Am I being picky or is this unhealthy?

[pinkflamingo561]

Am I being picky here? DD went for a trial at nursery yesterday and after dinner she had cake and custard. Today she had a biscuit as part of a snack, a chocolate mouse after lunch and potato waffles as part of tea. It seems quite processed and high in sugar?She also had cheese and bacon pasta yesterday, which sounds quite high in salt. Is this normal nursery food or is this high in sugar and salt

Normal

Couldn’t get overly worked up about the cake and custard (was it made in the nursery kitchen with fresh eggs, milk, etc?) or the pasta (again, home made, low salt bacon and half fat cheese wouldn’t concern me). Maybe ask about those elements?

Wouldn’t be impressed with the biscuits, potato waffles and chocolate mousse (assuming shop-bought), though. Rubbish, very little value at all.

My kids nursery tend to have something sweet for afternoon snack e.g. banana bread, flapjacks etc. They have a kitchen on site so they're all home made.
Only processed food is Friday lunch they have waffles, spaghetti hoops and sausages.

Yes, you're right, it completely depends on whether those things are homemade or shop bought.

It’s too much sugar & processed food. The crap fed to children is unforgivable.

Ask to see a weekly menu. They usually have to make sure there is a good balance across a week.

See this is it. It could just be that it's Friday, and she will only be going on a Friday.

What other stuff did she have across the whole day? You could look at my dd's snack/dessert today in horror but actually across the day it was balanced with fruit, veg, protein etc. You also need to be realistic about what they can provide that isn't majorly expensive that the majority of toddlers will eat.

Just seen your Friday update. Ddvs nursery is definitely a bit more treaty on a Friday - hot dogs for tea for instance one week. But it's only 3 meals out of 21 (if she's there all day) so just provide some balance

Do you know who the food provider is?

Ours has a menu like that but it's all done by s nursery catering company and so it's healthyish versions done specifically for small children.

I dont know. My friend has a daughter there and they have a menu they're going to send me, so that might tell me.

Yes that is true:

Today:
Lunch:
Cottage pie & veg
Chocolate mousse

Tea:
Potato waffles & baked beans
Fruit

Snacks:
Apple, banana, biscuit

It only seems normal to many people because it’s so common; doesn’t mean it’s not horribly unhealthy. Most of the food I’ve seen in my kids’ nursery/school settings I wouldn’t feed to a dog - it’s an absolute scandal that we’re providing such low quality food for our children. All that very-probably-processed stuff you mention in the space of one day is just grim. Did they give them any fresh fruit and veg?

Yes there was fruit as part of a snack, and veg at lunch time.

My friend has a daughter there and she sent me this menu. The puddings appear very sweet, I may just ask for no puddings.

If you refuse your kid puddings when everyone else is eating them, you are teaching her that they are bad & mustn’t be eaten & creating a whole range of possible bad food associations.

Puddings/biscuits/sugar are fine in moderation. And alongside healthy, homemade food. My DD’s have a bit of chocolate or a small biscuit everyday & at weekends, tend to have a cake or ice cream on both days. Inbetween that, they eat healthy, wholemeal, home cooked, sensible portions. Easily get their 5 a day. As such, they see ‘treats’ as food to enjoy so long as they eat healthily & are active. They are part of life rather than something ‘bad’ & ‘negative’.

This is how I live as an adult. I eat chocolate every day. A small 150 calorie bar of something in the evening. And treat myself at the weekend. I eat really healthily around that & exercise as often as I can. Everything in moderation, food is to enjoy. Not something to worry about & restrict or binge. I’ve been a size 10, BMI of 20 my entire adult life bar pregnancies. Where I lost the weight within a year by eating in moderation & exercising.

Your kid is going to nursery once a week. They’ll be fine eating pudding 🙈

How old is she? How much of it all is she going to realistically eat in a busy environment? She's only going once a week, I'd let her have the desert

*dessert 😆

Ps. I do think that nurseries menu isn’t very good. Chips suggests they are just bunging stuff in the oven. Do they cook on-site? We have two chefs at ours.. this is part of our menu cycle .. lots of puddings but they are all homemade. And everything on their is made on site from scratch, the soups, the bread for sandwiches etc .. (I mean maybe not the cornflakes 😂)

I would say that's not a great menu – chips and crisps feature quite a lot, and there's not many vegetables (unless they've just not mentioned them as part of lunch). The puddings may be specially made and not actually very sweet, so possibly less bad than they appear. That said, I've checked the menu for DD's nursery, and pudding is fruit-based about half the time (stewed fruit, fruit and yoghurt, fruit salad, etc.), so not everywhere does a cake/jelly/ice cream type pudding every day.

Yes, yours definitely looks healthier. I feel bad that I dont know whether they cook on site. We looked round in September last year before she was born, and obviously didn't think to ask at the time, but were happy, and still are with the other aspects.

Sounds lovely,exactly what I imagine when I think of nursery food. my kids had a very similar diet when they were small. You can't not let them have pudding, what's life without pudding? :(

@Soupseason

Sounds lovely,exactly what I imagine when I think of nursery food. my kids had a very similar diet when they were small. You can't not let them have pudding, what's life without pudding? :(

This is true. And I don't want it to be something she's "not allowed". They just seem quite high sugar pudding options to me. There's another menu for another week that has doughnuts on and another day with sticky toffee pudding.

Nurseries are on tight budgets and need to provide quick, cheap meals that will be eaten by the majority of toddlers/small children.

If she's only there once a week I really don't see the point in getting worked up. You'll be responsible for the vast, vast majority of what she eats. Two slightly processed meals a week really isn't a problem!

Good gosh, I'm surprised they are allowed to operate.

I can't believe that in this country we have such a poor concept of food that we think baked beans, spaghetti hoops, waffles and hot dogs are foods to be fed to children

People wonder why we have so many picky eats. Here is your answer, we feed kids processed junk.

Why not nutritious whole foods.

I'm not hugely in favour of pudding after every meal but that's less of a concern than the actual meal content. However I woul expect dessert to be more like stewed fruit / fruit and plain yoghurt. Cake once a week maybe.

How can we expect children to want to eat a range of foods when we teach them that sodding beans and waffles is a meal.

Fish potato & veg? Ragu packed? Chicken pasta bake with veg in? Not a bloomin hot dog or waffle.