Thoughts on this nursery menu please

[nervousnancyy]

I have visited a potential nursery for my 12 month old and this is the menu. Would you say this is a very typical menu and absolutely fine? Are there substantially better food options which other nurseries tend to offer? (I know very little about nurseries etc and a family member suggested I should pay attention to the menu amongst other things).

You can't tell if that's junk or not yourself?

Maybe op is not from the UK? When I first moved here I had no idea what the nursery menu actually was from the description.

Looks good, would be happy for my kids to eat all that

Pretty similar to DD2’s. It looks reasonable. I have DD’s in different nurseries (due to a house move). DD1 has a vegan menu & I hate it. It’s too healthy 🙈 There is nothing wrong with the occasional ‘nice’ thing.

DD2 has a normal, balanced menu. They are kids, let them enjoy everything in moderation. It’s a far healthier attitude to food. We shouldn’t be teaching kids that you must never eat junk. Because they will, we all do. It’s tasty. I love chocolate & ice cream And it’s fine in a moderate case balanced diet. An occasional toddler sized biscuit isn’t going to hurt a very active toddler! But that’s the key through life.

Also, kids are fussy eaters. Not all as bad as each other but the parents at nursery all despair of ‘wraps with lettuce, tomato & beans’ .. I don’t want that as an adult. It sounds so boring! My DD barely eats half the time! 😩 they don’t even put cheese on their buckwheat pizzas 🤦🏼‍♀️

that someone would be able to acknowledge if they felt it was awful in comparison to other nurseries

What did the other nurseries you viewed have on their menu?

What are you reading on it that makes you think it could potentially be awful?

Are you from a different ethnic background yourself and used to more rice dishes etc?

Worked in a nursery and yes, thats a very average / normal nursery menu

@Bobholll I just munched through loads of vegan biscuits, vegan does not have to mean healthy

Standard in england I am afraid. I am from a different country and this would be seen as junk menu in a nursery and you would see quite a different menu. In England sadly feeding 1 year olds junk and puddings every day is the norm.

Looks very much like my child's nursery menu. He eats well there and is healthy and happy, all good. If you're worried about the cake and puddings, they are absolutely tiny portions.

It's better than lots of nurseries we viewed and similar to ours, except ours doesn't have pudding every day.

I recognise this menu template too...if it's the same chain as we use, the assuming the staff are all equally good then your child will eat well there
We have a fussy child and she has got a lot better while she's been at nursery, we've had no worries about the menu as time as gone on. I would say this is a more puddingy week, the other weeks on ours have more yoghurt type of things and similar rather than the extra cake day.

If it's the exact same nursery then congratulations, you've picked a great one!

Go on then @AdriannaP - what righteous food do children in your country eat?

@AdriannaP

Standard in england I am afraid. I am from a different country and this would be seen as junk menu in a nursery and you would see quite a different menu. In England sadly feeding 1 year olds junk and puddings every day is the norm.

Oooooh, I’d love to hear what they serve at nursery in your superior country?

In what way is this food junk? It looks pretty standard to me, though our nursery only do fruit as a pudding and not cake etc.

Junk? If my DC ate that as their daily menu I'd be thrilled.
Op looks perfect to me, our crèche doesn't provide food. It's a pain.

Just came on to say I give my 2yo wotsits for a snack - does that make me an awful parent 🤣

@AdriannaP

Standard in england I am afraid. I am from a different country and this would be seen as junk menu in a nursery and you would see quite a different menu. In England sadly feeding 1 year olds junk and puddings every day is the norm.

Do share what your superior country feeds its precious little ones.

No need to be sarcastic. Children are precious and nutritious is important.
It’s not excactly a coincidence that the UK has a very obesity rate among children. But somehow this seems to baffle parents who can’t explain it. School menus are pretty much the same of course.

*nutrition

I work in a nursery. That menu looks pretty decent.

One thing worth asking is if it’s cooked fresh onsite or if it’s delivered by an external caterer. We have onsite chefs and their food is a lot nicer than the food we get delivered if they’re not in. The external caterer’s food sounds really appealing but it’s never as nice as it sounds.

@AdriannaP

No need to be sarcastic. Children are precious and nutritious is important. It’s not excactly a coincidence that the UK has a very obesity rate among children. But somehow this seems to baffle parents who can’t explain it. School menus are pretty much the same of course.

Obesity is largely caused by poverty, of which the UK government is hugely failing at doing anything about for a wide number of social, political and economic reasons. It is not caused by giving kids sweet & sour pork at nursery.

And how much government funding goes into healthy school and nursery meals? Not much. So don’t tell me obesity is not also called by giving children processed food and puddings every day in their schools and nurseries.

Looks great much more nutritious than my two now pre-teens got served by me at home

@AdriannaP I’d agree if a child was eating a slab of vicky sponge after every meal morning noon and night but you’re referring to ‘pudding’ and it’s yoghurt and fruit or just fruit alone. Once a week they have cake on that menu.

That’s completely fine.
My DC devours fruit like it’s going out of fashion, nobody every got diabetes or obese from fruit. Relax.

That menu looks slightly better than average to me.

@AdriannaP not being snotty, what’s processed junk on that menu? I can’t really see.

Looks fine to me, similar to the sort of menu they served in the nursery I did some bank cover for. If your child is a vegetarian then then you might want to check what the vegetarian tea option is on the days where it’s not cheese based (is it a quorn/fake meat version of the meat option or is it something else) but other than that it’s fine.

The only slight problem is that the vegetarian option is a ‘copy’ of the meat option for some of the days. Which is nice in a way, but also means if you have a child that doesn’t like sweet and sour sauce (for example) they can’t have the veggie option to avoid it. I think that’s quite standard though... it is in the school I work in now!