Planning the nursery menu for next week. Help needed for dairy free and non-egg ideas.

[bubble99]

I can't use a 'rolling menu' plan - ie. Plan three months menus and rotate them as I try to use as much seasonal produce as possible and also have different children with different dietary needs/allergies attending on varying days each week.
I need some ideas for fairly substantial tea/suppers, for children who are afternoon only and won't have had lunch with us, which are dairy free and egg-free. They don't need to be both as one child is egg-free and the other dairy-free on different afternoons. Also, I need things which can be prepared in advance either cold or ready to put in the oven with minimal hassle as I need to pick the bigger Bubble boys up from school. These afternoon only parents are paying for a meal and I don't think it's fair for their child to just get sandwiches. No pasta ideas please as I'm tripping over them.

Shepherds pie
Mild veg curry and rice
Mushroom risotto
Chicken Moroccan casserole and couscous
Spanish omelette (big wedges served warm)
Stir fry and rice
Bean and sausage stew
Rosti and salmon

try this for some idea!

\link{http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/\vegan lunchbox}

Nice ideas, MD, but a bit too substantial. My full-daycare children will be too full too eat most of those except the Spanish omelette and the Rosti and salmon. I know I'm being picky but it needs to be something along those lines, midway between a good, filling lunch and a not too light tea/supper.

Tipex. Soups are always a winner but the weather is now getting warmer and they don't 'do' chilled soups! I made a carrot and coriander on Friday of last week and although it was lovely it was 70 degrees outside and not quite what they were looking for.

Maybe I should just go for turkey twizzlers and be damned??? (joke, joke, joke)

They love fajitas but they are a bit too 'last minute' for me to be able to leave the staff to prepare.

Expat. Thanks. Pittas with cheese and beany type filling look good.

That gal has some terrific ideas, and all vegan so they can accommodate a lactose-intolerant person.

I'm just getting so jaded with it all. When we opened the nurseries last year I'd hoped that we would be able to hire a chef to cover the menu planning/ordering and cooking. I cooked initally and we then interviewed and hired a chef who turned out to be a total fuckwit who was flakey at best. He talked the talk but was average at best and had an ego the size of a very big place. The second chef we took on via an agency tried to fiddle his timesheet on his second week, so he went and here I am.

The parents love the fact that the nursery owner is mopping the floors and it fits in with out 'family-run' vibe but I'm now at the point where I want to stop and have someone else do the work.

Do your full day care children have a 'main' meal midday, and have to eat a 'light' afternoon tea?
But your afternoon children need a more substanital meal?

Is that the prob?

then toss in the egg and dairy free?

If your midday children are eating a meal the suits the afternoon children, why not save them a meal and reheat it?

There is no rule that all children have to eat the same meal offered?

I dont know if this will suit you , as my work experience for a large day nursery we only served three meals, and insisted that the main meal was in afternoon, with a light meal or 'high tea' served in afternoon, and some children would need another meal at home with parents. I know this suited most families but did not for others.

Finding a decent cook is very difficult, I remember requesting the sacking of our cook for her poor hygeine. Nothing more disgusting than watching the cook make sandwiches with black 'half moon' fingers!!! YUK!

If you follow the above plan, i would try to get other staff to make the high tea, simple sandwiches and heating soup should be easy enough.
Might give you time to catch up on the paperwork!!

Thanks, williamsmummy. That's the thing. The full day-care children will have had a big lunch with us. How would it work with the afternoon children having something differnet (ie. lunchtime menu) to the afternoon children? IME It's better if they're all eating something that looks the same. But I s'pose if they've had it for lunch it won't be a different thing, will it?

Does that make any sense???

Can the fulltime children have a lighter lunch and a bigger tea on the days the afternoon children need feeding? You're going to tell me that there are morning session ones who need a bigger lunch aren't you?!

Massive batches of frozen stew (chicken/ beef/ lamb/ turkey with onions and a mix of carrot, turnip, mushroom, peppers, celery etc etc served with either pitta breads, tatties, sweet potatoes, rice, couscous or pasta and fresh veg), spag bog, mild chili, loads of avocado type salads with ham/ chicken and bread/pitta/totilla. Salads galore/ risotto or couscous type stuff/ stuffed peppers/wee willie winkie sausages beans and chips/chicken dippers/. Avocados, chicken or ham (with salad, tortllas or cabbage and potatoes) do the trick...........

Mini fishcakes
Baked potatoes (can be topped with just about anything)
Dips with bread
Cottage/shepherds pie can be stuffed with veg
Ratatouille (? spelling)
Get the kids to make their own pizzas
Things on toast
(can it include cheese?)

Not forgetting mince and potatoes, stir frys, pies, baked potatoes and tuna, creamy potatoes with ham, avocado etc, sssssss easy.

fries

forgot pork or burgers of any description or meatballs, dahl, curries, etc

Will they eat Pesto? can put it on chicken, salmon etc yummy
And of course pasta
Get them to make sandwiches
sausage and mash (did someone say that allready?)

cab. Do you want a job?? Please come and cook for us.

Minker. That's a good idea. We do have some morning-only children but a lighter lunch as it gets warmer is no problem. TBH we have to drag them in from the garden anyway. Maybe a picnic lunch outside would be good? If I alternate the days so that each child gets a substantial meal everyone should be happy.

They love pasta, Mummia. I've yet to meet a child that doesn't. It gets so difficult to keep the menus fresh, interesting and workable. I'm cooking for a lot of children and staff so 'fiddly' things which need a lot of last-minute prep are off the menu.

would lurv a job bubble - but just a bit pished at the mo..

Pished chefs welcome.

As long as they stay away from the knives.

yeh sss easy to cut oneself on cheap bollie

Mackerel salad?
Cheese scones?

Here in Turkey,there are loads of bunlike things for sale with diff. toppings (cheese,fruit,sausage,onions,mushrooms etc) which make a good substantial snack.

As a mum whose child went to nursery they often did a picnic for lunch when the weather was nice, so I would be happy with that. Sometimes that could be a picnic at 4pm for high tea too

Where my son goes, they do a large meal at around 11.30 - 12.00 & tea at about 4.00. The tea consists of sandwiches, veg sticks, fruit. Sometimes they do beans on toast but usually the former. Personally I think that parents do not exoect much miore than a light tea.