What does nanny feed your kids for lunch?

TheBorg7of9

Thinking of switching to a nanny for my 20 month old son and baby to be born in December. DS is now is daycare. They feed him a variety of organic lunches. What does your nanny feed your kids? Do you have to cook something? What about nanny meals?

honeybee111

We had a nanny for DD until she was 3.  When she started solids, I made all the purees, froze most of it, and then told the nanny what to take out.  Once DD ate our food, the nanny pretty much knew what to feed her - we had a shelf of snacks in the pantry, and a designated shelf in the fridge for her food.  Sometimes I would put leftovers in a tupperware for the nanny to heat up, or I'd tell her to cook DD something, but it was always pretty simple stuff.  Our nanny brought all her own food, although she sometimes used our condiments.  We offered our food, but she thought it was weird to eat her employer's food.

GreenMonkey1

We don't have a nanny, but my Mom watches DS once a week at our house.  She feeds him whatever is in the fridge/cupboards, so usually leftovers.  When DS was eating purees I mostly made mine and just left them in the same spot in the fridge, labeled, so Mom could always find them.  Mom eats whatever is in the house herself so I try to have her favorites on hand and always have a diet pepsi chilling for her ride home.  I imagine with a nanny you can work it out regarding whether she/he brings her/his own food or if you provide.

mae0111

Our nanny feeds the kids lunch every day and dinner if DH is traveling and I'm running late.  She'll just come up with something we've got available, and she's pretty good about knowing what to feed when (ex prunes when DD2 is constipated).

Our nanny eats our food.  We didn't really discuss it beforehand, but I really don't mind.  I buy stuff she likes, and she's careful not to eat the last of anything.  I will let her know if I'm saving anything.  She cooks for us periodically - nothing set in stone, but I'll ask her once in a while to throw something together.  Typically if she cooks our dinner, I'll ask her to cook enough for her to take home for dinner as well. 

Karla CS

I nannied for a kid in college, and they provided all the food or indicated what to feed. The most preparation was along the lines of 'heat up waffle' or macaroni and chese - I think asking for her to puree foods for you may be a bit much, but you can definitely ask up front. 

As far as my meals, I had free reign in their kitchen. A lot of the time, I'd just eat whatever I made for the baby, but they always made a point to buy things I liked. 

DallasHorn

As far as nanny meals...I've had some that eat our food and some that bring their own. My feeling is they can eat what's in the house, but I'm not going to go out of the way to purchasing items specific to their liking (I had one asking me to purchasing the 100 calorie snack packs for her!).

For my kids, it depends. Anything from sandwiches, egg salad, quasadilla, grilled cheese, soup to leftovers. Basically I give suggestions and just ask that it always includes a fruit/veggie.

nosoup4u

At first, I'd leave lists of food they liked, but now she knows them well enough, and DS2 is big enough that he can tell her himself. If there's leftovers he likes, I'll leave a note to let her know it's in the fridge. Usually deli meat, eggs, PB&J, yogurt. Usual kid fare.

We specifically asked our nanny to bring her own food.

michaelaskedlauren

Our nanny feeds DS either leftovers we have, PB&J sandwiches, or they will go out to eat and he will have the normal kid fare (pizza, grilled cheese, etc).

I had to have a talk with her about making sure she was making healthy choices for him when it came to snacking and his meals, at first she didnt get it, so I would suggest being clear about what kind of food you want your LO to be fed.

We give her free reign of our food. Sometimes she eats it, sometimes she brings her own.

Mjmksb04

DS was with a nanny/babysitter until he was 3.5 and I let her feed him whatever she wanted. I would send baby food when he was in a babyfood phase, but I didn't micromanage his diet during the day. That said, she raised 4 kids of her own, so I knew she knew what to do.

Strunella

Pretty much everything in our fridge is free reign for DS to eat for lunch.  Might be leftovers, a sandwich, soup, or mac & cheese.   I like him to have a veggie and fruit with lunch, so she pretty much sticks to that plan.  When DS was a baby and eating solids, I made all of his food and froze it in little containers.  All she had to do was defrost it and heat it up. 

MickeyM04

My nanny does the cooking for lunch/breakfast.  We supply everything of course.  For breakfast we have a lot of organic frozen waffles, pancakes, etc.  That stuff takes a lot of work if you make it from scratch and I'd rather her make something quick and pay attention to LO.  For lunch she usually makes mac n cheese (Annie's is a big hit at our house) with a veggie and fruit, or grilled cheese with veggie and fruit, or buttered noodles, chicken nuggets...whatever we have really.  Sometimes they go out to Panera or someplace and grab lunch there.  Really just buy whatever you want your nanny to make.  But keep in mind that if it takes a lot of prep time that's time she's not spending closely watching your LO.  You can pre-prepare if it will take longer.

MammaBear81

Sometimes I have meals planned out (so all that needs to be done is heat and serve) other times I let them choose to cook something.  Breakfast and dinner are always a "hot" meal, lunch can be sandwiches or a cooked meal.  Our au pair lives with us, so he does eat our food.  Unless we specify that something is off limits (e.g. we are planning to use the chicken in the fridge for tomorrow) then they are welcome to eat what the kids are eating, or make something else for themselves.