Was I in the wrong 😑 over food order at work

[Safarigiraffe]

I work in a day nursery as a kitchen assistant & last week at work the Chef was away so I was on my own in the kitchen with hardly no help. Our menus work on a 3 week rota so as our supplier didn’t send in everything I had to work with what I literally had in. Some parents complained about the food as it wasn’t being followed day by day which my Boss told me about however I could only work with what I had & did go slightly off the menu. Fast forward to today the Chef had a go at me for going off the menu cos parents complained & apparently I did my own thing on the menu & also said that she was short on 2 lunches for this week cos I went off menu and used up what she was gonna use this week, I explained that it was because I had to work with what I had but she was having none of it. My Boss has sorted things out to get some things from another nearby nursery however am I in the wrong here considering the parents complained about me going slightly off the menu?

Wow my kids nursery we never saw a 'menu' at all. Just a summary of what they ate at the end of each day. Sometimes the snacks in particular were the same 2 days in a row.

Sounds you did a fine job covering for the chef OP. If people were twats about it, don't cover that role again!

This thread just makes me sad considering that there are parents struggling to feed their children, skipping meals themselves in order to feed them. People need a head wobble sometimes. Can you not see how disgustingly self entitled these parents and kids sound. They were fed healthy meals for crying out loud.

YANBU OP, actually I think you did exactly the right thing, and a lot of people in your shoes would have just had a cut down menu, or served up what you had, and not taken the initiative you did. Your boss needs a kick up the arse.

But why? As long as it is

Posted too soon as long as it's healthy and your child ate it why would you be worried if it's off the menu slightly?

Given that it cost me £1400 a month to send my child to nursery, I think I was probably allowed to care a little bit about what they were being fed?

One of the parents has made it into this thread

berksandbeyond
Given that it cost me £1400 a month to send my child to nursery, I think I was probably allowed to care a little bit about what they were being fed?

I think all kids should be fed a healthy, nutritious meals in nursery regardless of how much parents pay. Again, these kids were given healthy, nutritious meals.

They should have ensured the correct ingredients were available to you if they knew the cook was going to be away either the cook or management. They are passing the buck

Were you being paid extra to do the chef’s job while she was away?

I bet covering the cooks job is part of the catering assistants job in job description more than likely and no usually you don't get paid any extra money either.

It's the cooks job to ensure the correct ingredients are available, its their job to order supplies. If not management should deal with it. They are passing the buck onto OP

Some people are ridiculous. Would they rather you didn't feed the kids? If you didn't have the food, what else were you supposed to do? If it's not your responsibility to order in food then no, yanbu.

It sounds like you did the right things given the sudden difficulty and your manager should have advised you properly when you reported the issue and taken some responsibility herself. They are both taking the piss.

Veggie mince twice a week. Boo hoo. Smaller portions would have been a worse option surely. I can’t see what the parents have to complain about.

OP, you did your best and it's all been sorted now, so you really don't need to be upset. I think you just need to forget about it and move on. No harm's been done. If you're on your own in the kitchen again and you find that the supplier hasn't sent the full order, just raise it with the bosses immediately, that's all. Dwelling on it isn't good for you.

Things like this happen in all jobs, don't worry about it for another second.