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Bringing food to DC
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So, I had an issue with some of the foods dc was feeding LO (think pizza rolls, hamburger helper, etc.). I briefly spoke with the director about getting a menu and bringing my own food. She said they do weekly menus and I could bring food but I had to make sure I had a meat, fruit, and veggie. I got the menu for next week and Wednesday is pizza roll day! So...I'm trying to figure out what to bring. I really didn't ask too many more questions...so I'm wondering...
1. What are your dc's "rules" about bringing food? (can they be things that need to be warmed, etc.)?
2. What are some great go to / easy things you pack for LO.
3. Other things I need to think of?
TIA
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Re: Bringing food to DC
Our rules are you can't bring anything without a medical reason. When there are holidays you have to order a bday 'kit' through them & if they do things like cookie decorating and ask for donations, they specify the exact type & brand of everything. Though they will generally allow my kids to finish a banana if they come in with it in the morning, but I'm pretty sure that is breaking the rules & we definitely can't arrive with anything that is not a fruit and eat it in there. I think there is a child in the facility with a pretty severe allergy. This was the same rule at our last daycare in a different state which was a different franchise altogether.
You could do meat & cheese roll ups, chopped up chicken with a veggie, pasta w/ some sort of meat & veggie sauce on it, a quesadilla...if your LO likes beans maybe they'd let that count as a 'meat'. GL.
We do lots of stuff from Trader Joe's for lunch cut up veggie burgers, baked chicken nuggets, shredded chicken, chicken taco rollups, lunch meat rollups they have nitrate free, and for sides we send fruit apple sliced, watermelon, berries and a veggie julienned carrots, steamed squash cubes, black beans mixed w diced veggies, celery sticks
I send all of LO's food since their menu is planned to be balanced but most of it creeps me out. Our handbook says it needs to be nutritional and nut free. I got a slap on a wrist once for sending in shrimp into a toddler room. Other than that no issues.
I would say LO has meat 2 days a week and beans or yogurt or some other protein 3 days a week.
I usually just send leftovers from dinner the night before and fresh fruit. We also buy the giant bags of fresh frozen fruit, so if I pour it in a tupperwear the night before, it's defrosted by lunch time. We do some sandwiches too. Our daycare only allows food from home with a doctor's note, which we have due to severe allergies (peanuts, nuts, dairy, cinnamon...) So, they will heat up my kid's lunch, but he's the only kid bringing a lunch to school. I doubt they would heat it up if there were multiple kids.
My work only allows "home food" for two reasons: your child is a baby and is learning how to eat table food or your child has a medical reason (vegetarianism is not a medical reason at my work). It also can't contain any nuts/peanuts as we have a few children with severe allergies.
My LO's preschool is a little more lenient. They allow us to pack a late evening snack for her so she's not starving by the time she gets home. But it's the same "no nuts/peanuts" policy.
~*Jenna*~
TTC since November 2009.
Currently licensed foster parents with the hope of adopting! Also pursuing pregnancy through IUI! First IUI scheduled 10/3/13
Currently loving our placements:
A 1/08
C 4/11
K 6/12
I actually am shocked at the opposite, that so many (facilities- I can see home settings of course) allow parents to bring in whatever they want given the various food allergies and also just the logistics of it- storing it appropriately, potentially heating it, making sure food doesn't get mixed up, etc. I guess a smaller center could accommodate this but the 2 I have been at have at least 12 classrooms from infant to prek and no fridges in the rooms past 12 months so all that food would have to be stored in a fridge in the kitchen. At my last daycare I was allowed to provide organic milk for my kids which was kept in the kitchne & as babies I made all their purees & early chunky foods and provided that but that was when they were also getting bottles labeled and had a full size fridge in the room for all the babies' stuff. At the 12 month room I couldn't bring food anymore.
My kids are in a 3-4 yr old room with 20 kids on some days, I can't imagine the teachers having to keep track of everyone's different food but maybe I'm thinking it is more complicated/a pain than I think?
They have no business telling you what you can and can't feed your child-unless it's something like no peanuts etc because of allergies.
My DC has us send all of his food & drink. If I choose not to send a drink they give him kool-aid (ugh) or flavored water (!?). They don't provide anything else. Also, they have no allergy policies which actually makes me uncomfortable but thankfully my DS doesn't appear to have any food allergies that I need to worry about.