Nanny isn't a very good cook

[ApuskiMcClusky]

Hi, hoping for some help!

Our nanny is great, we're very happy with her, the kids (preschoolers) love her, but we're struggling a little with meal times. Although she's had childcare experience this is her first nanny job, and she isn't great at cooking - food is edible but not all that nice - for example, overcooked, lumpy and also excessive portion sizes. The youngest has started to get fussier, and has had low weight issues that we need to keep on top of. Our nanny is starting to get frustrated with them not eating what she's made.

My plan is to suggest doing meal plans that I put together with her input, and to try to keep things simple on the days she works, but I want to have a balance between her giving them easy-to-cook dead-cert meals (that aren't necessarily the best nutritionally) and encouraging them to try new things. She gives them 3 meals a day.

Anyone got any suggestions on what else I could do? Or how you manage meal planning and sometimes fussy children?

Meal planning sounds like a good idea - maybe stick to a few favourites that she can practice and be happy with making.

In what way are your children fussy?
We have 3 children at home (some of the time anyway!) and two have particular likes/dislikes - one is veggie and the other dislikes fruit and veg..but we have a range of meals that can be adapted without too much fuss to suit everyone. My DD also doesn't like food to be 'mixed up' and doesn't like sauces very much.

Not exactly the same problem but somewhat similiar. We use daycare and went with one that allows us to bring DD's food in. Most don't and even the one we are with doesn't have a menu that agrees with what DH and I would feed DD -not to be snobs but we are in the US and I don't want DD to have mac'n'cheese everyday for lunch. I have little dishes with her food in that I make up once a month and keep in the freezer. I then do little ziplocs each day with fruit and veg in them. All daycare need do is either pour out her ziploc bag or warm up the food in the microwave. Not ideal but better than the alternative.

Hi - Beamur, they're both a bit averse to trying new things, especially the youngest - youngest hasnt got the hang of cutlery yet, and veers between demanding to self feed or be fed. Meals that are all mixed up are the most successful, but also require more chopping and cooking - risotto, stirfry, very mild curry and rice.

Want2Be, having to prepare their meals myself would be my absolute last resort, I would struggle to find the time and I would really worry about how she felt about it. We could do double portions for one meal over the weekend though so that one dinner was precooked, that would work. Thanks!

Apuski I don't have time to do it each day. Once a month I dedicate a Sunday to cooking dinners for us and DD. DH chops everything up the night before or I use a little chopper for stuff like onion. I start at 6am and have everything in the freezer by 1pm - everything goes in baskets so quick to grab in the mornings. I do our dinners at the same time so I waste as little time as possible.

DH does the supermarket shop and when I get home from work I do most of the ziplock bags for the week while watching TV with DH - who will help out if it is something he likes to snack on. These are basics such as carrots, snap peas, celery, brocolli and cauliflower. Fruit is always done the night before unless it is melon which is done at the start of the week with the veggie snacks.

Could your Nanny use a slow cooker? Could be useful to make casseroles and similar? Hard to overcook that way...
I think I'd be looking at planning a weeks worth of meals, maybe a fortnight if you want more variety and then rotating them - I don't see the harm in kids having a narrow range of foods as long as nutritionally it all evens out.
One item I make in vast quantities is tomato sauce - then serve it up (from frozen portions) in a variety of ways - with pasta on it's own, with pasta and bacon/chicken added, my DD likes it stirred into rice then served with veggie sausages and vegetables, it can be used as a pizza topping (use with ready made bases - v easy) or have it with chick peas and a dab of middle eastern spices in it, with cous cous, add a bit of grilled lamb if you want some meat. So from one basic bit of cooking I can make several meals quickly - the sauce has extra veg in it too - I make it with carrot and celery and sometimes red peppers.
Fish fingers and chips occasionally too!

Thanks both - I've had a go at creating a meal plan and managed to come up with a decent list, we'll have to see how the cooking aspect goes! I will bear in mind a slow cooker. Bulk cooking in advance is difficult as our freezer capacity is pretty limited, but I have planned 'leftovers' as one of the meals.

I live in the US and use this website sometimes if I am lacking in inspiration. Other than that I cook up the regulars such as lasagne, stew, pasta dishes etc. I use glass pyrex dishes. You MUST defrost them before you stick them in the oven to reheat. If you don't they shatter. I leave mine out during the day and they have nearly always defrosted by the time I make DH is home. In summer he just reheats in the microwave.

We have a chest freezer with metal baskets in. Before I found the metal baskets I used cardboard boxes as sorters.

Have you got the time/patience to show her how to cook some of the dishes you want? If she's young enough for it to be her first nanny job maybe nobody has actually ever taught her. Most of us learn as we go along but it might be worth giving her a kick start!

Is she cooking 'off the top of her head' or following a recipe book? If the former then maybe buy a couple of Annabel Karmel / River Cottage Baby and Toddler cookbook etc. Surely most people can follow simple recipes?

ebb i agree, linda mcartney once said any one can cook if they can read!
also suggest that she tries what she cooks.

Thanks all! She has tried a few recipes, but seems a bit slapdash, maybe simpler recipes are the way to go. I've got the River Cottage baby/toddler one, so will look for some ideas there. Teaching her might be awkward as she thinks she can cook, but I could show her some specific favourite recipes.

Our nanny couldn't cook so I basically showed her as part of the settling in period. I got her to cook basic recipes and told her what to make each time.

I also got some children books from the library (annabel Karmel etc) and pointed out specific recipes for her to try.

She's done very well and has also picked up some recipe ideas from her other nanny friends and I've encouraged her to try them herself too.

I couldn't really cook until I had children (well, I could make wonderful salads, soups, jacket potatoes and sandwiches...) and the Annabel Karmel book was a great teacher in training me how to cook children's food - even basic pasta and sauce dishes, homemade chicken nuggets, fish pie...

I think Annabel Karmel is to children's food what Delia has been for a lot of basic adult dishes...

All of our nannies have loved the Annabel Karmel books, which include weekly mealplans.

Beamur I am stealing your tomato sauce ideas!

My little charge loves recipes from hfw's veg book, she frequently has the leftovers for lunch!

I am looking for nanny work at the moment in liverpool merseyside but some families I have worked for mum has left food for me heat for child or children.
Es Jewish families.

hope this is of some help
rafael.

The more practice she gets the more competent she will get so you might just have to bear with her.

I'm not keen on Annabel Karmel her portion sizes are a bit out and my attempts haven't exactly been successful.

I know she isn't popular but Gina Ford's recipes have always gone down well. I'm still using the GF weaning book and ds1 is now 7!

Roast dinner one of the most easiest meals to make. Meat/salmon with potatoes and veg, it doesn't always have to be complicated. Ask her what she likes cooking, might be easier for her to a variation of meals that she cooks at home.