Lunch for nanny?

[Anonymous]

Am I supposed to provide lunch for the nanny, or generally does a nanny bring her own lunch?

[Anonymous]

Depends on age of the kids. If you have a baby then I dont think you need to provide lunch. If your child is eating food I would expect them to eat together and therefore you would provide lunch for the Nanny.

[Anonymous]

We didn't address this verbally or in our contract and have only had one nanny for over 4 years. After a few weeks we had an idea of what was being eaten, so we just bought more of those foods and said "help yourself!"

If he is taking the kids out somewhere and the kids will eat lunch out then we provide money for lunch for the nanny too.

[Anonymous]

I've always offered, but our nannies have mostly brought their own and supplemented with our food.

[Anonymous]

Generally you're expected to offer, OP. That's my experience.

[Anonymous]

I have both been a nanny and employed a nanny. When I was a nanny myself, I brought my own food. When I employed a nanny, we definitely did not provide lunch for her.

There was plenty of space in the kitchen for her to bring and store whatever she wanted. Usually our child was having leftovers, of which there was only a small portion. It would not make sense to cook extra food for the nanny, who we hired to make our lives easier.

Occasionally we gave her money to take our child out to eat, but that was not a regular thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have both been a nanny and employed a nanny. When I was a nanny myself, I brought my own food. When I employed a nanny, we definitely did not provide lunch for her.

There was plenty of space in the kitchen for her to bring and store whatever she wanted. Usually our child was having leftovers, of which there was only a small portion. It would not make sense to cook extra food for the nanny, who we hired to make our lives easier.

Occasionally we gave her money to take our child out to eat, but that was not a regular thing.

Oh, and I will add that when she babysat for us on weekend evenings, we provided dinner for our child, the nanny, and the nanny's kids (who she brought with her only for the weekend gigs).

[Anonymous]

If the nanny is cooking the kid's food and it's something that adults would eat, then I think the nanny should be able to eat as well. If she is taking the kid out to lunch, I would want the nanny to buy herself something to eat rather than just sitting there watching my kid eat or bringing her lunch to a restaurant, which is not proper. But otherwise, I would expect her to bring her lunch. We have a toddler who eats leftovers from the night before or "kid food" such as mac n cheese. I would think it's weird for me to have to make an extra portion at dinner for the nanny to eat the next day or for the nanny to cook herself a meal of which our toddler was not partaking using our groceries. Every caregiver I have worked with who brought their own lunch would bring something from home using ingredients that amounted to a couple dollars. But when we have had to provide lunch or dinner, we would give $10 and $20, respectively as a stipend. That really adds up! I make it very clear when I hire someone that while she is welcome to raid our fridge and pantry for a snack, like an apple or a bowl of cereal, I expect her to take care of her own meals. Having said that, I could totally imagine other situations where it makes sense for the NF to provide meals for the nanny.

[Anonymous]

My God. How cheap can you be! She is taking care of your children and you cannot give her lunch? Unbelievable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My God. How cheap can you be! She is taking care of your children and you cannot give her lunch? Unbelievable.

I have to agree. You really should ask the nanny what arrangement she prefers. If you can't afford something for her to eat while she's there, I'd think you can't really afford a nanny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My God. How cheap can you be! She is taking care of your children and you cannot give her lunch? Unbelievable.

This is ridiculous. We pay our nanny well, give her lots of PTO, multiple bonuses per year, and health insurance. We try to do little things to make her life easier like leaving extra spending money once in awhile, etc. Yet you think because we don't buy and prepare food for our nanny, we are cheap? That honestly has me laughing out loud.

I barely have time to get dinner on the table for my own family, let alone buying and preparing extra for someone else.

But, if it's important to you, you should definitely bring it up when negotiating pay etc. for your jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My God. How cheap can you be! She is taking care of your children and you cannot give her lunch? Unbelievable.

This is ridiculous. We pay our nanny well, give her lots of PTO, multiple bonuses per year, and health insurance. We try to do little things to make her life easier like leaving extra spending money once in awhile, etc. Yet you think because we don't buy and prepare food for our nanny, we are cheap? That honestly has me laughing out loud.

I barely have time to get dinner on the table for my own family, let alone buying and preparing extra for someone else.

But, if it's important to you, you should definitely bring it up when negotiating pay etc. for your jobs.

Nooooobody said prepare or even buy extra food. People are saying allow her access to what is there that she is feeding the kids. DRAMA QUEEN.

[Anonymous]

It's a toss-up.

I am a Nanny & most of my employers tell me I can help myself to anything in the kitchen.

And I sometimes do, but within reason.
Meaning perhaps a piece of fruit.
I would NEVER eat the last bit of something as is basic common sense.

I usually provide my own lunch just because I always have felt a little weird raiding a refrigerator that isn't my own.

If you prefer not to provide lunch to your Nanny, then you should discuss this w/her since she may take it as a given that she can eat your food while working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My God. How cheap can you be! She is taking care of your children and you cannot give her lunch? Unbelievable.

This is ridiculous. We pay our nanny well, give her lots of PTO, multiple bonuses per year, and health insurance. We try to do little things to make her life easier like leaving extra spending money once in awhile, etc. Yet you think because we don't buy and prepare food for our nanny, we are cheap? That honestly has me laughing out loud.

I barely have time to get dinner on the table for my own family, let alone buying and preparing extra for someone else.

But, if it's important to you, you should definitely bring it up when negotiating pay etc. for your jobs.

Nooooobody said prepare or even buy extra food. People are saying allow her access to what is there that she is feeding the kids. DRAMA QUEEN.

I agree.
To specify to a Nanny that she is to bring in her own grub sounds cheap to me no matter how you word it.

[Anonymous]

Can you really afford a nanny?