Nursery dinner ideas??
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If you have the option to do a 'school dinner' at nursery then I would opt for every day. Nurseries normally have a rotating menu which means they get a different meal every day for 2 or 3 weeks, with my nurseries this also comes with a dessert. Sometimes my son is given seconds aswell. If you collect him, at 5.30pm then what time is dinner? I'd be worried if this was too early, in comparison to the time he then goes to bed. My son is collected at 5pm, there is not option for him to have dinner there and he eats his dinner when he gets home. Sadly our nursery is removing the hot lunch option soon, so I will send him with a thermal food flask of pasta (He only goes to nursery two days a week) he will also have other bits in his lunch box like fruit, yogurt etc. If you do have to send two packed lunches, I'd do something hot for lunch and then maybe sandwiches or something like that for dinner? Just to mix it up x
@Sophie I’ll have to check what time they do tea I think- they’re open till 6pm and he’ll be there til around 5:30 so hoping it’ll be closer to 5ish. Mostly it’s just for the cost side of things- they don’t provide tea at all so I’ll have to send that regardless so figured I may as well send lunch most days as well to try and keep costs down a little bit 😂
@Sarah I think his nursery does a single thing with the rotating menu, and it’s a hot meal & pudding which I quite like as it’ll fill him up ☺️ I’m not sure what time dinner is tbh, the nursery is open till 6pm so I’m assuming not super early?? We won’t be getting him from nursery til 6 and his bedtime is usually 6:30/6:45ish so I’m thinking if he has a decent dinner there I can always give him a snack before bedtime when we get home?? Honestly trying to work out the best thing to do is a nightmare isn’t it! 😂 x
Our nursery opens until and serves dinner around 5.15/5.30 once all the other parents have collected there 5pm finish children. I'm sure that if little one has his dinner around that time then he should be fine. Like you say if he suggests he is hungry than he can have a snack before bed. Our nursery arnt allowed to reheat foods for food safety reasons so I would defo invest in one of those thermal flasks. As long as your super organised and plan ahead you will be fine. Congrats on the new job 👏 x Also, if you will be eligble for funding, get this sorted ASAP x
My little one isn’t a massive sandwich fan, we find that pasta works really well, pizza swirls, humous/dippy veg. I really like this packed lunch guide, which is free you just have to put in your email. https://www.firststepsnutrition.org/eating-well-early-years
My LB goes 2 days a week and has a hot lunch with dessert provided by the nursery, as well as snacks. I send him with dinner, which is normally some sort of sandwich, a yoghurt, fruit, breadsticks or crisps and a biscuit. He has this at about 4:15-4:30 for pick up at 5 x
Not answering your original question, but just a heads up - I found that unfortunately my little one needs to eat when he gets home from nursery even though they have tea there. Their tea is at 4:15 and breakfast isn't until 8am so I don't think it's really feasible for them to go all that time without anything! Is there a reason you're opting to send your own food in? There's no way I'd manage that with working as well! Although maybe that's because my little boy wakes up so early and I'm permanently exhausted 😴