Question for childminders about food for mindees

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My childminder provides food for 3 children in her care ( dds will both be going full time when I go back to work). She's a brilliant childminder in every respect but have just realised that most of the food she provides is in adult "ready meals" form ( shepherd's pie, fish pie etc) with microwave ( if any) veg . Don't expect her to do organic Annabel Karmel from scratch , but on the other hand, not particularly happy about nutritional side of things ( feel about not realising this sooner).
What do other childminders cook ? I could cook and send food myself ( but would need to explain why I'm suddenly changing ) but to be realistic not sure I'm going to manage this and working full time as well. What would you say? Am I being a tad over-anxious ( I was ,after all, a Seventies child raised on Smash Potato and Instant Whip myself)?

My meals are all home cooked or pacl lunch if short on time or out for lunch. I make kiddy curry stews spag bol etc,with pastas rice or potatoes and veggies either fresh or frozen. Puds are yoghurts or fruit or cheese and crackers. I wouldn't give microwave meals to my own kids and def not mindees. it must cost her a fortune to buy all those ready meals anyway

Just thought the salt in those meals is too high for adults so imagine giving it to kids?how did you realise she was giving dds ready meals?

Hi there. As a childminder I am actually quite surprised at what she is offering - what age children is this for?

My husband and I live off ready meals a lot of the time but I would never feed these to my ds (2½) or my mindees.

Here are some examples of what I provide:

Lunch....

Sandwich (wholemeal bread)
Cucumber
Carrot sticks
Cherry Tomatos
Yoghurt
Fruit

Dinner....

Fishfingers, Chicken Bites, Sausage, Vegetable Fingers, burger etc. with either mashed potato or boiled potato and 2 vegetables (either peas, carrots, brocoli), mixed veg or beans

Pasta and cheese sauce etc...

Also provide homemade: Shepherds Pie, Spaghetti Bolognaise, Chick & Veg Soup, Lasagne, Casserole etc

As for you asking if it's ok to provide food, I'd never have a problem with that if a parent asked me.

HTH

p.s. agree far too much salt for the kiddies!! Yes, too much salt for grown up's too but hubby and I rarely have time to make our own proper meals (naughty I know). I'd never ever ever give these to any children!

I might not have read it properly but is she doing ready meals and giving them or is she just giving them shepard pie/fish that sort of thing which could be considered adult food?

How old is your little one?

Mine are also home cooked when i provide it and will offer at least 3 sorts of veg and several choices of fruit for pudding. I might very rarely give a cake or chocolate but i balance it out as i dont often do this.

How much are you paying for the meals?

Make up an allergy that she won't have heard of/be able to avoid in ready meals and send your own food in.

That's a herocious way to feed small children. And I am the egg and chips queen!

hellybelly i am naughty,my dp quite often gets a ready meal thrown at him as i'm too busy to cook good food for us

I also provide something along the lines of sandwhiches with yoghurt, fruit cheese that sort of thing depending on age range.

For dinner i provide a cooked hot meal with fruit and veg and provides them all they need to grow.

I have had parents complain in the past because i was only charging 50p for lunch and they wanted a cooked meal for that but i refused to serve value sausage and mash just to stay within budget. I put up my prices and still serve healthy and nutrious meals for a very good price.

hth

Yeah, too busy ourselves which is why we are naughty - actually, I'm too busy as I work in the evenings and weekend but my dh isn't THAT busy, he's just lazy

Jelly is right actually about the age. I only currently feed children over 2, wouldn't feed babies sandwiches! I don't provide a cooked lunch as so far the parents haven't wanted this and have been used to providing packed lunches to previous childminders. I would be happy to provide cooked meals if required but would have to charge (currently only charge for evening meals).

Why dont you charge for lunch helly?

I don't charge for anything (food or drink) apart from evening meal because that seems to be the norm round here. I charge more per hour than you though and we're in the same town so it all works out fair .

HOWEVER......I have been caught out with the older kiddies (as you know) and have learnt from that mistake!!

Jelly - please look at my policies thread as I need advice!!

