who provides a hot meal at lunch time?

[Pixie dust]

I am thinking about swapping around my meals and cooking at lunch time and just having a light tea as I now have a few reception children after school and it is getting a bit busy trying to get the hot meal ready plus supervise everyone. It is a rush by the time we have actually walked home. I do use my slowcooker some days. The reception children are having cooked school dinners anyway.

Just wondered how many people provide a hot lunch and does it work well with your daily routine.

[watford wizz]

I provide cooked lunch works well as long as I'm organised!

[fionamal]

I do cooked lunches as don't provide a dinner. Its a bit of a rush somedays but do say to parents that its not always possible to provide hot cooked lunches everyday. Its mostly things like homemade soup, mince and tatties, stews, pasta bol, things I can precook so its just a case of heating it up

[FloraDora]

Traditionally we have always eaten a light lunch with main meal in the evening.

I set out therefore to serve a light lunch and children eat dinner at home with parents. Light lunch in my book would be cold, sandwiches, small salad etc. but my LO's don't eat sanwiches and fruit and veg are also issues - so increasingly we have hot, but lunch like, menu; pasta, chicken goujons, fish bites all served with various fruit/ veg salads( hot and cold) and flat breads, ciabatta etc.. Which doesn't take long to prepare, the LO's usually help, rollong the goujons in breadcrumbs, flaking the fish, tossing salads, grating cheese and carrots, neading dough etc.. So part of morning routine.

Had only 1 LO on Thursday and he likes sandwiches, it was lovely to be able to quickly make them, A few ingredients tossed into breadmaker by LO, he shaped them with cutters and it was an easy peasy lunch.

I / dH ( chef) wouldn't have time to cook and serve big dinners at lunchtime - too busy playing and I don't think children need them. I know all my families eat main meal at home together which I think is great for them.

[Pixie dust]

I / dH ( chef) wouldn't have time to cook and serve big dinners at lunchtime - too busy playing and I don't think children need them. I know all my families eat main meal at home together which I think is great for them.


That's great that your families eat together at home but I know for a fact that two of my families don't, the older siblings are having school dinners then come to me so they don't need another cooked meal but the ones that have been with me will not get a main meal if I don't provide it which is another reason for changing things round. The meals I currently provide are various pasta based dishes/cottage pie/stews etc. There are pros and cons for both times of day I just need to work out what is going to be best for us.

[chocolate.chip]

I often cook a big pot of soup and freeze it in small portions and then just defrost on the day. Nice and quick, my mindees prefer soups rather than sandwiches anyway and get a bonus of warm, healthy meal

[AliceK]

Up until now I have always done a snack type lunch, sandwiches etc and a hot cooked tea however the start better eat better say young children should get the largest percentage of their daily nutritional needs at lunchtime so I have informed all parents that I am swopping to the main hot meal for lunch. I think it will be easier as it won't be such a rush when I get in from the school run although I will still need to cook for my own 2 children but they can eat later anyway as they are getting older now.

xxxx

[TabbyTuTu]

Really AliceK? That is interesting! My son has just started having hot dinners for lunch at school and I can really tell the difference. He's got much more energy after school than when he had packed lunches at pre-school (He was always ravenous then) I shall have to have a look at that campaign

[amanda1309]

Hot meal at lunchtime here and snack after school.
I batch cook and freeze in individual portions so makes life much easier (I have an extra freezer in garage).

[AliceK]

Really AliceK? That is interesting! My son has just started having hot dinners for lunch at school and I can really tell the difference. He's got much more energy after school than when he had packed lunches at pre-school (He was always ravenous then) I shall have to have a look at that campaign

Hi
Have a look at this link http://www.childrensfoodtrust.org.uk/pre-school/eat-better-start-better although sometimes this website is quite slow. It's very interesting.

xx

[mama2three]

I always do a cooked dinner in the evening , but in winter lunches are often warn too - soup , pasta etc...
I couldn't swap them over practically though , I enjoy the flexibility of being able to pack up lunch and picnc wherever our adventures have taken us rather than have to be at home over lunchtime !

[hectors house]

Hot meal at lunchtime here and snack after school.
I batch cook and freeze in individual portions so makes life much easier (I have an extra freezer in garage).

I don't do any after school care but have always given the day time mindees a hot meal at lunch time, it's either something that I have batch cooked and defrosted or it's something that we had for our evening meal the day before (and I've cooked extra), only have children stay for tea on a couple of days but I give them sandwiches or cheese on toast, fruit, yoghurt and home made cake.

[TabbyTuTu]

After viewing this thread and seeing the website I am definitely thinking about providing hot lunches. My work hours will be 7am-6pm, I have two young kids but they both settle to sleep easier with dinner just before bedtime so our tea is always after six, it would make life awkward for my family to rearrange an earlier dinnertime for minded children, and I do think it would be better for them to have an evening meal with their family..

But of course, not everyone will be able to cook a big meal after picking kids up from me and before putting their kids to bed so therefore if I offer a proper lunch it gives parents the option of a lighter meal after collection. I often do hot lunches like homemade soup or baked sweet potatoes for my daughter when it gets colder anyway, and in the warmer months a hot lunch only needs to be a pasta dish, couscous or french bread pizza, or even quiche, things easily transported if we eat alfresco (I've been known to take flasks of soup out in the winter though, lovely in the woods with a bit of crusty bread!)

I will probably also provide a slightly bigger snack at 3:30pm after the school run, the usual fruit but with toast (My sons favourite after school snack) or crumpets or warmed, buttered fruit bread. Mhmm I'm hungry

I love this about child minding. The way you make it fit around your own family!

[Pixie dust]

Thanks everyone for all your helpful replies. :)