Quorn the only veggie option at nursery!?

[SassyPants87]

My 9 month old is starting nursery next week and we've chosen a nursery that is so fab! However when I asked to be sent the menu for the week every single meal was meat based but the veggie option was replacing the meat with quorn

DD is being raised vegetarian but at home I'm mindful of giving her nutritious meals with great veggie protein options e.g ground seeds, nut butters, beans and pulses, eggs, tofu, quinoa etc.

Is it unreasonable of me to ask the nursery to not give her quorn all the time and give her some really great high calorie good fatty proteins instead?

I also read quorn isn't recommended for under 2 year olds on a regular basis and DD will be going to nursery 3x a week

Any advice would be great!

IMHO you shouldn't be raising a baby as a vegetarian. It's a lifestyle choice and one she is too young to make.

It is unreasonable to expect the nursery to cater for dietary requirements you have decided on, unless you are willing to provide food yourself. It would be different if this was a food allergy, but it isn't. Either send her in with food or suck it up.

Any type of nuts would be out due to allergies and most childcare settings operate nut-free. But I’m sure they would take on some suggestions in regards to the other options.

@TheUnexpectedPickle

IMHO you shouldn't be raising a baby as a vegetarian. It's a lifestyle choice and one she is too young to make.

It is unreasonable to expect the nursery to cater for dietary requirements you have decided on, unless you are willing to provide food yourself. It would be different if this was a food allergy, but it isn't. Either send her in with food or suck it up.

I really didn't ask for your opinion on if my baby should be raised vegetarian or not. There are plenty of vegetarian children who have extremely healthy diets (some more so than meat eaters believe it or not).

@Motherchicken ahhh of course makes sense about nuts. I'll just ask them the question and see what they say. Hopefully they'll be really co-operative as they do seem like a good nursery. I was just baffled that their vegetarian alternative is always just quorn

It's fair that you didn't ask for my opinion. However it is unfair that you are expecting the nursery to cater for your dietary choice. They will have multiple children so will cater for the majority.
Her specialist diet is your choice, so you either need to provide food for her or accept the nursery's vegetarian option.

IMHO you shouldn't be raising a baby as a vegetarian. It's a lifestyle choice and one she is too young to make.

Well that answer came earlier in the thread than it usually does. Pathetic response. 🙄 Best ignored though.

Speak to the nursery and see what they say. I certainly wouldn’t want to eat quorn 3 times each week. The meat they offer will probably not be good quality either, unfortunately school and nursery food is usually cheap. Maybe send your own in if that’s a possibility, as a pp said, you would need to be mindful of other children’s allergies.

Someone having a different opinion to you isn't pathetic, its just different.

It is very entitled to expect a nursery to change its menu to benefit one child. Either send the child in with food you approve of, or accept what they provide. Otherwise every single parent could request special food for their child based on preference (which is what this is)- its just not doable.

@TheUnexpectedPickle it's not entitled at all. I don't think you fully understand the topic of conversation here. It's like being told the nursery is going to give your child chicken nuggets every day. If you'd be fine with that then good for you.

Someone having a different opinion to you isn't pathetic, its just different.

It’s not the different opinion that’s the issue. It’s coming on a thread to tell OP your views about something that wasn’t the question she was asking. I notice OP has explained this to you already. I’m sorry you have issues with comprehension.
I’m a vegan, notice how I didn’t tell OP that she is wrong for bringing her child up as a vegetarian and that the child should be vegan.

I think it's fair to raise it with them, but bear in mind that different menu options must be an absolute headache for them. So if you suggest alternatives to quorn they need to be :

1. Cheap
2. Reasonably easy and fast to make
3. In compliance with whatever sanitary regulations nursery have to follow

I'm actually surprised they even offer a vegetarian option tbh.

In your place I'd bring it up in a conciliatory manner and be ready to be told it's not possible. In which case your only options will be to send your child in with a packed lunch, or to switch to another nursery (though you'd probably have a hard time finding one with amazing vegetarian options).

I'm actually surprised they even offer a vegetarian option tbh.

I’ve never come across a nursery that doesn’t offer a vegetarian option. They’re just not always great or varied.

OP I noticed this when looking at the menus for potential nurseries for my baby. I am a vegetarian myself, hence the interest, but my partner and my older daughter are not and the baby won’t be either. Daughter doesn’t eat a huge amount of meat though and would usually choose something like tomato pasta or margherita pizza in a restaurant.
The nursery menus were like:
Meat option chicken curry, veggie option quorn curry
Meat option spaghetti bolognese, veggie option quorn bolognese
Meat option sausage and mash, veggie option quorn sausages and mash
Meat option meant and potato pie and gravy, veggie version quorn pie

It all just seemed a bit unimaginative and samey. Like why not sweet potato and butternut squash on the curry day? Why not cheese and potato on the pie day?

