Does Food Program Really Cover Food Costs?

[originalkat]

I am on my third month on the food program. I have 6 kids, but two are mine. I am on the tier that gets the higher rate which is great. But my kids dont qualify because you have to qualify by income.

My last check was $328 for the 4 kids. I think it is worth it but I do not count on that money each month. I just look at it as a little bonus. If I was on the lower tier I do not think I would do it.

[Unregistered]

Food Program Always Financially Beneficial

I also found it to be too much DRAMA with the constant changing of tiers/regulations (ketchup is a vegetable??!!), services losing their state contracts/having to start process all over, agents repeatedly getting lost trying to find my house/had to send someone to escort them, multiple unannounced (until they called to say they were lost) home visits, redundant paperwork and over-regulation.

I also lost the tax deductions...was not worth it for me, personally.::

You don't lose a tax deduction by joining the Food Program. Your food deduction does not change once you join the Food Program. That is, you can still deduct food using the standard meal allowance rate (or calculate your actual food expenses) whether or not you are on the Food Program. Therefore, you will always have more money (even after paying taxes on the reimbursements) when you join the Food Program.

[SunflowerMama]

Ok thanks for replies. I understand it a little better. I will no longer look at it as to cover ALL expenses but simply reimburse me for part of my food expenses. What do you guys usually spend a week total for food for children and how many do you have in care?

I have 3 children in care (I'm slower in the summer) and then my two girls and I spend about $150/week on groceries for my family and the childcare.

My check from the food program is only about $140/month so I don't know if I'm going to stick with it. I'm on the lowest tier and my own children don't count so I don't know if it's worth it for me.

[professionalmom]

Wow, I guess it is different for each state. I interviewed 3 different agencies/programs before I joined one. They were all basically the same because they are all funded through the USDA. However, one program did not have the option to submit things online. One program was online only. I chose the one that allowed either way because I wanted to have the option to submit everything via the mail IF my internet went down for some reason.

I have the option of planning menus in advance or just entering the foods and attendance at the end of the day. Even with the planned menus, I can change oranges to grapes when I do the paperwork (computer work) at the end of the day. So if they show up and see grapes, I just tell her that I planned for oranges, but we changed our minds and I will make the proper adjustment when I enter everything in the evening. No problem and I still get reimbursed. But I have a really awesome sponsor who is very laid back and used to be a home daycare provider. So maybe that helps, having a sponsor who understanding that flexibility is a necessity in home daycare. If we end up serving lunch at 11:45 instead of 12:00 on the dot, I can change that too. So I’m not LOCKED into the foods I serve or the times. I just make the proper adjustments when I record it at the end of the day. I’m not sure about preparing a meal or snack and doing a picnic elsewhere. From the way I understand it, the reimbursement is based on the fact that I am providing the food, paying for it, and serving it. Also, I get reimbursed for feeding infants even if the parents provide the formula. I have to “offer” a brand of formula, but if the family uses another brand (which has always been the case for me), they sign a waiver, then I get reimbursed. It was explained to me that since we have to take the time to actually hold the baby and feed him/her (instead of propping up the bottle) and also preparing the bottle, it is just as time consuming as preparing a meal for older children and therefore, it’s worthy of reimbursement. As for calling them if we will be out of the house, I don’t see a problem with this. After all, I hate going to see someone and find out they are not there and I wasted my time and gas. So, I see it as a respect thing. I would feel awful if my sponsor showed up and I wasn’t here.

Also, for the first year, I got reimbursed for my DD because our income was low enough. Then we got “kicked off” of claiming our DD because my husband got a raise and I got more clients, which increased our income, making us ineligible. Now, when our twins are born in Nov., we will probably be able to starting claiming the twins and DD since we will jump to a family of 5, with a higher income eligibility cut-off. Also, I am in Tier 1, the highest tier. So this will be a HUGE benefit. The only rule there is that I can only claim the meals that I serve my kids if I am also claiming at least 1 DC kid for that meal/snack. And I'm still limited to 2 meals and a snack OR a meal and 2 snacks per day.

But I think the biggest benefit to the food program is the record keeping. I upgraded to Minute Menu Pro, which has a lot of features. I log in each DCK’s sign in and sign out times each day. It will calculate my time-space percentage based on my actual hours of operation. I can also record all my expenses. Then at tax time, it will print out reports showing how much I spent for various categories, such as office supplies, toys, or advertising (to name a few). There is even a mileage calculator where I can enter the miles I use to run to the bank to make deposits, trips to the grocery store, field trips, etc. Then it calculates a time-space percentage for my car mileage, so I can deduct some of my car insurance, fuel, and upkeep. Basically, it makes tax time MUCH less painful and a LOT more organized for me. I can also print out all my tax reports for all my families at the end of the year in less than 5 minutes. I do my invoices to the parents and print those out in record time. These are just a few of the amenities of that program. I absolutely love it and would be lost without this software that is specifically designed for home daycare providers.

Can it be a pain in the neck to log everything in all the time? Sure. But it sure beats the full day, mind-numbing, migraine-causing nightmare of adding everything up on my own at tax time. And it will need to be done, whether I am on the food program or not. I just adore the fact that the program does so much of the calculations, forms, and recording for me. At tax time, I just print some reports, plug the numbers into my tax software, and I’m done.

