Vegetarian at nursery

[OrangeSprout]

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?

Is this a meatless month campaign of something? I have a hazy memory of my youngest creche doing a month of vegetarian food ?

I'm vegetarian and I wouldn't be happy with that, Quorn is ultra processed and I wouldn't give it to my kids.

Your comment just shows how entitled you are! Sure, you can keep eating as much meat as you want, there are no laws against it (yet), but have you asked yourself how many slaughtered lives your wants have cost?
You dont care, only because you think it doesn't concern you and you have no regard for other species who are sharing space on this planet just as you are.

A single life of a cow feeds many families. But this thread isn't about that, it's about a significant menu change without notification or consultation and about an ultra processed food that can also cause gastrointestinal issues being given regularly to children without an alternative being provided.

Is this a joke? You can't honestly believe children raised on vegan or vegetarian diets are brain damaged?

I wouldn't worry too much about this s the meals could technically be healthier. Quora spaghetti bolognaise is actually tastier than beef bolognaise by far.
Vegan cheese is tastier too
A selection of fruit and veg at childcare setting is fine by me as my kids would get more choice there than at home

I wouldn't be happy with this and would expect my toddler to be able to eat meat. Also worth considering just how processed quorn is!

Vegan cheese is tastier too

This might be the most ridiculous opinion on this thread.

I agree. I'm vegan and cheese is the only thing I miss!!

Quorn spag bol is tastier in your opinion, it's not healthier though.

And I'm sorry but I refuse to believe anyone who has eaten both cheese and the vegan crap they call cheese would come to the conclusion that the vegan version is superior!

Not a quorn fan but it's probably better for us than meat tbf. At least the processed shit.

Also...I've always felt eating meat should be something a kid decides on themsrlves - when they are old enough. Before then I wouldn't feed them meat if it could be helped. The choice should really be to opt in not to opt out.

And I say this as someone who wishes I'd never been introduced to eating meat. Once we have the entitlement mindset (which is what it is amd there's no denying it) it's difficult to shift. If our choice has a victim then we shouldn't be flippant about it.

I look back and remember not wanting to eat cows or pigs. Being horrified by it. But I didn't have that choice. Kids shouldn't be forced to eat it.

As for the 'protein' argument...have you ever heard of wards being filled with people with protein deficienct vegetarians or vegans? If course not! It's usually indulgence related diseases that fill hospital beds.

I think its great the nursery is vegetarian. Good on them. If you don't want to work on making your food choices kinder, that's up to you. Hell, we are all selfish in various ways. But it's nice that you kids are being shown we don't need meat to survive and thrive.

Maybe worth talking to them about their range of choice. But they are morally right not to be serving meat.

I would be fine with the nursery being vegetarian but I would want it to be proper vegetarian food not quorn substitutes. So homemade Glamorgan sausages not quorn sausages for example. Being vegetarian will make it so much easier for the nursery to provide halal/kosher food etc so very much understand why they do it.

vegetarian would be fine - after all you can eat meat at home it’s not essential and too much is bad for your body and bad for the planet

8 lots of quorn though - its unnecessary and unhealthy

Integral for brain development? Where the hell did you get that idea?

People come out with lots of odd stuff regarding meat being necessary. Largely because weve bern conditioned our whole lives into thinking that's the case unfortunately.

I'm not a vegan, not even sure I can say I'm veggie either as I totally cheat sometimes.
But - The World Health Organisation says that a vegan diet (not even just veggie) is suitable for all stages of life. From infancy to old age. And infact may have health benefits over that of a diet which includes animal products.

For example, you can only get bad cholesterol from animal products. So rates of heart disease are reduced if you cut those out. As is liklihood of osteoporosis (countries that are predominantly vegetarian have lower rates). Men who are vegan also have more errections that last longer apparently ;) .... ...yeah maybe that's not a good thing lol.

I occasionally eat meat, because I enjoy it. But I've long since thrown away the illusion that it is necessary. Or even, good for us.

But we're lied to our whole lives from all angles about it being 'needed' and 'humame'. Because its a billion dollar industry. We also are conditioned from young to not look and not really feel anything about it.

It's good that the cycle of conditioning is being broken in nurseries and schools.The world has changed, there's so much else to eat now that these industries will hopefully slowly die out. Maybe if we retained our compassion for animals, there would be less violence, hate crimes and suffering in the world. Because we were never taught to forget our compassion and treat lives as if their only value is for a sandwich.

In a MONTH. That's 8/93 meals.

So under 9%.

An UPF for two meals every week is a lot

Given the OP explained that the previous month meat was on the menu. This vegetarian menu is not every week.

But I agree, it's not what I would put on the menu twice a week in vegetarian month.

I would t be bothered about this. I’d just serve meat at teatime if I felt they needed it.

UPF 8 times in the month would average twice per week. It's not just one week.

Has the OP said it is 'vegetarian month' (first I've heard of it). It doesn't sound like they were notified about it.

Have you spoken to them? Sometimes the reasoning comes down to cost and/or time. Making the same or virtually same thing for everyone can be the easiest thing. So long as its balanced, nutritious with quality ingredients its good for your child.

You may appreciate it in later life. Many times diet advisers go on about people not having enough fruit and veg. The more variety of fruit and veg your child is happy eating, the better the chances they'll eat a balanced diet (with or without meat) later in life

I didn't say it was just 1 week

It wouldn’t bother me as long as there was sufficient protein from other sources.

Well the OP has been notably limited in the information provided. I took her words the menu had meat in it last month to suggest the menu changed monthly. So I assumed the meatless menu would last a month also.