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Tracking student meals and food

[For All Staff] Learn how to record student meals and food in brightwheel.

Sabrina avatar
Written by Sabrina
Updated this week

Providers can document student meals in brightwheel for family visibility and for Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) reimbursements. Pre-set menus make logging meals and snacks faster by allowing staff to select foods from a pre-built list during meal times.

ℹ️ Providers participating in CACFP should confirm that each student’s Meal Type is set to either Free, Reduced, or Paid prior to meal logging to avoid reporting discrepancies.


Log student meals & food activity

When logging a meal, staff can manually add food items or quickly select from the day’s preset menu, if available for the room. Setting up menus helps staff log meals faster without searching for individual items.

You can also record:

  • Food type (solid or bottle)

  • Amount consumed (All, Most, Some, None, or bottle ounces)

  • Meal type (Breakfast, AM/PM/Late Snack, Lunch, Dinner)

💡 Tip: Ensure the student is checked into the correct room so the meal appears accurately on the Meal Report.

On the App

  1. Log in on the app and open a room
    💡 Admins: Hit Rooms | Staff: Select from the top room dropdown

  2. Tap Add Activity > Food

  3. Add meal details and select Meal Items + to record what the child ate

  4. Tap Add Activity

On the web

  1. Log in on the web

  2. Open the room's or child's activity feed

  3. Click Add Activity > Food

  4. Add meal details and select Meal items to record what the child ate

  5. Tap Add food


Quickly log food items from preset menus

When logging meals that students have eaten, staff can quickly add pre-populated food items from menus created in brightwheel. This helps save time and ensures meals are accurately tracked for CACFP reporting.

To add pre-populated meal items, select the Meal Type, then tap Quick add [meal name] items for today while logging a food activity. This will automatically add the food items assigned to that meal for the selected day.

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