Daycare advice

mrsnala · August 2014

We are moving and I am trying to decide between two centers- the one I provide lunch, the other lunch is included. The one that includes lunch is $116 more a month. Our current center provides lunch so I am not sure about packing a lunch every day.

What is everyone else's experience? What would you choose?

OhBaby+2013 · August 2014

Provided everything else is equal, I would coose the one with lunch. There's no way I would be able to pack lunch in the morning too. Mama has too much other shit to worry about.

ambmama · August 2014

DS has been to both a center that didn't provide lunch and his new one that does. I was originally really against him eating dc lunch because some had hot dogs/fish sticks and other stuff I wouldn't feed him. Maybe I'm a crazy mama but I actually passed on multiple daycares because of their menu. It wasn't a big deal for me to pack his lunch - he usually just got leftovers from dinner so I packed it the night before, threw in a yogurt or applesauce and some fruit and was done with it. The only thing that was annoying is you can't put pb&j or anything like that because of allergies. His new dc is actually less expensive and provides lunch but they have a cook that cooks fresh daily and I am usually pleased with their meals. My opinion is ask to see a monthly menu - if you are comfortable then go for it if the extra money doesn't affect your budget. Good luck!

jobiann · August 2014

I personally would not like to make J's meals every day, our in-home d/c has always served "good" options. She uses whole wheat pasta and breads, veggies out of the garden or ones she canned from the previous summer. Fruits and healthy snacks are always offered first, but every once in a while they do get cookies or other treats. They eat a lot of chicken and whole wheat pasta with low sodium homemade sauce. He probably eats a better lunch then I do!

BabyHope2013 · August 2014

We go to a home daycare too and I am not sure how we would make it most mornings if I had to pack lunch. We don't walk in the door till after 6 and I am out the door in the morning before 7 a.m. Our daycare provides a variety in the menu. We get a copy of the menu at the start of each week. For the most part, she feeds DS fresh fruit, vegetables, grains and protein. But they do have things like hot dogs, pizza and grilled cheese occasionally. It used to bother me that he was going to ever eat that--but the reality is that he gets it at home sometimes too. I've come to terms that a hot dog, piece of american cheese or piece of pizza is not going to kill him. I think it's about moderation and eventually teaching DS how to make healthy choices when given the option. But I do think that I would check to make sure that the daycare that provides food is serving overall healthy choices and a variety of them.

bennikki · August 2014

Ask for a menu, and if it looks good, go with the one that provides lunch if it's more convenient to you. However, $116/month for a toddler lunch comes out to over $5 a day on lunch. I don't know about you, but there's no way my son eats over $5 worth of food for lunch each day he's at DC. We go to an in home DC, and they make lunch, but I know it's fresh everyday, we're welcome to join them for lunch whenever we'd like, and they don't question my gluten-free note from my Dr. (We're a Paleo family, so no grains or sugar). The DC provider is a woman I graduated HS with, and she's a first generation Greek-American, so DS is trying lots of fun new foods there. Her dad brought olives one day and octopus a different day. His lunch consists of a serving of beef, pork, or turkey (I don't think she likes chicken, so they never had it), a vegetable, a fruit, bread for some of the kids, but DS gets a starch alternative like sweet potato, and milk. Honestly that's probably better than I could make for him on a daily basis, but if she started charging an extra $5.80 a day for lunch, I'd just batch cook for more than myself on on Sunday, and portion out his stuff too.

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