Nursery Meals - appalling?

[TheBlushBaby]

I have been looking at nurseries and the meals provided. I plan to raise my son plant-based with white meats occasionally, and with no processed foods. I like to cook everything from scratch and can happily make extras. I make all sauces, seed loaf, and everything else I can.

Of course this works under our roof as it's how we eat, but this isn't the way for everyone.

I was very shocked reading the meal plan for the nursery. Can I send my son with packed lunch? Does their menu seem very carb heavy to anyone else? It's all cheese, breads, pastas, potatoes! Am I overthinking this?

Why would you want a young child to be eating a low carb diet?

^^THIS!!

For fuck's sake. Children NEED CARBS.

I say this as a low carb eater.

It's a nutritionally balanced menu that is age appropriate and will have been approved by the Schools Food Standards.

I am a chef at a youth hostel and we cater for schools on residential weeks. Our menu has to be carefully created to ensure the correct balance of carbs and protein are on it. It is calorie counted too and portion controlled to a certain extent.

That menu is very similar to the approved by the SFS one that my hostel uses.

It's not great, but not awful either.

Dd's nursery manages a massive variety of healthy meals with good quality ingredients; so it is possible. But I think a lot of nurseries don't have the guts to feed children anything other than bland food.

It won't be a problem though, as others have pointed out, fats and carbs are very important for growing children so your "plant based" diet plans probably needs some balance.

I agree with others that little ones need carbs but it does seem lacking in veg.

To the person who asked earlier if is was white bread and pasta - under 5 should prominently have white bread and pasta as wholemeal will make them feel full quickly and they won't eat as much so won't get enough calories.

My daughter nursery offers the option to send in a pack lunch all the time or for specific meals that you know your child won't eat. Traditional carb heavy puddings are offered but you can't just choose fruit. I have no idea how that would work when they are aware the others are having something different to them.

It sounds a lot better than plants...

If those meals are being made from scratch, then apart from ham there is nothing processed on there.

Why all this meat-tasting Quorn?

Apart from the fact I hate the taste of meat, Quorn makes me vomit violently. Why not substitute the meat meals with, er, vegetables? Radical, huh?

I think it looks fine tbh, kids need carbs.

My DS nursery allows me to provide a packed hot dinner (for lunch) every day he attends and then he eats nursery-provided tea with the other kids.

Meh, not fantastic but not that bad. They have to cater for a group of kids so needs to be easy and cost effective.

My biggest concern would be that they serve pudding at every meal (WTF?!) and they could do with increasing the amount of veg.

Oh I agree about the overload of Quorn aswell - and that's coming from a vegetarian.

How old is your DS currently OP? I only say this as you may find your child will have their own views on what they will and won't eat. [Sighs at the many healthy meals I have thrown away for toddler DD, who would rather now starve than eat broccoli despite it being one of her favourite foods as a baby]

I second kids needing a balanced diet with carbs and fat though. They need the energy to grow. And red meat is good for iron (and I say this as a vegetarian).

There is a lot of quorn for the non-meat eaters but otherwise I think it looks fine. Children should not be low-carbing!

There will be vegetables served with it id have thought. They just don't specify what. That's what's happened with our two nurseries.

I am worried it might make things harder at home and he would be less inclined to eat vegetable based meals which we live on.

A. they all go off what they were weaned on in favour of something embarrassing and unhealthy in the preschool years even if you don't send them to nursery, so that WILL happen anyway

B. they eat totally differently at nursery/school to home anyway. there are things mine have yummed at nursery or as school dinners that they won't touch for me at home

I wouldn't be happy with that menu as a veggie. I think they need some help with their veggie cooking. If it's the right nursery for you otherwise I suggest you chat to them about varying the veggie options more.

I agree about carbs, but non-processed ones make me a little happier. He can eat all the baked potatoes, corn, squash and pumpkin he can get his hands on. I just want the nutritional value to be higher I suppose. I understand I can't send him with lunch because of other children's allergies. Can anyone tell me what Quorn is like these days? I've had Quorn nuggets and meat replacement before, but that was forever ago! Is it decent?

The puddings are probably very small portions and dishes like stew and chilli may contain vegetables that aren't listed.

Nursery menus are based on EYFS guidelines. They have set standards to meet know terms of nutrition, ie x% iron etc. They do this by balancing the menu throughout the whole day and to meet the recommend amounts the menus are indeed carb and pudding heavy. This comes from DH who is a nursery chef.

I have my own feelings on this and wonder how it works for children who are part time or who have dinner at home in addition to what they have at nursery. I also wonder how "right" the EYFS have it.

I wouldn't be concerned about the menu though. It's not just something that someone has thought up (or it shouldn't be).

DD2 is two years old and was recebtly diagnosed with a digestive disorder. The dietician told me ordinarily children from 1-5 thrive best on a high carb-high fat diet due to their rapid growth etc. Veg and lean meat alone won't be enough to sustain him OP.

My dd's nursery is packed lunch only btw so yours may allow it.

I really don't see what's wrong with the menu

Although for your child's sake I think it's best they eat the nursery meals. Children need high fat foods and carbs!

Seems fine to me but just send a packed lunch if it's an issue for you.

Seriously, one day soon you will LOL that you thought you'ld set healthy eating habits "for life" by weaning healthily. And when that happens you'll be glad that they've eaten ANYTHING at nursery when you can't even temp them with pudding at home!

When I was younger our school had a salad bar, sushi, steamed veggies and so on

I wouldn't say that what you had was typical of school food. I certainly didn't have that