Am I being precious re nursery or?

[NurseryT]

My son goes to a local nursery, it's not the cheapest but it had really good reviews online and also from a couple of parents I know personally. One of the main things they focus on is how they have a really good in house chef who cooks healthy nutritious food for the children.

We have an online portal where we can see what our DC have had to eat that day, when their nappies were changed, when they napped and what they've been doing during the day.

Probably about 2-3 of the 5 days my son will have something like 'sandwiches and crisps' for tea or something equivalent.

I don't know if I'm being precious and ridiculous or not and quite willing to be told I am but AIBU for thinking this isn't really a great tea and to not really have expected this from a nursery who 1. I pay a lot of money to and 2. Goes on about the quality of the food they serve.

They should have a healthy eating policy. Ask to see it

I think the lunch/tea split can also depend on the timings for children being picked up. At the first nursery ds went to they had two substantial meals (plus breakfast option) a day as many parents commuted and there were a lot of children there till 6. The second one when we had relocated, a lot of children were being picked up from 3 onwards so tea was disrupted by comings and goings, and many parents would be cooking a full meal in the evening and wanted their child to just have an afternoon snack

DS says he has biscuits as a snack - he came out holding the "biscuits" the other night, turned out they were cream crackers.

It's big lunch and then high tea at the one mine attend - lunch was fish pie so I'm guessing it'll be beans on toast or cheese sandwiches for dinner.

My ex used to be a cook in a very expensive city centre nursery. There are nutritional guidelines that must be followed when preparing food for young children BUT this nursery bought the cheapest of everything possible.

When we toured our nursery they did say that lunch is a hot meal and pudding (yogurt/or a sweet treat). Then tea is served around 3pm so was a sandwich or other snacky type meal, I think it's the norm for their main meal to be at lunch so I think keep an eye on that to make sure it's healthy and balanced moreso

Kids aren’t allowed crisps in primary school, why on earth is a nursery serving them?

Not serving crisps is actually very easy to do. (I do it every day.)

The menu will be accessible to parents either on the online portle, website or you can ask for a copy. Any meals you don't want your child having you can request they don't have it but be prepared to prepare your own.

In regards to crisps - it might not be crisps like a PP has said, instead of a bag of walkers it could be those organic veggie stick potato stick things that aldi or places sell. Still not ideal several times a week though.
I would also check the menu or chat to your child's key person to check if it is crisps or not as it may have been inputted incorrectly by a member of staff - for example, an apprentice at my place entered all children had had 'cheese and a potato' for their lunch when on the menu it said 'jacket potatoes with homemade baked beans and cheese, served with a side salad and sweetcorn'. Pudding was 'cake' when it was actually 'homemade chocolate and beetroot brownie'. The apprentice received some training and was shown the menu 😆

Nothing wrong with asking exactly what having and what guidelines following. DD’s used to do homemade lunch and lighter tea so sandwiches etc.

As long as lunch is a good balanced meal of protein carbs veg fruit

dd will often have a cooked meal lunch and Sarnie cucumber pepper crisps Raisins yog for tea

I am not sure how old your child is, but mine attended nursery from age 1-4. When he was 2-3 he really couldnt manage sandwiches - as many pps have said often lunch is the bigger, (supposedly) healthier meal, and tea is more simple food. So I spoke to the nursery and asked that they help him - not by changing their meal plan - but perhaps a single piece of bread with topping. I have no idea why he couldnt manage sandwiches at that age - he ate everything else and is a good eater to this day (17 this year!). So he and we (parents) were not fussy at all! So look for a week or 2 and see if it is particular teas that dont work so well. Mine would never eat a later dinner. If we tried he literally fell in his food fast asleep!!

I think children can have a pudding as part of healthy and balanced menu. Today for lunch we had Quorn spagetti bolognaise with a scoop of ice cream as a pudding. For high tea we had sandwiches, crackers, cheese, cucumber sticks, fresh fruit and a yoghurt.