But, it appears that the different agencies in different states have different rules, so check with your sponsors. Also, check with the different agencies to see who you like more.

[MarinaVanessa]

Yes I agree, check with them first about how it works. I used to do food program but it was awful. I just quit not too long ago. They were so nit-picky about schedules and menu's that it was too much trouble for just being reimbursed for part of my costs. I prefer to buy the food myself for daycare and pay my families food on a seperate receipt and then claim all of the DC food at the end of the year like I used to do. It was nice being reimbursed monthly and all instead of yearly but I hated having to stay at home for the meals to count. We like to take walks to the park and have picnic lunches which I prepare at home and take with us but in my area only meals eaten at home count. That means I couldn't count at least 2 lunches a week. That's a lot of lunches in a year and considering that right now I don't have any kids arriving before 9am so I also don't need to serve breakfast. Not to mention how they freak out if your menu says bananas and you serve apples instead . "Oh no, food program is giving birth to a water buffalo in my kitchen right now" was my thought when this happened once. I still follow their nutritional guidelines but I'm not signed up anymore.

[emosks]

Wow, I guess it is different for each state. I interviewed 3 different agencies/programs before I joined one. They were all basically the same because they are all funded through the USDA. However, one program did not have the option to submit things online. One program was online only. I chose the one that allowed either way because I wanted to have the option to submit everything via the mail IF my internet went down for some reason.

I have the option of planning menus in advance or just entering the foods and attendance at the end of the day. Even with the planned menus, I can change oranges to grapes when I do the paperwork (computer work) at the end of the day. So if they show up and see grapes, I just tell her that I planned for oranges, but we changed our minds and I will make the proper adjustment when I enter everything in the evening. No problem and I still get reimbursed. But I have a really awesome sponsor who is very laid back and used to be a home daycare provider. So maybe that helps, having a sponsor who understanding that flexibility is a necessity in home daycare. If we end up serving lunch at 11:45 instead of 12:00 on the dot, I can change that too. So I’m not LOCKED into the foods I serve or the times. I just make the proper adjustments when I record it at the end of the day. I’m not sure about preparing a meal or snack and doing a picnic elsewhere. From the way I understand it, the reimbursement is based on the fact that I am providing the food, paying for it, and serving it. Also, I get reimbursed for feeding infants even if the parents provide the formula. I have to “offer” a brand of formula, but if the family uses another brand (which has always been the case for me), they sign a waiver, then I get reimbursed. It was explained to me that since we have to take the time to actually hold the baby and feed him/her (instead of propping up the bottle) and also preparing the bottle, it is just as time consuming as preparing a meal for older children and therefore, it’s worthy of reimbursement. As for calling them if we will be out of the house, I don’t see a problem with this. After all, I hate going to see someone and find out they are not there and I wasted my time and gas. So, I see it as a respect thing. I would feel awful if my sponsor showed up and I wasn’t here.

Also, for the first year, I got reimbursed for my DD because our income was low enough. Then we got “kicked off” of claiming our DD because my husband got a raise and I got more clients, which increased our income, making us ineligible. Now, when our twins are born in Nov., we will probably be able to starting claiming the twins and DD since we will jump to a family of 5, with a higher income eligibility cut-off. Also, I am in Tier 1, the highest tier. So this will be a HUGE benefit. The only rule there is that I can only claim the meals that I serve my kids if I am also claiming at least 1 DC kid for that meal/snack. And I'm still limited to 2 meals and a snack OR a meal and 2 snacks per day.

But I think the biggest benefit to the food program is the record keeping. I upgraded to Minute Menu Pro, which has a lot of features. I log in each DCK’s sign in and sign out times each day. It will calculate my time-space percentage based on my actual hours of operation. I can also record all my expenses. Then at tax time, it will print out reports showing how much I spent for various categories, such as office supplies, toys, or advertising (to name a few). There is even a mileage calculator where I can enter the miles I use to run to the bank to make deposits, trips to the grocery store, field trips, etc. Then it calculates a time-space percentage for my car mileage, so I can deduct some of my car insurance, fuel, and upkeep. Basically, it makes tax time MUCH less painful and a LOT more organized for me. I can also print out all my tax reports for all my families at the end of the year in less than 5 minutes. I do my invoices to the parents and print those out in record time. These are just a few of the amenities of that program. I absolutely love it and would be lost without this software that is specifically designed for home daycare providers.

Can it be a pain in the neck to log everything in all the time? Sure. But it sure beats the full day, mind-numbing, migraine-causing nightmare of adding everything up on my own at tax time. And it will need to be done, whether I am on the food program or not. I just adore the fact that the program does so much of the calculations, forms, and recording for me. At tax time, I just print some reports, plug the numbers into my tax software, and I’m done.

But, it appears that the different agencies in different states have different rules, so check with your sponsors. Also, check with the different agencies to see who you like more.

Word. For. Word.

I seriously could have written this out...even about our sponsor!!