I provide 'cold' lunch, eg sandwiches, pittas, breadsticks, yogs, fruit etc at lunch and only cook at teatime. Everything I cook is homemade including soup, chicken bites, pizza, roast dinners, spag bol, lasagne, pasta in sauce (do buy the pasta but homemade sauce), shepherds pie, fish pie etc all served with at least 2 veg or salad followed by fruit usually but once a week we have a treat of pancakes, homemade pud with custard or similar.
I would never give my own children ready meals (have resorted occasionally to fish fingers or similar when in a rush), I do not eat them myself and would therefore not give them to mindees, I agree with the concern of the amount of salt in them. You must however be careful about sending in meals you have cooked for reheating cos the food hygiene recommedations say we shouldn't really accept 'homemade' food from parents to be reheated.
Hope you can speak to the childminder and tell her of your concerns cos it is a very imoportant issue.

feelingold - it seems ridiculous that the cm can feed young children ready meals but the mother can't send in home-cooked food for reheating.

i cook every day fresh veg and meat,beef stew (mon)they made own pizzas(tues)spag bol(wed)roast chicken (Thurs) shepards pie(fri) this is for my mindee and my own family.

The problem with homemade food it that should the child get food poisoning from it the childminder would get the blame for not reheating it properly, but what it the parent had already reheated the food or not cooled it quickly enough or left it out a room temperature too long or ....the list goes on.
I agree it seems so ridiculous but it's just another thing to add to the list of things we shouldn't do (we are advised not to do it, not that we can't do it).

Not arguing with you feelingold just saying that I think it is ridiculous. Like when DD was 9 months and Brewer's Fayre refused to heat her homemade babyfood or to allow me hot water to put it in because of the potential danger. They would however heat up bottles which could have been made or stored incorrectly. And they did serve me custard that was so hot that when DD pulled the dish onto herself I had to run into the toilet and run her arm under the cold tap and meanwhile was scalded through my jeans. Sorry off the subject rant there.

Thanks all. I called early the other day to collect dd and stayed for tea, hence the ready meal discovery. I get a diary every day and so know what dd's had for lunch and tea , but just assumed that it was home cooked ().
Part of the problem is that CM's kitchen is on a different floor from her childminding area and she only has a microwave in the area she uses to serve food.
Think I'll have to have a talk with her. DD is 3 and I think a bit too young for all that salt ( although diet at home not exactly optimal either).The CM is lovely and I'm very happy with every other aspect of her care. FeelingOld, didn't realise that CMs were discouraged from reheating homecooked food. Looking at our local CIS website, many CMs round here don't provide food. What about babies under 1, is it the same for them?Jelly, I pay £4 a day for food. What do you charge?

has your dds been with her for a while? i have a policy ststing that my food is home cooked and details what sorts of foods will be given. if she is only giving ready meals she should be making it clear to parents.is there a reason she can't have mindees in kitchen sitting at table and highchairs etc?

sorry terrible spelling,meant to say stated

Bump for Jelly to reply (I'm £1.50 per evening meal req'd)

Sorry was having that meeting which went well. i charge 75p breakfast, 150 for lunch and 200 for dinner and i am very proud of the food that i do serve as it is from all different countries and the children try things that they normally do not at home.

I have sometimes been accused of being a bit anal about my food and the amount of care I take with it.

I do accept that I am st the far end of the spectrum....and there are a lot of differences between childminders.

But I make my own bread, pizzas, soup, pasta sauces, chicken nuggets, tomato sauce etc I have just sucessfully negociated with the local butcher to make cocktail sausages, especially for me - he doesn't make them for anyone else

If you are concerned about the ready meals - i would discuss it with your minde and say that you are concerned about the salt and see if you can provide your own meals - it maybe not ideal, but it is a better choice.

What is in these special sausages - just extra meal and not horrid stuff?

They are his superb speciality sausages - pork and apple - not artificals all organic with special skins - just tiny

Do you have to order a certain amount as i would be interested in doing this as i by my butchers special sausages as well.