Lunchbox for weaning baby?

[RainInJuly]

My 6.5mo starts with a childminder in two months. He has 4 bottles a day and has just moved to 3 meals a day but only small ones. Currently has weetabix/fruit/toast for bfast, and steamed veggies/meats/rice/pasta for lunch and dinner with some fruit and a yoghurt for pudding.

Childminder has said only healthy foods are allowed, I'm just a bit confused what to send him with. I don't think he'll eat steamed vegetables once they are cold as he's quite funny about temperature, and they might go stodgy sat in a lunch box for hours. Same for rice/pasta. Can these things be heated up in microwave? Do childminders do that or is that a food poisoning risk?

I don't know why, but I'm stressing so much about him starting and I think my anxiety is presenting in weird ways like not being able to pack a bloody lunch box.

Hiya, I'm a childminder and firstly want to reassure you that all will be fine.

We do have to provide/ encourage healthy eating as part of our health and welfare requirements. Your baby's menu looks very healthy to me so that's a good starting point.

Childminders can and do heat up food. Perhaps you could cook the vegetables for a shorter time so they don't then go too soggy on re heating? Have you asked your childminder if she provides food as some do.

Good luck xx

By almost 9 months you can just send him with a sandwich and some of your leftovers from the night before to reheat.

If you're not completely we'd to the idea of this childminder I'd look for one who provides food. Honestly it's a huge faff. My wonderful old cm didn't provide food but I stuck with her anyway, when she retired and we went to a lady who does it was a game changer.

My dc would eat something one day and refuse it the next, meaning I was sending heaps of food every day, always trying to think of nutrition and variety, it drove me potty, cost a fortune and was very time consuming.

As they get older they also want what the other children have, it's a nightmare.

I’m always a bit surprised when I hear CM don’t provide food.
Can I be really cheeky and ask how much she charges?
I’m in NE London, and me and all my Childminder pals cook two hot meals a day, provide fruit snacks and even toast in the morning.

Not all childminders provide food, reasons include records have to be kept of what was provided where it was purchased, dates on food etc....(meats and fish), if one parent above is glad to get rid of the responsibility because of the wasted food for one imagine the food waste for 6 children, some parents choose not to pick children up and have family meals and leave the cm to do it so it destroys family time, (not every parent values every minute) .

OP food can be reheated depending on the childminder...rice can be dodgy as the cm wont know if its freshly cooked.
Cold options could be
Pitta breads, salad dips.like carrots celery cucumber and.hummus . Cold meats cheese...as many textures and variety of tastes as you can. Cold pasta salad

records have to be kept of what was provided where it was purchased, dates on food etc
Do they?
Obviously I am aware of use by dates etc but I don't record anything.

I had a nightmare with this at first, I found a great childminder but just assumed food was included, we were already really keen to go with her so decided to roll with it. I started with things like cucumber sticks, Greek yoghurt, cheese pittas, and then popped a bag of melty puffs in his bag so if he wanted something else those were always there. As his appetite increased and he gained confidence in his eating I used to batch cook and freeze. Things like spinach parcels, mini quiches, salmon and cheese muffins- actually really easy to make, a good way to get some veg in, and quick as just defrost them. And then things like yoghurts, fruit, hummus, pasta with tuna, cous cous etc. I would be careful with rice that has been cooked, and check if they are happy to heat a small amount in the microwave just to be careful. Also on days I know they're going to be out and about and it might be out of a fridge for a bit I'm careful. You kind of get a gauge of what they do eat there, sometimes I'll give the same thing for lunch in a week and then make sure dinners are nice and varied. Soon get into the swing of it, and good practice for school I guess haha.

@LowcaAndroidow.
Food hygiene want you to have info incase of food poisoning or product recall has been about 10 years now.

Weird, that’s never been mentioned to me at all, never asked about record keeping. Maybe it’s different in different areas? Where I am we’re treated differently to a proper food business.

@LowcaAndroidow I don’t keep records of all those things either. I have a list of food I provide and the allergens in it (good reminder, it probably needs updating), which we have to do, but I don’t think anything else is really necessary.

There would be huge amounts of paperwork involved if I had to list every single thing I fed the child, where it came from and it’s use by date.

Op, 2 months is a really long time for a baby. You may find your dc is eating far more of a ‘normal’ diet by then. I had an 8 month old who preferred sandwiches for lunch over a hot dinner. His mum used to cut them in to little 1cm pieces for him to pick up and he loved them. Cucumber, tomatoes, little bits of pepper, maybe a couple of baby crisps.

Or could you batch cook some dinners for baby if they prefer mashed food. A shepherds pie, a few portions of a ‘Sunday dinner’, a fish pie, some kind of bolagnaise, cauliflower cheese with extra veg. Freeze it all up and get one little or out of the freezer for baby daily. Should last a few weeks. And by then baby might be ready for sandwiches/wraps/crackers etc.

(I’m assuming cm is happy to reheat? The ones I know who don’t provide food are).

I'm a childminder. The only thing you have to keep are receipts, and only for a couple of weeks. This is for food poisoning reasons, but if a child is going to be Ill it will be within so many hours of eating any dodgy food, not several days later.
I used to provide food, but not any more. Not only did it become virtually impossible to keep an eye on the children, cook food, answer the door etc, but I got sick of buying food, sick of cooking it and sick of chucking it away. Parents supply meals, I provide snacks and drinks. I happily heat food in the microwave if needed,and I never have an issue with the children having different food to each they-they just eat what they've got!