Meals and ingredients

[Lovemycatsandkids]

Hi all, recently returning to minding and had final Ofsted assessment which was all fine. God the process seems more laborious than before though!

Now she saw my meal plans and then said lots of cms have stopped providing food as you now have to print menu ingredients for parents for each new meal. Tbf she had been in the house for 3 hours already so didn't probe but what's the deal now?

She's talking rubbish. You just need to be aware of any of the 14 named allergens are in the food you serve, in case a child has a reaction, or a parent asks. Nothing needs to be printed and even though I've informed all the parents no one has asked. I care for a child who needs gluten free food and her mum trusts me to feed her that, without asking every day.

I had visit today from my QIO. She told me that I have to start filling in a form listing all ingredients and linking to possible allergies and display/give to parents. I don't do meals this is for messy play (I recently did rice/spaghetti/jelly play) and for any baking I did with them. I will be doing it as need a good result from Ofsted to carry on pulling down the funding. Sounds like just another paper exercise though.

If I was at home I would send you the link. It applies to all places with food. When you go to a sandwich shop or somewhere, you will see a sign to say please ask about allergies. That's all they have to do and it's all you have to do as well.

There is a standard form you can use if you like, but you don't have to.

And yes is applies to ingredients in play dough etc as well.

Yep you have to know what is in your food but if you cook from scratch & already read labels you will be fine

You need to be able to write down what was in a meal if asked

BUT you should know about children's allergies anyway & if they develop a new allergy you would hopefully be able to pinpoint it

Thanks all so would it be enough to simply print out my recipies and ingredients and keep on file but parents can see if asked? And playdoh but that's easier.

You have to be careful because one brand of fishfingers/sausages might contain soya and a different brand bought from a different shop might not

If a parent says what did they eat for tea last night little johnny has had a reaction you need to put the food & potential allergens down on paper - so you need to know

So basically it's easier to just cook the same meals 10 core meals over again?

That's a bit sad as it stifles trying new stuff too regularly but hey ho.

Thanks so much for the help everyone.

Yes - we used to shop at local shops & the farmers market but when we were reclassified as a food business we had to track food from farm to plate & it became easier to do one shop at the supermarket

Right got you and will do.

Sorry to add in another question but she also said cms didn't need any written obs/planning as such just as long as I couid demonstrate I knew mindees progress and next steps and could talk about them. (Excluding 2 year check)

I always did learning journals before and photos.

You have to remember different inspectors say different things

I don't think I'm qualified to advise you - I had Outstanding twice, my practise has significantly improved and I just got Good - so, who knows?

Yes see that Katie and it's very arbitrary.

Thanks for the replays I guess will just go as ott as poss and hope for the best.

You don't have to do the same 10 meals, as long as you know what's in the food. Remember you might go for a picnic, have a birthday cake brought in by a child, have a party at a toddler group, or many other variations.

And lots of stuff doesn't have to be written down, but it's easier if it is.

Right thanks and will probably just write it all down as it's easier and I suppose proof of knowledge. Thanks everyone for replying.

This scaremongering about the allergy stuff is really annoying me.
You DO NOT need to write a list of ingredients. the only requirement is that IF ASKED ( by a parent in our case) if there any of the 14 known allergens in the food you have to have the information to tell them. this can be verbal.
as we all already make a note of any allergies the kids have, there is no need for any other paperwork.
The OFSTED woman was talking bollocks.

when we were reclassified as a food business we had to track food from farm to plate
who on earth told you that BS?

We run a 'setting' rather than individual childminding & we were told it my our local environmental health department

Individual childminders are also classed as a setting. Your ehd is also talking bollocks.
Get back in touch with them and ask the difference between buying direct from the farm and buying from the supermarket.
What did they actually want you to do? make a list of where you bought each ingredient from? BS. I'd just refuse as it is not a statutory requirement in any legislation we work under.
pig ignorant tossers

KatyMac is a different kind of setting though adsy. My environmental health department just said I needed to keep all food receipts, to show the source of the food.

The difference is that all my chicken breasts come from the same place, so I don't need to write where each one came from

Whereas if some came from Asda, some from Tesco & some from the farmers market & i picked one of each out the freezer then I'd have to record all of them & I'm too lazy