childminders do you cook?

I'm a little crafty, I provide lunch but if Parents want mindees to have dinner then they provide it themselves. Also I don't provide baby food either.

The only exception is a mindee who comes infrequently and is picked up well after 6oclock, eats whatever we have for our evening meal.

OK Helly and oldandfat (change your name!!!) - keep on with the encouragement for me to not to do food!! I just know that getting some of my mindees to eat raw peppers and sunflower seeds is going to be difficult.

Oldandfat - is your hourly rate similar to others near you? I charge £3.50/hour - other minders in my area charge about the same, not many charge more, and some provide food and some don't. I would hate to think that a parent would pick a minder purely because they did or didn't provide food.

i wish i could get away with not doing food at all, it takes a huge chunk of my free time away but if i was a parent i don't think i would be a happy paying £4.00 per hour and my child not getting meals included. i also tend to make my own children 10 and 14 wait for their dinner until all mindees have left (unless they have a club or something) so that our family can all eat together. this means i am still in the kitchen most nights at 10pm.....dh does help alot even cooks most nights so its not too bad. dont feel bad about not cooking if parents are hppy then go with it....like i say, i wish i could. one day i will have a little lady who comes and cooks, cleans and irons on a daily basis (not)

Oh TP - I only decided to do these as I do for my own ds anyway and I actually think it's easier for me they all eat the same - if however I wasn't making for ds, i don't know if I still would. Does that make sense, god I feel pi**ed!

Oh Helly - as I was typing my post and thinking about what others had just said, I'd been thinking, "they don't need a cooked meal at lunchtime, it could be cold stuff" ... and the first words I then see after mine are from you ... "cold lunch". I don't want to start preparing food for mindees, I don't want to start preparing food for mindees, I don't want to start preparing food for mindees ...

I do cold lunch and cooked meals if the parents require it. So far baby food is provided.

I know other childminders have posted previously on other threads, and this one too, about providing meals for mindees, and given various tips on how to do it (cook lots and freeze at weekend, for instance). I think that providing healthy, home-cooked, fresh, organic food would be a superb selling feature for any childminder - but I don't do it .

I already spend a lot of time outside my normal working hours (7.30am - 6pm ish, Monday - Friday) doing paperwork, courses, etc. I don't want to give up yet more of my weekend preparing meals as well. And I certainly don't have any time during my working day to do it. I do feel guilty about it - much more so since joining Mumsnet, as so many other minders do offer meals!

i use mainly organic food and always try to use healthy home cooked food (no ready meals etc). the food etc is all included in my daily fees so whether they like it or not they have to pay the going rate.

You might also find that some parents dont want their children to have a cooked lunch or not be willing to pay what is expected to support the healthy meals and only expect cheap food. (one of mine wanted a healthy cooked meal for 50p - i refused to cook value sausage and chips etc I didnt look after that child for long)

i cook lunch times and i wish i had never started it. i am going to keep it this way until easter and then let them all know its cold lunch or quick ones such as jacket spuds etc and then small healthy snack after eve school run. all mindees here after 5pm will get a cooked tea. just hope this won't annoy parents but it just means i can spend more time with the children than in the kitchen

I do cooked meals at teatime but not at lunch, just sandwiches, pittas, scrambled egg etc followed by fruit, yogurt etc.
I don't cook at lunch cos like the others have said if you are out at different activities you just don't have time.
The meals I provide for some mindees at teatime are always home cooked and on a Friday my children and my mindees help to pick the next weeks menu to keep everyone happy.

I thought about the cooked meal thing at lunchtime as i like cooking but Im realistic and I think 2 hours out every morning at playgroup then to start cooking for 3 children of different ages and getting them to eat would be a nightmare so Im going to do jacket potatoes, pitta breads with different fillings etc, fruit salads. I think that will work and I'll be less stressed. Certainly when I first start.

Message withdrawn