Creche Food

yellow hen

I'm curiuos what sort of food your little ones get in the creche. Up until now I have sent my sons food in, which was always two homemade dinners (usually one with meat and one veggie) and then snacks of fruit, yogurt, rice cakes etc.

The creche tend to give dinner at lunch time which is usually a meat, potato and veg type thing. Snacks are much the same as i was giving but his tea which he gets at 4:30 is really disappointing. It seems to be a rotation of waffles, fish fingers, pizza, toast, sausages, smiley faces and sometimes some pasta. Yesterday for example, it was sausages and toast and I don't want him to be eating sausages just yet so all he had was toast. I had to make him some scrambled egg when I got in. Just curious what your little people get?

bp

In my crèche tea is usually eggs on toast or a wrap, corn on the cob and meat....not sure how the last one works!!!

ariana`

My kids are only in half days so i don't know what tea is like. But the dinners seem good beef stew, tuna pasta bake, chicken curry & rice etc..

My older child gets sausages/nuggets if it's someone's birthday in his montessori class but they will give the babies & toddlers something different, so my 16mth old doesn't get that highly processed/salty food yet thankfully.

They have a policy of only yogurt or fruit for snacks which i have to say i'm a big fan of. Our previous creche gave them digestive biscuits or a handful of cheerios for snacks...

But i'm afraid tea i can't help with as they're home by then.

How Strange

Our crèche changed the meal times recently so they get a snack around 11am which we send in. Usually I send in two things so a combination of yoghurt, fruit, brioche, cream crackers, pancakes, sandwiches. The baby gets some out of yoghurt, custard, fruit as finger food, organix biscuits, rice cakes, sandwich.

They get dinner at 3pm and the food is excellent. It could be stew, pasta, spaghetti bolognaise, curry, shepherd pie, fish pie.

I bring them home at 5-5.30 so they get supper then.

I wouldn't be happy with processed, salty foods bring used in a crèche. It's lazy and giving babies and toddlers a taste for processes food. I'm amazed that my toddler eats all sorts of stuff in crèche (veggies, fish, lentils, beans) that he'd turn his nose up at when at home. Creche is a great opportunity to increase their tastes as eating as a group means they'll try most things.

Neyite

I have to say our creche provides all food and snacks, and its all homemade and probably better than he would get at home in some cases. Lots of fruit and veg, and a good variation of types of food.

yellow hen

Thanks for the replies. I am really dissappointed it means that i have to continue to send in food in the afternoons and I thought I was finished with that. I don'd mind the odd treat but at 12 months, I really don't think its appropriate to expose a child to such processed salty foods. I'm amazed none of the other parents have said anything about this.

Neyite

How Strange wrote: »

I'm amazed that my toddler eats all sorts of stuff in crèche (veggies, fish, lentils, beans) that he'd turn his nose up at when at home. Creche is a great opportunity to increase their tastes as eating as a group means they'll try most things.

Oh totally! The staffer said to me that 'he didnt eat all of his banana today' one day to me. Eh, he has never, ever eaten a banana for me. :P

Neyite

yellow hen wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I am really dissappointed it means that i have to continue to send in food in the afternoons and I thought I was finished with that. I don'd mind the odd treat but at 12 months, I really don't think its appropriate to expose a child to such processed salty foods. I'm amazed none of the other parents have said anything about this.

Our creche was pretty good food-wise, but the last HSE inspection in Feb 2013 suggested a few menu planner changes and they overhauled it totally so its worth it to check the HSE report online to see if they were told to buck up with food. Its very salty food for little ones.

IvyTheTerrible

Ours have a cook making all the meals from scratch.
They get lunch at 11.30/12 which is a main and a fruit or something similar.
Then they get a snack ("goutée") at half 3 which is a cake, bun, biscuit, or fruit compote and a yoghurt or something like that.
I'm very happy with what he gets to eat there (I'm sure that it's better than what I make sometimes! ).
They will also adapt what they make depending on specific needs of the baby (eg there was no problem to avoid constipating food when my son was having problems, and giving him special foods like prunes etc.)

