Daycare food

[Anonymous]

Our daycare's food is mostly crap, too, though I think their lunches are decently balanced. Our older child had food allergies and needed a doctor's note to eat "outside food", so that's a disadvantage of certain centers. It is so much easier not to have to pack food for our younger child who is in the young toddler room, but I don't feel like she's going to develop the healthy eating habits I'd prefer. Two snacks a day in addition to lunch, and the snacks are things like animal crackers, wheat thins, ritz crackers, sweetened yogurt, usually with canned fruit or cheese cubes. My kids don't usually snack on the weekends so I feel like they're getting unnecessary junk during the week.

[Anonymous]

What exactly are the USDA recommendations? Sounds like it just means a meat, veggie, fruit and starch?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are the USDA recommendations? Sounds like it just means a meat, veggie, fruit and starch?

https://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/cacfp/CACFP_childmealpattern.pdf

[Anonymous]

I had to do a double take when I read this because I was actually thinking about posting almost this exact same thing today -- my baby is even the same age as yours and our provider serves the same food (mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, spaghetti and meatballs). My older child went here and when she was there, the food was much better - more fresh fruit and veggies, rice and lentils, some food from the provider's country - but there were two other children there who were crazy picky and she had to resort to serving them crap so they would eat. They are long gone and soon my baby will be the oldest one there, so I'm considering asking if the provider can go back to her own menu (she also raised prices by $50/week this year, so not being able to afford it shouldn't be an issue). I think I may have to just resort to sending food from home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree. I hate what they serve for snacks/lunch at my child's (private) daycare, but it's not worth rocking the boat. I know that when other parents have brought this up, they say to bring your own food. However, that makes extra work for the teachers and then they say that the child just wants to eat what their friends are eating.

The USDA's standards are crap and schools wants to spend as little per child on food as possible. Hence canned, heavily processed everything. But hey, why not relax those standards even more, Republicans?

We focus on eating as well as we can at home with a varied diet heavy on fruits and veggies. Luckily my son is not picky...

They don't have lunch catered? Most downtown daycares use Good Food Company, which includes a fresh fruit and a veg with every lunch. They also bake their own bread. The food isn't fabulous, because large-scale catering rarely is, but it's definitely balanced and does not rely on canned/highly processed foods. I've been pretty pleased with the variety of entrees.

I agree about Good Food's lunches, but their snacks are terrible! Sugary yogurt, sweetened applesauce, muffins, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are the USDA recommendations? Sounds like it just means a meat, veggie, fruit and starch?

https://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/cacfp/CACFP_childmealpattern.pdf

This is true, but you would be amazed at the absolute CRAP that is served but still falls under the "healthy" categories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are the USDA recommendations? Sounds like it just means a meat, veggie, fruit and starch?

https://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/cacfp/CACFP_childmealpattern.pdf

This is true, but you would be amazed at the absolute CRAP that is served but still falls under the "healthy" categories.

https://www.childcaregroup.org/images/Misc/Creditable_Non-_Foods.pdf

It's not the list that I was thinking of, but this is a good sense of what is. I'll post if I find it.

[Anonymous]

Our daycare serves similar food. Lunch consists of things like tacos, pizza, grilled cheese, etc. along with some fruit and veggies.

I don't love the menu but honestly my toddler is such a picky eater that I'm just happy they can get her to eat something. I figure I can teach her healthy eating habits once she is a little older. Processed food and carbs for a couple years aren't going to kill your kid.

[Anonymous]

Bring your own food or find a new daycare. She feeds them those things because it is cheap and easy. Part of the interviews for daycare is to look at a sample menu

[Anonymous]

I've been to three center based daycares. Two of them used Good Food catering and the other made food onsite that was healthier than what I feed at home (e.g salmon for entree, bell peppers for snack, veggies and hummus).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. When we spoke with the owner she said she followed the USDA food recommendations regarding meat, vegetables and a starch at every meal.

DH and I would never eat processed American cheese, french fries, chicken nuggets, tater tots. They're so high in fat and sodium and there are so many other easy options for lunches. Maybe I'm overthinking this though?

You actually do sound pretty healthy if you don't allow chiciken nuggets, tater tots...

[Anonymous]

OP....I pulled my kid out of daycare in part bc of the food and hired a nanny. Basically I liked being in control of what my young child was exposed to, and I realized the only way to accomplish this was with a nanny. We do pay more but its worth it to me bc I am not stressing about all sorts of things. I promise if its mac and cheese now, it will be something else in 6 months. I have lots of friends who are very happy at daycare but they are more laid back than I am. Nobody is better or worse but daycare is not a great fit for micro managers, and I recognize than I am one. Fwiw, I have loosened up considerably as my kids age but there are just some things I don't believe are good for 1 yr olds...like being fed crappy food on a daily basis.

[Anonymous]

Op -- this conversation with your provider doesn't have to be tense. Just say, "I will be sending Larla's lunch. Will you please make sure she eats what I send?" Done.

If the owner asks why or asks if it's because of an allergy you could say, "It's not an allergy. (Because I think it's fair to let her know that.) But DH and I have realized we have strong preferences about what Larla eats, and the easiest way to do that is to pack her lunch every day. Thanks so much!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. When we spoke with the owner she said she followed the USDA food recommendations regarding meat, vegetables and a starch at every meal.

DH and I would never eat processed American cheese, french fries, chicken nuggets, tater tots. They're so high in fat and sodium and there are so many other easy options for lunches. Maybe I'm overthinking this though?

Just because you are a health nut, doesn't mean you have to push it on your kids and a whole daycare center. And if you say you never eat French fries again, you should be thrown off this site for lying.

[Anonymous]

I think you are overthinking it. Our daycare center don't even provide lunch and trust me, it is so nice to have lunch provided. Everyday, I am wondering what I should pack for next day's lunch. DD is very picky and I am just glad that she will eat mac and cheese. I'll let her eat whatever she wants as long as she eats something.