horrified by nursery food ..............what should i say to them ?

[lunachic]

took ds to visit nursrey today and i was pretty horrified by some of the items on the menu.i want to send him to this nursery because it is next door to the primary he and most of the children there will be going to -so he can make friends etc

the worst offender on the menu was jam tarts closely followed by corned beef stew and jelly

at home he eats food that is mainly healthy and wholesome with the odd tin of 'bob' pasta
i allow him to have pudding like crumble and custard but he does have a problem mainly with concentrated sugar(like some dried fruit snacks/cordial) and colourings and chocolate

i dont like him to have monosodium glutamate (im allergic he is not - yet ) which will be in the stock cubes they use but i feel too fussy if i mention this and the corned beef /processed meat??

will have to say he cant have some of the puddings he ll have fruit instead and ill maybe take in some healthy snack bars

would really appreciate some feed back from other mums as to the food at their nurserys and what you told them your child wasnt to eat- and if they stuck to that ?

tia
lunachic

ps have these people heard of jamie oliver -should i ask them ?!

[fishfinger]

dont hink you can say" my ds is coming so change your food"

[lunachic]

obviously ff

[Satine]

Was it home made stew and tarts etc? If it was, then they're doing better than most and I think your only option would packed meals, if you want to be absolutely sure of what he's eating.

[starlover]

what's wrong with corned beef????? and jam tarts?????

gosh, i grew up on corned beef sarnies, homemade jam tarts, jelly and evaporated milk...

if your ds has problems with food that has high levels of sugar in then you should have informed the nursery... they don't know if you don't tell them!

[HarrietsMommie]

Why not take your own food to replace theirs when things are on the menu that you dont want him to eat? Most nurseries do this. I know mine even cooked something else for ds when I didnt want him having processed food like sausage.

[fishfinger]

i think its trad nursery food

[lunachic]

so did i starlover i was fed evap milk as a newborn but its not really food i want my kid to eat-i mean jam tarts you might as well get them to suck a sugar lump-i might let the cornbeef go -i usad to eat it till some told me that it was just all the crappy bits of the animal ( eg ears noses prob. bums too) and the meat that is in it is mechanically scraped off the bone -its horrible next step up from dog food if you ask me

[WigWamBam]

Sounds a darned sight better than the turkey twizzlers and fishy feet that they serve up at my dd's pre-school. If the worst items on the menu are jam tarts and corned beef stew, I think you're pretty lucky, actually.

[starlover]

there's nothing wtrong with sugar now and then!
i'd rather feed ds a jam tart than some sugar-free shit full of aspartame and saccharine.
meat is meat. why is a bit thats mechanically recovered any worse than a big lump of flesh that's been carved out the side of a cow?

[lunachic]

all i really want to know is whats being too fussy and whats an acceptable level of fussiness
basically i dont want my kids eating too much cr*p but i know a little bit sometimes wont do them too much harm

[lunachic]

i totally agree with not having artificial sweetners i think theyre worse than sugar -i hate them
as for the meat thing i used to believe that but i rather they keep the crap for dog food and save the fillet steak for me

[lunachic]

and...... we dont have jam at home we eat fruit spreads instead costs the sama/similar and no added sugar just nice fruit doesnt last as long though

[starlover]

could you ask for a menu for the week? if you feel that they are serving up too many sugary tihngs then ask if it's ok to send some fruit in for your ds

i think if you go too far and send food in all the time your ds may feel left out... like he is different from all the others, which wouldn't be a good thing.

i think as long as it's homemade and freashly cooked and he's eating healthily at home then you shouldn't worry too much

[spagblog]

I read corned beef stew and jelly as one meal. I thought this sounded a bit gross!
It sounds fair enough really, as long as they aren't eating smiley potato faces and turkey twizzlers more than once a week, I would accept that they are going to get some junk in them from time to time.
Definitely mention that he should avoid too much sugar and ask for him to have a fruit alternative.

[lunachic]

thanks starlover that is what i was worried about-him feeling left out/different think that would be a good idea to look at the menu when i take him and say yes no to stuff then -ill do a list to but not go ott

wwb- turkey twizzlers yak they def havent seen jamie oliver then

suppose a little bit of corned beef and sausage wont do him too much harm just panacked because ive been trying to shop well recently and concentrate on them and me and dp eating good food

[lunachic]

love your nicname spagbol !

[triceratops]

I told the nursery that ds was vegetarian. He is not strictly veggie but I didn't want him to get chicken nuggets for every other meal which is what they seemed to serve. He ended up not eating his healthy lunch but stealing the food from other kids plates. He would never eat food like that at home, he just didn't want to be different.

He got a real taste for puddings from nursery as they seem to have crumble and custard, ice cream and rice pudding on a rolling rota. Yum.

[WigWamBam]

Lunachic, they have seen Jamie Oliver - they do have the option of healthier choices, but the nursery choses the crap, because some of the children won't touch any food unless it's deep fried or coated in breadcrumbs, and the nursery prefers the children to eat crap than to eat nothing at all.

[triceratops]

They use the whole cow for corned beef BTW - it is not mechnically recovered. It usually comes from south america and the cows they use are not your aberdeen angus but there is nothing wrong with it as a food if you overlook the high fat and salt content.

[lunachic]

thanks tct im back on cornbeef sarnies then !!!

[Satine]

Sorry but I'm still unclear as to whether they make the jam tarts etc themselves or whether it's all bought in?

[juicychops]

i thought jelly was quite healthy!

[chipmonkey]

lunachic, agree with triceratops about the corned beef unless maybe the stuff in tins is different. as I understand it crned beef is to beef what ham is to pork IYKWIM!

[handlemecarefully]

I wouldn't (and don't) baulk at my children being fed meals with corned beef in, jelly and jam tarts at nursery. I've noticed that they get plenty of healthier food too (snack time is invariably fruit, many of the main meals include 'good' things like shepherds pie, tuna pasta bake etc. It's about balance.

Too much food facism about in my opinion....(not accusing you of this - just a general observation)

[WideWebWitch]

Tbh if the food's not acceptable your choices are:
go elsewhere
tell them you're thinking of going elsewhere unless they can offer healthier options

I did complain at a nursery my ds went to when he was about 2, tea was jam sandwiches on white bread and the owner admitted that HER children didn't even know you could have sugar on cereal until they were about 10 but she still offered kids in her nursery crap. My ds got sometihng else (brown bread peanut butter s/w iirc) as a result of my complaint. But it's rubbish imo to feed kids crap, whoever's looking after them.