Ginny

Our Creche has an inhouse chef, so all meals are fresh and have no crap in them. They get Breakfast, think its readybrek in winter and cereal in summer, snack of fruit and yogurt at 11ish, dinner at 12/1 stuff like spag bog and chicken curry. A snack at about 4 which is usually a fresh fruit platter for each room, and it is an actual platter with fresh fruit sliced on it, looks lovely and maybe a homemade chicken goujon if they're hungry. When he comes home he tends to have some sort of meal. I'm very happy with the food in the creche and it always smells lovely!

xzanti

My little guy is in Montessori/creche but only til 12... the odd day I might leave him til one and they'll give him whatever is going.. the few times I've seen the food it always looked pretty good.. potato, veg and some chicken etc.. no problems there.

Xdancer

My daughter is in creche from 9-5. At 10 they have fresh fruit, and lunch is around 1ish. They don't have an in house chef, but food is delivered freshly cooked and hot every day from a local catering company and the monthly menu is signed off by a pediatrician. We are emailed the menu each month and they eat a wide range of meat, fish and vegetables.
When they wake from siesta around 4 they are given a yoghurt. She then has tea at home.

sari

Just wondering about the all homemade stuff, like say the chef cooks spaghetti Bol is the sauce all homemade or from a jar?

lonestargirl

sari wrote: »

Just wondering about the all homemade stuff, like say the chef cooks spaghetti Bol is the sauce all homemade or from a jar?

Homemade in my sin's crèche anyway. They have a cook (who has the culinary arts degree from DIT!).

Do they provide a menu for you OP? In my son's crèche they do 10 dinners, so have a two-weekly rotating menu. Dinners are things like shephard's pie, bolognese, curry, stews with a mix of rice or potatoes and lots of veg in every meal. Tea rotates through the week, e.g. Wed is pasta and pesto. They have sandwiches, pasta, beans on toast, cheese and crackers. The mid-morning snack is yoghurt and the 2pm snack is always fruit. Sometimes I think he eats better than I do!

The do have treats on occasion, they get ice-cream after lunch on Fridays and the had Nutella pancakes last Tuesday. If it is someone's birthday the parents often send in something (I just made a batch of plain fairy cakes).

yellow hen

There's a cook in our crèche too and dinners are perfectly nutritious and homecooked so I'm happy with those. However I think the cook finishes after lunch and obviously the staff chose the lowest effort sort of tea which is freezer-to-oven sort of thing. I was just surprised and very disappointed.

Neyite, I did look for the crèche inspection report online but unfortunately they haven't been uploaded just yet. I'll be interested to see it when available though.

Hello Lady!

yellow hen wrote: »

There's a cook in our crèche too and dinners are perfectly nutritious and homecooked so I'm happy with those. However I think the cook finishes after lunch and obviously the staff chose the lowest effort sort of tea which is freezer-to-oven sort of thing. I was just surprised and very disappointed.

Neyite, I did look for the crèche inspection report online but unfortunately they haven't been uploaded just yet. I'll be interested to see it when available though.

I understand if the cook has gone home that the staff want the least labour intensive option, but if there is an in house cook there is no reason why he/she can't pre make some things that just need reheating?!? Homemade goujons with no processed meat, or potato cakes with some cabbage or kale, savoury pancakes with sweetcorn etc all just need reheating but wouldn't take ages to make in the first place and could be stored easily for a few days in the fridge or a few weeks in the freezer. Just plain lazy if you ask me.

How Strange

Our food is brought in from a catering company but it's specifically made for young children so is made from scratch and no salt etc.

We're not allowed send in sugary foods for snacks which seems logical to me but they had to make the rule after a parent kept sending a child in with half a pack of chocolate chip cookies!!!!!

They get cake on a birthday or they may bake buns or have pancakes but they get so little sweet food that they're always really excited.