[MarinaVanessa]

You don't lose a tax deduction by joining the Food Program. Your food deduction does not change once you join the Food Program. That is, you can still deduct food using the standard meal allowance rate (or calculate your actual food expenses) whether or not you are on the Food Program. Therefore, you will always have more money (even after paying taxes on the reimbursements) when you join the Food Program.

That's right you don't lose the deduction but you have to claim the Food Program reimbursement amount as income and for me I'd rather get reimbursed at the end of the year (tax deduction) rather than have to go through the trouble and negligence of the Food Program regulations and it's staff. They are constantly losing my paperwork, snooping through places that have no food , offer no training other than a folder with some papers in it and when you mess up (well duh if I'd have known that before I wouldn't have done it that way) and getting mixed information from each person I make contact with. I finally got the hang of it with one worker and then they changed my representative and that one said that pretty much everything that the other lady told me was wrong and I finally just gave up.

I did however sign up for Minute Menu Pro because I loved it!! We had it included (and didn't pay for it) with the food program but it was just so awsome that when I dropped the food program I had to sign up for it. For a $70 initial first year sign-up fee and only $40 to renew each year you can't go wrong. I do EVERYTHING on that program.

[Crystal]

I LOVE the food program. My case manager is AWESOME...I have had the same one for 13 years, and I never mind her dropping in. She has never checked my fridge or cupboards, and most times she comes when it is not even mealtime. I could not feed the children as well as I do without the food program. The paperwork is really very minimal....no more time consuming than coming on here and making a couple of posts

[MarinaVanessa]

I LOVE the food program. My case manager is AWESOME...I have had the same one for 13 years, and I never mind her dropping in. She has never checked my fridge or cupboards, and most times she comes when it is not even mealtime. I could not feed the children as well as I do without the food program. The paperwork is really very minimal....no more time consuming than coming on here and making a couple of posts

Psht. Can I have your worker? If I didn't have so much trouble with our areas food program maybe i would have stuck to it. I just keep my receipts. It really wasn't just one thing only. It was everything. The paperwork really wasn't that hard for me or not a lot if I only had to fill it out once but they lost my paperwork several times (once I had to fill out the same set of paperwork four times because they lost it three times) and it was just frustrating.

[JustWondering]

Where does money go?

Just wondering...if daycare requires me to provide my own formula for my infant, why are they also requiring me to have my doctor fill out food program paperwork so they can get an extra $100/month from the state? That $100 isn't going to feed my kid, so where is it going and what's that about?? If the state is willing to pay for formula, would be nice if they would help out the parents who are actually buying the expensive stuff in the first place!!

[Thriftylady]

Just wondering...if daycare requires me to provide my own formula for my infant, why are they also requiring me to have my doctor fill out food program paperwork so they can get an extra $100/month from the state? That $100 isn't going to feed my kid, so where is it going and what's that about?? If the state is willing to pay for formula, would be nice if they would help out the parents who are actually buying the expensive stuff in the first place!!

Well I would ask your provider about it. I mean are you wanting a different kind of formula than your provider provides? Is the provider providing other foods? You are not required by the food program to sign your child up, but that may be a deal breaker with your provider. And every sponsor is different it seems with the food program. So these are things you should be discussing with your provider. For me when I was on the food program, I didn't put my infants on it, but I also didn't provide ANY food for children under 12 months. At 12 months, I require them to be eating the meals and snacks I serve, and be drinking from a cup, as I don't allow bottles or baby foods after 12 months unless a doctor prescribes it for a medical reason. At 12 months if you didn't sign your child up, they couldn't stay at my daycare. But I am not on the food program now.

ETA: When I was on the food program it did help defray costs and keep my rates down a bit.

[LysesKids]

Yes, for food program you have to be licensed. No exceptions.

In TN you can be licensed exempt... I was on the program a few years ago and just talked to my old sponsor ( she voted for my childcare thru CityView Best of the Best) - she wants me back because she loved my menus.

[Thriftylady]

In TN you can be licensed exempt... I was on the program a few years ago and just talked to my old sponsor ( she voted for my childcare thru CityView Best of the Best) - she wants me back because she loved my menus.

That does seem to vary by state and sometimes sponsor.

[Blackcat31]

In TN you can be licensed exempt... I was on the program a few years ago and just talked to my old sponsor ( she voted for my childcare thru CityView Best of the Best) - she wants me back because she loved my menus.

I am sure things are different now.

You quoted a post from 2010.

[Blackcat31]

Just wondering...if daycare requires me to provide my own formula for my infant, why are they also requiring me to have my doctor fill out food program paperwork so they can get an extra $100/month from the state? That $100 isn't going to feed my kid, so where is it going and what's that about?? If the state is willing to pay for formula, would be nice if they would help out the parents who are actually buying the expensive stuff in the first place!!

The food program requires programs to offer ONE choice of formula. If parents decline (for what ever reasons) then the parent must supply the formula.

The provider is reimbursed for rounding out the meal components such as adding fruits, veggies, grains and/or cereals.

Providers are also reimbursed for feeding (serving) the bottle. It still takes time to prepare and feed.

The government DOES have a program that helps pay for formula. It's called WIC