Reception child hunger - what do you feed them in the evening?

[tigerrr]

My son started reception this week and comes home absolutely starving. He has a hot meal at school and an afternoon snack so my plan was to give him "tea" (eg sandwich, fruit, yoghurt etc) in the evenings.

However he keeps asking for more more more. Yesterday he had pasta, a crepe, yoghurt, an apple, and then wanted more snacks so he had a pear, healthy flapjack, breadsticks and Philadelphia, cucumber sticks and raisins! We were running out of ideas by the end!

What do other people offer their reception aged child after school?

On my working days I get in between 5.30 and 6 depending which train I caught. Dh has to log back into his laptop as he had to miss an hour of work to do the pickups.

As soon as I get in, I breastfeed dc2 to sleep for a nap before I cook dinner.

I either cook ravioli (boils in under 5 min) or I've already batch cooked something like bolognese so I reheat that in the microwave while I'm boiling pasta. Or I just stick frozen baked potatoes into the microwave and quickly prepare some easy toppings (cheese, salad, baked beans).

We nearly always sit down to eat as a family before 6.20pm, sometimes closer to 6pm.

So I can get in at (say) 5.50, breastfeed dc2 to sleep, then get dinner on the table for 6.20... it can be done!

On my non working days, we have more interesting meals. On working days my only aim is to have a hot evening meal with some starch, veg, protein, that my dc1 is willing to eat. It doesn't have to be celebrity chef standard

What I might do is give her leftovers of the night before as soon as she's hungry, and then sit her with us at the table at 6.30 while we eat, with a slice of toast or a bowl of fruit and yoghurt.

5.20pm get home
5.30pm kids have 'supper'

Ps ousted if you can get your kids' supper on the table, having just entered the house 10mins ago, you can definitely get a family meal done by 6pm, easy!

Not much to add but may be worth asking more questions about the hot lunch. Discovered most of the kids in DS's class last year were way too distracted by eachother to actually be consuming much food at all. Also it was at about 11.30am so explained why he was ravenous by 3. He seemed to eat more if it was a packed lunch, or at least I had a visual on how much he'd consumed so could plan dinner accordingly.

@oustedbymymate we batch cook/batch prepare a lot so things are ready in the fridge, or use the slow cooker etc. Try to sit down for dinner together which means the adults eat super early, but for us that's better than cooking/clearing up twice ! Also been reading a bit recently that it's better for your health to eat early so that's helping me accept it more too.

Our school claim the lunch staff check they've eaten "enough".

I think I assumed one hot meal would be enough, but clearly need to rethink!

I am astonished! Sorry son, just fruit for you tonight, you’ve had your one hot meal.

We do a snack when they get home, dinner as normal and usually a small snack such as fruit or yoghurt before bed

@tigerrr so of course he’s going to be hungry, if he got two hot meals in nursery you’re going to need to give him a hot meal.
Like you say, the slow cooker is a great idea. Do you have an air fryer? They are very handy for putting on some sausages or chicken goujons and then some potatoes put on some rice. I find a stirfry is very handy. I finish work at 4:30 and collect my kids for five on the days that I go into work. sometimes we have extra activities that starts at six. on those days I do a quick stirfry or I cook a lasagna/shepherds pie on a Sunday and I keep that for the busy days.

Yeah similar here! Take a snack to pick up, tend to play a bit after school, come home for dinner, more play and then I do a final call before the kitchen closes about 30 minutes before we head up for bedtime and they usually ask for a yogurt or something 😂

Blimey that's a tall ask though!! I asked DS to be fair, not the most reliable source as he has a 5 second memory. But parents who had older kids verified that not a lot tends to go in during lunch. Just good to know in general really isn't it. I often put a banana into the school bag now just in case!

@Cheesecakelunch you gave good advice👏 obviously lashing out at you

Heaven forbid the soup isn’t home made

School dinner portions are tiny and snack is literally a piece of fruit... I'm a reception teacher and the poor kids must be absolutely starving! Disgusts me the school dinners tbh! Especially those that choose a sandwich as it's literally a sandwich and access to the salad bar..

That always worked for me when my children were that age.

Mine have a hot meal as soon as they get in after that they get snacks.

The children don't eat their lunches at school. And even if they do, it's a tiny portion. Please fed them a proper meal in the evening.

@Peony15 your list is so incredibly rude, patronising and unkind. I never said he was in school at 8 btw- he starts at 9am, and does after school club 3 x a week. Yes some people have to work. How privileged you must have been to be there for pick up at 3pm everyday. That's not the reality where I live and 90% of children attend after school club.