Could you ask them to serve her the veg/carb bits without the Quorn? I'm assuming at 9m we're not talking about great quantities, and you can provide extra protein for the meals at home those days.

Another option if they're ok with it would be to send her in with leftovers from home. You would of course need to check what ingredients need to be avoided.

I’m surprised anyone could be baffled by this. Quorn has been offered as a standard meat replacement for years.

You might get lucky with the odd bean stew, but nurseries, schools, hospitals, canteens etc generally don’t provide ‘really great high calorie good fatty proteins‘ for vegetarians. Nor do chain restaurants, cafes, pubs etc. Maybe some restaurants but it’s a hit and a miss.

The nursery are likely preparing the same meal with that one tweak, it is also likely to be halal/kosher so will suit several children. It could be cooked fresh on site, but may come pre prepared.

It’s a bit unrealistic that they will have the budget/ resources to cook your recipes.

Bear in mind that in addition to nuts not being allowed, some children in the setting may have specific allergies to thing like lentils so that may also not be permitted.

If you can’t send your own food in, you could make sure that your child’s breakfasts and evening meals at home contain more vitamins and protein.

www.babycentre.co.uk/a555828/feeding-your-vegetarian-baby

This website states that quorn isn’t recommended for children under 3 years old. So, on that basis I would express my concerns and request that my baby is not fed quorn. Discuss some alternatives and offer to provide food for your baby.

I’m surprised that a nursery wouldn’t follow nutritional guidelines. (I’m not from the UK and understand that policies and procedures for nurseries would be different from my experience).

I may well be down to allergies. In my class (29 children) we have:
Nut allergy
Three egg allergies (two of whom can’t eat them, one of whom can’t even be in the same room as others that have eaten them.
An allergy to pulses
An allergy to strawberries
An allergy to celery
Three who can’t have dairy (others can).
One who can’t be near coconut.
And one who can’t be near processed peppers.

It makes planning more adventurous meals difficult. We have things like summer veg fajitas, but the kids won’t eat them, despite parents ordering them.

We have things like chickpea curry and bean chilli at the nursery DC goes to. It's hard because a lot of things you mentioned won't be allowed due to allergies. When I did settling in with him there were at least 8 names on the board with allergies next to them, plus the veggies, vegans and those eating different requirements due to religious reasons - I'm not sure how the nursery workers keep track!

I do think it's difficult trying to cater for children of ages within the nursery range - DS would have eaten everything at 9mo but was fussy by 18mo and now at 3yo wants the same food as his friends so things like Quorn sausages are a good sub for him on sausage & mash day for example.

You need to say no quorn or processed food. We have children who are vegan and don't have soy or quorn product

If it was just your preference for your daughter not to have quorn then I’d probably say there’s not much you can do. You like the nursery, so you have to put up with the menu. To me it would be a bit like choosing a primary school for your child but then asking them to change the uniform because you don’t like it!

However as quorn isn’t actually recommended for children that young (on a regular basis anyway) I think it would be worth bringing it up with them to see what they say. Is it an independent nursery or part of a chain?

If it's only three days a week I wouldn't be too concerned - the majority of her meals will be with you and you can get the good stuff into her. School meals will be the same tbh.

Every nursery has veggie options, I'm not sure why people are surprised by that 😂 A lot of people are veggie nowadays. Ours has some Quorn and the odd bean hotpot, etc, not overly exciting but it's one component of one meal, they get lots of other choice across all the other meals and snacks. We also have kids with a few different allergies so likely difficult to make something that suits everyone.

Where I work the cook has to cater for loads of different requirements- lots of different allergies, intolerances, vegetarians, those who don't allow anything sweet Etc. (I don't know how she manages it!)

It's absolutely not true that we just have to go with the majority.

We do serve quorn as a substitute but it's very limited.

I think it's very unimaginative, my daughter (1) who isn't vegetarian however we do try to limit our meat intake, her nursery vegetarian options this week are butter bean & mushroom pasta carbonara, chickpea & mango curry, quorn & lentil dinner, falafel & root vegetables wedges and cheese & vegetable bake.

So a very varied menu compared to quorn every day. I'd start by just mentioning you're worried that quorn isn't recommended before 3 and see how that goes. But I wouldn't be too thrilled with the menu choice.

@TheUnexpectedPickle I have worked in childcare (nursery) for many, many years and what you have posted is garbage.

We accomodate different family’s routines, dietary needs, preferences etc. as far as we practically and reasonably can. Because that is what is in the best interests of the children.

Wait until she gets to school. It’s quite often pizza or cheese and onion bake offered as the veggie option. Lots of quorn too.

She's 9 months, I hardly feel she's going to be eating the entire amount