To ask you to help me with something that's stressing me out a lot... please?

[toddlermealideasplease]

I'm getting unnecessarily stressed about this and I need some ideas, please.

My 20 month old will be starting a new nursery tomorrow thar does not provide meals. I need to take a packed lunch and also something for tea since she will be there until 5pm and not getting home until 5.30 (her usual tea time is 4-4.30pm so she will be starving by then). Only issue is that this place doesn't have a proper kitchen - they have a fridge, kettle and microwave and thats all. Lunch will have to be sandwiches most days. What can I take for her tea, though? With there only being a microwave and no hob pasta will be no good. So I'm thinking i have to take something like tinned beans and sausages / spaghetti hoops etc, and maybe some crackers with cheese spread to go with it. But she can't eat that for tea every time she's there (4 times a week).

Any other ideas, please??

M&S kids meals can be pinged and there's a huge range.

Looking at all the other replies (which I should have done first) defo ignore my last reply 😂

Why not batch cook some bolognaise/ hot meal for home for 2 days at 6pm (pasta is fine heated up), then send homemade pizza or a ready meal on 2 days. Send/ have quiche, crumpets and scrambled egg, something cold or easily nuked the other days. So Mon hot nursery/ cold home tea, Tues cold nursery/ hot home tea.
That way you can have bolognaise yourself for monday night dinner, and use the leftovers for a hot home dinner for her on Tuesday.

My DD ha a mix of home/ childminder and nursery, and eats at a different time every setting- full hot dinner at 4.30 at CM, afternoon tea- crumpets, hummus and veg, soup at 4.30 at nursery. She often has something like pizza or scrambled egg at home on a nursery day, but will just want yoghurt or cheese on a cm day. Oaty bars from Aldi are a food rage lifesaver for the car too

I'm thinking the nursery would expect you to provide a cold tea option. The logistics of trying to microwave/cook on the hob individual different meals for each child would be a nightmare.
I'd be asking them to clarify tomorrow.
I'd also be looking for a new nursery or childminder as either way this is all quite stressful!

Provide flask of hot pasta for lunch (it stays hot about 4 hours) sandwiches for tea. Or soup in another flask? Soup is such a useful one if you introduce now, good chance she'll like it and hopefully stick with it. Got me out a of a lot of last min meal situations. Cheap to make too.

This would have been a no for me. Its hard to get a decent variety of green/leafy veg into meals in thermos/heated in a microwave, its too limiting, its not palatable for a big range of meals and you have to be careful with rice etc.

My kids would have been too tired to eat properly at 5.30 or 6pm at that age so having a snack and a proper meal at home wouldn't have suited us at all.

It sounds likes the nursery have scrimped on proper premises. Ive never heard of a full day nursery that doesn't offer at least one cooked meal.

The only settings i knew of that didnt offered cooked meals were 9-3 preschools which are quite different.

Be careful about soup and young children, it can be very low calorie. You need to provide plenty of carb, fat & protein or the liquid fills them up without them getting enough calories.

Me too, I would steer clear of nurseries that didn't provide meals! When looking round a lot I never came accross any that didn't and have never heard of them not providing meals though so think it must be unusual. Who needs that added hassle on top

I'm in exactly the same situation with working 4 days and partner working away with my 14 month old you have my sympathies! It's hard when you know their happy and settled with their childcare provider to move them but I think in the long run it will definitely be worth it, it's hard enough trying to fit everything else solo parenting and working never mind having to prepare and think of all the meals each day on top. DS loves the little dish ready meals and usually has them at least once sometimes twice a week. Heat them up for 1min 30 secs in microwave and you can get them in most supermarkets.

I'd move her. That will be so much hassle. I reckon they're not going to be in business long with that option.

My sons nursery also doesn't have an actual proper kitchen, just kettle etc.

You can cook at home, they can heat it up in the microwave.

How many children do they have? That sounds like a nightmare for them having to heat up separate individual meals for each child.

I wonder if they end up rethinking this, because it will put parents off and be massively annoying for them to not have proper cooking facilities

I’d be happy for my kids to have a cold meal, but not twice a day.

Whatever you have for dinner the night before, in a lunchbox to reheat in their microwave. X

This sounds like madness. Who is going to be watching the kids while they eat - one person at least is going to have to stand there at the microwave/counter heating/prepping each individual kid’s food .

I think a flask of pasta/risotto/casserole etc for lunch (just cook a bit more dinner the night before and then send her in with leftovers) and then sandwiches for tea is probably your best bet.

But also- it doesn’t make you a bad Mum if she doesn’t have a hot meal some days. And this is one relatively short phase of her life. Get through it how best you can and you’ll be battling over boys and lipstick before you know it 😊

There must be another nursery you can find that does meals nearby; I would look for one of those

I was going to ask why you chose this nursery, because it really doesn't suit your needs. I see that it's just your childminder who has changed their working practice to small nursery.

I would look for alternative childcare, this sounds like an absolute pain in the arse.

Pasta microwaved is fine as long as it’s got sauce.
hot dogs can be microwaved also packet rices.

the nursery should look at a meal delivery service though

The best way to manage this would be to cook a double portion of dinner every evening. Heat it up in the morning and put it into a food flask. That will be her warm lunch. Then have sandwiches or other cold food for tea (like a school lunchbox but eaten at tea). That’s the most realistic way.

I think it would be easy enough! Just buy a load of small containers, every time you cook dinner that’s suitable, freeze a few portions and build up a Freezer stash so you can grab one out every day. 2 even if you want a hot meal for Lunch too. Most things can be microwaved! Any form of pasta, stir fry, curries, risotto, quiche, sausage rolls, frittata, zucchini slice, shephards pie, stews, soups.

use some convenience meals to get you started while you build up the freezer stash. You can do the same with snacks, pancakes, muffins, biscuits etc can all be frozen.

I would bother with a food flask if they’ve got a microwave, way easier for them to heat it up than for you

I would rather heat it myself in this situation, to be sure it’s done properly. But I suppose that depends on the individual.

This sounds so stressful! I think a better solution is finding another nursery!

If they have a microwave they can heat anything up so send leftovers or pasta etc. If they don’t provide meals they were never going to cook pasta on the hob!

Is there no other nursery you can send her to?
Seems like a lot of effort every day.
Depending on the drop off time our nursery does
breakfast
morning snack
lunch (always a hot dinner)
afternoon snack
tea (hot lighter meal, beans on toast etc)

Its a lot of food for you to send in.