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Nurseries

Find nursery advice from other Mumsnetters on our Nursery forum. For more guidance on early years development, sign up for Mumsnet Ages & Stages emails.

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Original poster

Vegetarian at nursery

127 replies

OrangeSprout · 15/10/2023 22:08

Hi!

just reviewing the nursery’s menu…my kids aren’t on any diet restriction and the entire menu is vegetarian (quorn 8 times in the month and vegetables for the rest of it)…not really happy with this to be honest….it costs £1400 per month just for the baby and £900 for the three year old. I’d just expect some actual meat?

am I being unreasonable?

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Hungrycaterpillarsmummy · 15/10/2023 22:09

Yanbu

Kindofcrunchy · 15/10/2023 22:10

Non issue. Quorn is really expensive and we should all be eating less meat as it is. Get a grip.

Original poster

OrangeSprout · 15/10/2023 22:11

Didn’t take long for the rude people to come out. Too much internet for you.

OP posts:

Sexnotgender · 15/10/2023 22:12

As long as the meals are healthy and balanced I couldn’t get worked up about “actual meat”.
FWIW I’m vegetarian but don’t impose it on my children.

YourNameGoesHere · 15/10/2023 22:12

No I would be happy at that to be honest. I'd want a nice balance of meals both meat and vegetarian and DS would have been stuffed with that menu because whilst he's a meat eater he has had quorn in the past but like many (I've since learnt) he reacts quite poorly when he ingests it.

WeightoftheWorld · 15/10/2023 22:12

Hmm.

We actually ARE vegetarian and my DC therefore sometimes have alternative meals provided at nursery.

However, I appreciate that's not the norm, most people would expect their children not to have an exclusively vegetarian diet at nursery and for children who attend full time that's most of their meals. So I sort of feel YANBU even though I'm vegetarian myself.

ElleCapitaine · 15/10/2023 22:13

Check your terms and conditions- you may have signed up to a ‘healthy vegetarian meals’ nursery. TBF, Quorn is more expensive than meat.

Beamur · 15/10/2023 22:13

DD went to a vegetarian nursery. They didn't serve Quorn though. I thought that was preferable to poor quality meat.

Cowlover89 · 15/10/2023 22:13

YADNBU that's ridiculous menu

Overthebow · 15/10/2023 22:14

For me it would depend on what the meals are. Is there a good amount of protein in each meal? If not then no I wouldn’t be happy.

Cowlover89 · 15/10/2023 22:15

Kindofcrunchy · 15/10/2023 22:10

Non issue. Quorn is really expensive and we should all be eating less meat as it is. Get a grip.

You're the one that needs to get a grip! And no meat eaters can eat as much meat as they want. I'm sick and tired of vegans and vegetarians demanding we should eat less meat.

PrawnBhunaandaFlirtini · 15/10/2023 22:18

Too much Quorn imo. I can't stomach much of it although I was Veggie as a kid and then vegan at uni. Quorn two days in a row made me feel sick. I know that isn't the case for everyone but I wouldn't expect a nursery to give little kids so much of it.

Agree with pp though that you may need to check you didn't accidentally tick a box or something saying your dc is Veggie. Or it could be an admin error

SouthLondonMum22 · 15/10/2023 22:18

Did you not check or ask about menus before starting them at the nursery? Especially if you feel so strongly about them having meat.

I'd just feed them meat for dinner and at weekends if I otherwise loved the nursery and felt happy with it.

Seagrassbasket · 15/10/2023 22:18

Nope I wouldn’t be happy with that. With all the stuff that’s coming out around UPF I think food for kids should be as unprocessed as possible. (And everyone else actually).

Saying that I’d have no problem with it being veggie (we don’t eat much meat as a family anyway) if they were using lentils and beans etc instead of quorn.

QuiltedHippo · 15/10/2023 22:19

Good opportunity to get loads of veggies into them at a famously fussy age without it being poor the quality meat a nursery budget is likely to require. I'd try and see the positives.

BaconEggAndCoffee · 15/10/2023 22:20

Quorn is crap. I wouldn't mind a veg menu but I wouldn't expect processed crap.

Maddy70 · 15/10/2023 22:21

I am a meat eater. But also recognise we should all be eating less meat.

Also the logistics. Much easier if you provide a vegetarian menu for All. Its much more cost effective and probably healthier for everyone

AgaMM · 15/10/2023 22:22

DS goes to a nursery where a large number of children are Hindu or Jewish. So his menu is entirely vegetarian.

Doesn’t bother me - we have meat / poultry practically every night at home so a balance isn’t a bad thing.

UndercoverCop · 15/10/2023 22:22

At school DS chooses the vegetarian option about half the time, especially if it's bean based (kid can't get enough of beans/pulses etc) , and his favourite school lunch is the vegetable passanda, but both he and I get terribly upset stomachs if we eat Quorn, the Quorn mince is the worst, DH is fine. Vegetables and other foods I would be fine with, not processed meat substitutes, in the same way I wouldn't be happy with chicken nuggets, burgers etc.

donquixotedelamancha · 15/10/2023 22:23

I wouldn't be thrilled about the Quorn, which is ultra processed rubbish. I would also want to be sure there is plenty of protein in the overall diet.

BlowMyBubbles · 15/10/2023 22:23

I'm a veggie but rarely eat quorn, I wouldn't let my dc eat it. Its not great and I've known many to have issues with it. If they want to do veg/vegan they should be using better ingredients rather than cheating the meal. Especially for young children and babes.

AvengedQuince · 15/10/2023 22:25

Seagrassbasket · 15/10/2023 22:18

Nope I wouldn’t be happy with that. With all the stuff that’s coming out around UPF I think food for kids should be as unprocessed as possible. (And everyone else actually).

Saying that I’d have no problem with it being veggie (we don’t eat much meat as a family anyway) if they were using lentils and beans etc instead of quorn.

I'd also be happy with veggie but not vegan if it wasn't upf rubbish. We'd have eggs for breakfast and meat with dinner.

OdeToBarney · 15/10/2023 22:25

YANBU. I'd be upset about that, especially if I hadn't been told in advance. And quorn is utter shite that I would not be feeding to kids!

statetrooperstacey · 15/10/2023 22:27

I would be happy with a decent vegetarian menu but wouldn’t want that much quorn , or any really!

Original poster

OrangeSprout · 15/10/2023 22:28

probably worth adding to all the snooty vegetarians that I was a vegetarian myself for 6 years (wasn’t snooty though…it doesn’t have to go hand in hand) and I never ate quorn…because it’s horrible.

and those who are saying I haven’t done due diligence…the menu had meat in it last month.

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