spoonFULL

spoonFULL, formerly CCSA’s Meal Services Program, provides high-quality and affordable nutritious meals and snacks per day to children enrolled in participating child care centers, keeping children healthy, helping teachers focus on teaching and saving providers money. Learn more about how your program can participate.


Program Overview

For more than 30 years, CCSA has offered catered meals following U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines with ample portion sizes that meet or exceed Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) standards.

spoonFULL buys food in bulk, allowing child care centers to purchase nutritional meals and snacks at an affordable rate, without having to maintain expensive kitchens. The program also allows directors to focus more of their attention on quality care instead of on shopping, menu planning and cooking.

Program Menus

Prioritizing fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains while limiting salt, sugar, fat and preservatives makes spoonFULL unique. Meals are crafted with care with local products whenever possible (including locally sourced meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables). The meal preparation team uses only canola and olive oil in cooking and uses nutritious brown rice, whole-grain breads and whole wheat macaroni whenever possible. In addition, we will accommodate special diets and food allergies with appropriate substitutions. The menus vary by the season and new foods are introduced to children in tasty and appealing ways. Our meals are fresh, unique, liked and local.

Click here to view this month’s menu.

spoonFULL Testimonials

  • Planning, shopping for and preparing nutritionally balanced and varied meals is one of the most difficult tasks a center faces. CCSA’s Meal Services Program saves me an unimaginable amount of time each day — and we are impressed with the quality of food served by the program.

    Director of participating center

  • I like the fresh, local produce…[spoonFULL] does offer healthy meals and food options to children that may not be introduced to that food (beets, cauliflower, turnip greens, etc.).

    Teacher of Participating Center

  • Having the variety in the menus CCSA creates has given our children exposure to some foods they might not ever had an opportunity to try. Parents have been surprised by some of the foods that their children eat here but not at home. Our children really enjoy trying so many new things!

    Director of participating center

How to Participate

To participate in spoonFULL, centers must maintain at least a 3-star license or be working toward a 3-star license through one of CCSA’s local quality improvement projects. This program is primarily available to child care centers in Durham, Orange and Wake counties. Download the brochure to learn more about eligibility and participation.

Food Insecurity in Children Ages Birth to Five

An Analysis of Childhood Food Insecurity in Wake, Durham and Orange Counties

As Child Care Services Association (CCSA) looks to grow and keep up with the demand of our meal services program, spoonFULL, there is a need for better data on food insecurity among children birth to five in the Triangle as well as an understanding of the causes and effects of food insecurity on early learners. This report outlines the concept and realities of food insecurity, the findings and methodology of mapping food insecurity in the Triangle and the implications these results have for CCSA. This report was created by students in the Department of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2019.

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