nursery food: unhealthy!

[Leosa]

Hi, what do you think about the food provided in nursery?
My nursery is very good, but I am concerned about the menu: often sausages, and many preparations with mince meat (lasagne, spaghetti bolonnaise, shepherd's pie).
Vegetarian option: quorn.
I would like to know your experiences and opinions.
Obviously no packet lunch allowed.

Sounds like the nursery we use tbh. I don't have a problem with it, it has a healthy eating award from the council too. Yes the have sausage and mince based stuff but also have lots of fruit and veg. Also fish cakes and stuff.

What would you like them to serve?

I suppose it depends on what you'd like them to serve? They are cooking for a lot of children, so mince-based meals are very practical to make for a large group, most children enjoy them, and I would say they are healthy - in fact I'm a little surprised that you think they are unhealthy? I assume the kids get offered fruit and veg with the meals as well?

What would you like to see on the menu, Leosa?

I'm a childminder and serve all that you have mentioned, except sausages, because I can use it for both little ones and older children. But I also do salmon, mash and veg, potato wedges, veg pasta, mac cheese, mild curries, etc.

Probably I am over concerned, it's more sausages that I do not like, because of preservatives and salt...
Anyway, now I know that several nurseries are providing them.
I would like organic food ;))) but I know that it's quite expensive!
I would like more chicken, pulses, eggs and cheese.
Thanks for your replies. You are right, mince is quite practical, and if lean it's not so much of a problem for me. I am not from UK, and I am used to a different type of food, that's why I wanted to know other mums' views..

sounds similar to what my dc's nursery offers. however, they have a cook who cooks fresh every day and they only have meat 3x a week (out of the 10 cooked dinners per week). the food is delicious and balanced.
mince is cheap and easy to process and small dc can easily manage to eat it.

I work in a nursery kitchen and yes there's a few mince based meals but all the meat is proper from a local butcher meat not cheap full of water an fat crap.

We don't do sausages though apart from sausage rolls which again are made by butchers sausage meat.

Basically even if one meal sounds unhealthy the way the menus are worked out is over the week, and dc do need carbs fats and full fat type of stuff their body's have different needs then ours and the aim of the nurserys menu is to have a balanced diet which is what dc need.

Interesting what people view of healthy and not so healthy - I see mince as healthier then eggs and cheese! But I have no idea why that is...

Sounds like my sons nursery and nothing I've got a problem with, it's similar to what I'd cook at home.

I'm a bit surprised and annoyed that they're served pudding EVERY day though. Is this common in other nurseries too?

My nursery is serving home made cake or ice cream 2 days per week, then fruit and yogurt 3 days per week. Also in my nursery it is all fresh and home made. The food is probably quite good, my son always eats (and he only likes good food generally!), and other parents are happy with it. I think they should not have pudding every day..

Try to think of pudding as part of the meal rather than some kind of treat or reward. Children need more fat and carbs and calcium than grown ups so fruit sponge and custard for example would be ideal.

I do find with the nurseries I work in that yogurt is a lazy choice. More than twice a week would be an issue to me.

Because of this unhealty menus I chose a nursery that does not offer lunch, only fruits and milk for snacking before lunch. I checked menus in other nurseries, i see processed food, meat, sausages,salamies,bacon etc. Since we dont eat that sort of food, my DD would not eat. I prep her lunch, always organic food, plain organic yogurt with diced fruits, no juice, no pudding! It's just too much sugar!

moderation is key BeeLuc - otherwise you run the risk of your child being one of those that no one ever wants to invite to parties - as they go off their head at the sight/taste of a bit of sugar and end up rolling around the floor!

ReetPetit, Of course she eats ice-cream, deserts, chocolates, etc at home with us, And they are not filled with refined sugar, genetically modified ingredients and the ingredients that cant even pronounce it?? We make cakes, cookies at home with natural ingredients rather than just buying and giving her a junk food/ deserts!

And schools try to stay in budget, so they can buy the cheapest meat, conventional veggies, sweets and health is more important than anything else, so I want the healthiest food possible for my family. I careless about other things!

My DD's nursery is attached to a school, so they have whatever the children are having (although presumably/hopefully with less salt!). It's homemade and varied, not much mince featuring on there; lamb tagine, roast chicken, tuna pasta bake, bean casserole, plenty of fruit/veg, water not juice... quite French in their approach I would say.

I can understand why you might plump for organic, but IMHO it's more important to know where/who the meat has come from. But then we are in the sticks and you find out very quickly which local farmers produce the best meat/have a reputation for good animal husbandry.

I don't think the menu at your nursery sounds that bad really.

I am lucky that the nursery my son goes to has a fantastic varied menu all cooked on site. They have a 4 week rotation of menus with things like mousaka, chicken and butternut squash curry, smoked salmon carbonra, jacket potatos, soup. (and much more I cant remember!)

Hi op, what country are you from out of interest? I think the diet is quite bad in nurseries but its just the standard so maybe too hard to change. My dd's nursery serve all sorts of main courses it's always varied which is good, and more varied than I could make at home every day.

I think some parents have said no cake for their children which I might ask about. When the cake comes round those children get given fruit instead. I don't want dd to feel left out with everyone else getting cake except her, but it seemed like quite a few of the kids were getting fruit.

Dd's last nursery was actually an organic nursery which had won awards for its food - and the menu was awful!! Sample menu: breakfast - cake for snack - lunch: chicken stuffed with sausage followed by treacle tart - another cake for afternoon snack - sausage rolls for tea - and digestive biscuits handed out throughout the day. Dd was only 10mths so imagine how bad that diet is for that age. I couldn't rally support from other patents as they all thought the food was the best but of the nursery. Well it tasted good but it was completely unhealthy despite being organic.

The reason I asked where you are from is that I had a German friend who had done a school exchange to California and she was horrified by what was served for lunch at that school, all hamburgers and chips I think. She said that would never be allowed in Germany.

I think the diet is bad in Britain but it is seen as normal so it's hard to challenge it.