Nanny - Cant cook, wont cook!!

I made it clear to our nanny at interview that nutricious cooking from scratch was an integral part of the job. She's not a great cook (don't think she's ever done this sort of cooking before) but she's been willing to have a go. They have their cooked meal at tea time (5pm) and this could be something she's fixed that day, our left overs from the night before or something out of the freezer (e.g. bolognaise sauce). A lot of what she prepares she freezes a portion or two from, and I try to do the same, so there's always something in the freezer. I don't tell her what to do, but did make very clear what we think is OK food (e.g. water or milk to drink). She rarely buys food except when stopping off in a cafe, and I don't keep in the house things I'd rather she didn't give them.

IIWY, I'd 'have a good chat' about this. BAN what you see as 'bad foods / drinks' (except at parties). Come up with a weekly menu with recipes from books (I like the two NannyNick has suggested) and with her cooking from scratch (rather than reheating) only 1-2 times per week, pref when the children are out / asleep if poss. Also give her a list of acceptable snacks (e.g. fruit / cheese / home-made cakes...) and deserts. Reinforce that if baking with the kids, results are not expected to be fab (it's the process for the children). Give your children fruit with their breakfast and tea if you are doing these. Get in veg that need minimal preparation and that you know your children will eat happily.

Hope that helps - I find cooking with the children around tricky, and manage best when it's something I'm familiar with preparing. Learning to cook for the first time whilst also managing small children must be tricky.

Makes sure your nanny knows your views regarding the food the children eat. While sausage rolls and coke can be good at parties, they are not really suitable in my opinion on a daily basis.

Bakery - nothing wrong with that, though far better to bake at home... it's not rocket science, and children love to help.

I recommend the following books:
The Dinner Lady - Jeanette Orrey ISBN:0-593-05429-6
The River Cottage Family Cookbook - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall ISBN: 0-340-82636-3

I also like a book of Nostalgic recipes from the 1940's and early 50's.
Feeding The Nation - Marguerite Patten OBE ISBN: 0-600-61472-7

Pick some of the easier recipies from these and ask nanny to follow them.
A simple one to start with is Pasta, Peas and Bacon (from The Dinner Lady), this really is easy and children eat it! Then get more adventurous and try Toad in the Hole - it is simple, but getting yorkshire pudding batter to rise is the challenge.

Cakes are easy to make... start with Muffins, as once mastered, you can try different flavourings: choc chip, cherry, apple, banana, blueberry to name but a few.

Corkflake Crunchies (cornflake cakes) and Krispie Cakes are also very easy to do, plus you can experiement with different types of ceral. Wheatabix sort of works!
Flapjacks are also easy, though I do still tend to overcook (burn) mine, so watch the timing!

Once those are mastered, your nanny can try making bread. I found a burger bun recipe on the web (from the US) that I found easy to make, alas can't locate a link for it right now. Bread rolls I find easier than loafs, so perhaps start with rolls. Also flat breads work quite well - see River Cottage Family Cookbook for flatbread recipe.

Plus, I find it's great to know how to:
Cook Rice
Make a basic white sauce

Rice, Sauce, Fish and Peas/Sweatcorn I find goes well - the children mix it all up into a gooey mess. It's lovely though, even works with tinned fish, though I find smoked fish is better.

Just a thought go on www.nannyjob.co.uk (cant do links ) and ask them .

Tell her . She should know better . I prefer to give the healthy stuff as it keeps the kids on an even keel and not bouncing off the wall. Also if I feed them the healthy stuff it leaves the parents free to feed them the (rubbish lol) at weekends if they want to .And a definate NO to coke .

I'd ask her not to give them the coke, as well as twwtswah's suggestions

My approach would be - in fact has been - buy a good kids cook book, point it out to her in a general way "I got this coz I fancied trying a few different things for the kids..." then you could try a variety of approaches: "is there anything from that book you fancy doing next week...just let me know and I'll get the ingredients..." or "I bought the ingredients for...I wondered if you could do it one day this week...and there's some cold chicken left over from the weekend...could you do it with rice and veg for them...." or if you feel you need to really spell it out "could you try some of these meals, they need more veg...and can you keep crisps to a once a week treat..."

er tell ehr not to
?