse at the free rate, and only one snack and one meal per child per day can be claimed.
POS records the same thing at the table, with a Serving time (HH:MM), and saves with Record Meal Count. Counting children as they're served, rather than at the end of the day, is the habit sponsors look for.
Fill from today's attendance, under Quick fill from attendance, is a rough draft at best. It puts every child under Paid, sorts children into age groups by words in their room's name (a room not called infant, toddler, preschool, pre-k or school-age is left out), and starts with all six meals selected. Correct all three before tapping Create, or use Add Meal Count.
Income eligibility forms
On IEF, tap + New IEF and enter the child's name, Parent / Guardian name, Household size, Annual household income ($), Income source, the Eligibility determination, Date signed and Effective date, then Save IEF. Once size and income are in, USDA guidelines suggest offers a tier from the income guidelines for July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027; the determination is still yours.
Type the child's name exactly as it is on their profile. The form isn't linked to the child's record, and the for-profit check matches them by name.
A form has no expiry date here, so nothing warns you when one is due for renewal, and every form on file counts toward your claim's enrollment figures. Keep your own renewal list. When a household re-certifies or leaves, delete the old form with its trash icon — director level, and it deletes at once without asking.
Menus and the meal pattern
Menu checks the menu you publish in More → Settings → Logins & configuration → Center Menu. Pick Week of and an age group; each meal shows whether it credits, and the week is checked for three rules no single meal shows: a whole grain-rich item every day, juice at no more than one meal or snack a day, and meat or meat alternate replacing the breakfast grain no more than three times a week. No menu for this week means nothing is published for it.
Meal Pattern checks one meal by hand: choose the age group and meal, tap each component served, and it answers Reimbursable or Not Reimbursable. With milk, choose Unflavored or Flavored; flavored milk only credits for children six and older.
Its Added Sugars Check applies the 7 CFR 226.20 limits in effect since October 1, 2025: 6 g of added sugars per dry ounce of breakfast cereal and 12 g per 6 oz of yogurt. Enter the figures from the Nutrition Facts label, and check a new brand before it goes on the menu.
Edit checks
Run Edit Checks on Edit Checks reviews a date range the way a reviewer would; run it for the whole claim month. It flags duplicates, future dates, zero counts, more meals of one type than children checked in that day, too many at-risk services, entries with no tier, meals on days with no attendance, weekend entries and a close deadline.
A duplicate means two entries share a date, meal and age group, even if their tiers differ, so check a flagged pair is a real repeat before deleting either.
If RoundUp has your center down as for-profit, a For-profit eligibility card shows the month's free and reduced share against the required 25%. Edit roster flags lets you select children and Set title XX or Set at-risk only, and the check re-runs. For-profit status, title XX, at-risk area eligibility, your ODE agreement number and CNPweb site ID are set by RoundUp support; email support@roundupece.com to change them.
Reimbursement estimate
Reimbursement → Expected Reimbursement multiplies your counts by USDA's National Average Payment Rates for centers: choose a Start date and End date and tap Calculate. The note under the total reads USDA rates effective July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027. New rates take effect July 1 each year.
Those are the rates for the 48 contiguous states and DC, so centers in Alaska or Hawaii will see a low figure. Confirm current USDA rates with your sponsor or state agency before budgeting on the number.
Filing the claim
For Oregon centers, Submit to Oregon CNPweb on the same tab builds the file CNPweb accepts. Enter the Claim month (YYYY-MM) and tap Export Claim for CNPweb. RoundUp totals the month's meals, operating days and attendance, takes enrollment from your income forms, and hands you a CSV to save to Files or Drive.
Read the warnings first: a missing agreement number or site ID, no income forms, or no attendance will each cause trouble. At-risk afterschool counts are left out of the file on purpose, and the warning gives you the numbers to enter yourself. Uploading to CNPweb lists ODE's steps and Upload to Oregon CNPweb → opens the site; RoundUp can't submit for you.
For a sponsor who wants a spreadsheet, use Entries → Generate Monthly Report → Export USDA Claim CSV: every entry, with a Free, Reduced and Paid summary. It isn't a state upload format. The note beside it says to submit by the 5th of next month; your sponsor's own deadline is the one that counts.
Deadlines and records
Deadlines shows last month's claim deadline as On track, Due soon (14 days or fewer) or Overdue. Under 7 CFR 226.10(e) a claim is due within 60 days of the end of the claim month, and a late one generally isn't paid; for Oregon, RoundUp uses ODE's published date when it's earlier. The card also gives the last date for upward adjustments and reminds you to keep records for three years. Upcoming lists the next 120 days of Oregon ODE's sponsor calendar; outside Oregon, follow your state agency's.
Nothing emails or notifies you when a claim is due. Put the date in your calendar the day the month closes, and run Edit Checks that week while the month is fresh.
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