Yellow Hen do you think you could speak to the crèche about the later meal? It seems so strange in this day and age when we know how bad processes foods are for obesity etc.

yellow hen

@hello lady, I completely agree. I know it's a lazy option.

@how strange, husband and I were talking about speaking with the owner tonight. Problem is, she's never there as she runs a Montessori in the next parish. The manager of our crèche, I feel will not and make the right noises but things will continue. Id love to speak to other parents about it but invariably i either dont see them at pick up time or theres someone listening. Although it pains me to ignore it, I think the best option might be just to do my own food.

Dilly.

As someone who works in Childcare I would be wary of assuming that because they have a chef that the food is made from scratch or 'homemade'. Only speaking from my own experience here but meals such as spag Bol was made from Tesco jar sauce, chicken curry was o donnells curry sauce and very little chicken, tuna pita pockets were basically just mayo! I couldn't understand why parents didn't enquire more as to ingredients but I know without Working in a crèche if I had heard they employed a chef I probably would assume they made meals from scratch too. Just something to be aware of!

lonestargirl

That seems mad Dilly, surely it works out a lot more expensive that way? In my case I often meet the fruit + veg man delivering the days supplies in the morning and I've seen the cook at work often enough to be happy that it is made in-house

Dilly.

lonestargirl wrote: »

That seems mad Dilly, surely it works out a lot more expensive that way? In my case I often meet the fruit + veg man delivering the days supplies in the morning and I've seen the cook at work often enough to be happy that it is made in-house

You would think so but then it was the cheapest sauce on the market so maybe not? Regardless of cost I don't know how they had the heart to put it across to parents that they had a chef so everything was 'homemade' when in reality it was convenience food! I must actually check their hse inspection report and see if they commented on it or if this is acceptable to them aswell.

sari

I was looking at a crèche same thing they had chef said all homemade but then I found out homemade with jars of sauce, packet flavourings etc.

lazygal

Homemade is meaningless. Any creches I looked into said food was homemade, but when pressed said things like it was 'made fresh' or 'made on the premises', which can mean anything. We know from the Prime Time expose how so-called home cooked food might be made by someone without an up to date allergy list. We send in all food to our minder, mainly because we want to know what our children are eating and make most things homemade ourselves (not jars of sauce or packets).

I don't think its acceptable that you feel you can't approach the owner because she works elsewhere. If this is a serious matter, and it must be or you wouldn't have posted, I would schedule a meeting with her to discuss your concerns. You are paying for a service - surely if it was another service you weren't happy with you'd kick up about it? This service cares for your children, you shouldn't be concerned.

How Strange

I heard of one chain which sounds like a prestigious school :P where they fed the babies milupa cereals for breakfast and liga for snacks. Why couldn't they use porridge for breakfast? They used a lot of processed foods despite advertising that they had a full time chef and kitchen on the premises.

I'm fairly confident that the dinners our crèche buys in are made from scratch and have a low salt and sugar content. I say I'm fairly confident as that's what the owner told me and I trust she told me the truth.

lazygal

How Strange wrote: »

I heard of one chain which sounds like a prestigious school :P where they fed the babies milupa cereals for breakfast and liga for snacks. Why couldn't they use porridge for breakfast? They used a lot of processed foods despite advertising that they had a full time chef and kitchen on the premises.

I'm fairly confident that the dinners our crèche buys in are made from scratch and have a low salt and sugar content. I say I'm fairly confident as that's what the owner told me and I trust she told me the truth.

I don't need to be Harvard educated to work that one out.

Lola92

I worked in a creche which had a chef on site. Pretty much everything, including sauces, was made in house from scratch, no added salt to anything. The food was exceptional. There was choice of cereals for breakfast, fruit mid morning, a hot dinner at lunch time, usually something like a casserole/chicken korma/pasta bake etc., another snack around four, something like cheese and crackers/pancakes/yogurt and raisins etc. Overall the creche left a lot to be desired but the food was top notch.