£ claimed for meals?

[katickles]

How do you work out what the cost of meals are per child. The cost of the meal would depend on what they had eaten wouldn't it? or do you just put a set amount per meal per child in your accounts?:panic:

[Pudding Girl]

i PUT THROUGH THE ACTUAL COST OF INGREDIENTS AND OBVIOUSLY THE COOKING COMES OFF IN YOUR ELECTRICITY ALLOWANCE THINGUMMY

oops sorry for caps cba to change it! ;)

[sarah707]

Work out each meal on what you actually spend... so for breakfast you would supply...

cereal - cost of a small box is best way to work this one out
milk - 1/2 pint a day
toast - 2 slices from a loaf, plus a bit for spread
yogurt or fromage frais - 1 from a 4/6 pack
piece of fruit - an apple / banana etc

Once you have an average cost, you can put that through for each breakfast you prepare. Cooking costs are in your electricity thingummy as Lou so rightly says!

Do the same for each meal... :D

[katickles]

Oh - was kind of hoping that we were allowed to claim a certain amount. Its going to take ages working out costs for every meal. :panic:

[sarah707]

Once you have an average cost, you can put that through for each breakfast you prepare. :D

Did you miss this bit Kate? :D

[Pudding Girl]

I don't even bother working out each meal's food as what I by, is only eaten by mindees, so no need to seperate from family use

dont forget if you charge seperately for meals, to put it in with your income :)

[miffy]

This has been discussed before and someone sorry can't remember who said they did a dummy online shop for all the groceries etc they would need for the week and worked it out that way

miffy xx

[manjay]

I have done as Sarah said and worked out an average for a breakfast, a hot dinner and a snack tea. I then log that in my accounts for each meal given. A lot of my meals are made in big batches so I couldn't seperate mindees food from ours on the bill. I also do the same for cleaning products.

amanda xx

[katickles]

Did you miss this bit Kate? :D

No but i was hoping that we were able to claim say £2.00 for a cooked dinner - £1.50 for a lunch, £1.50 for breakfast per child. Obviously the older children would eat far more & so theres will work out dearer - I have no idea what kind of costings are acceptable. I don't want to overcharge on my accounts nor do i want to undercharge. My head is jumbled up with figures -sorry if i sound thick Sarah, its hard i've never done any of my own accounts before. Once i know what i'm doing i will be ok :blush:

[berkschick]

I did a dummy shop for all the cleaning things, wipes, loo roll, etc then found a weekly figure from that.

That would be a good way to work all the food out too.

[deeb66]

I don't claim seperatley for food/drinks/snacks.

I claim a percentage of the grocery bill (after taking off things that couldn't possibly be used for the children!) as all the food in the house is available to be eaten by all.

The reason I do it this way is because I do not cook seperate meals for the children and it would be extrememly difficult to work out otherwise.

[brillminder]

I CLAIM AN AVERAGE

[Alibali]

It was me!! I have a 3 week rolling menu and used that to do a 'virtual shop' at ASDA online for all the ingredients I need to prepare all meals and snacks and then divided that cost between the mindees per day and came up with a total of £4.00 per full time day. If you'd like to see a copy of my menu and shop PM me and I'll forward it on.

Ali x:)

[chez1373]

Oh dear thats all i seem to be saying...

I charge a set amount per meal per day am i right in saying this is wrong???
Is it "law" to work out an average?????
Im so not doing things right and ive been doin it 3/4 months arrgghghhhh

[sarah707]

Oh dear thats all i seem to be saying...

I charge a set amount per meal per day am i right in saying this is wrong???
Is it "law" to work out an average?????
Im so not doing things right and ive been doin it 3/4 months arrgghghhhh

I claim a set amount per meal per day as well.. do whatever works for you! :D

[fionamal]

I worked mine out to be for fulltimers:-

Breakfast, Morning Snack, hot lunch, Afternoon snack £4.00

If they have dinner then its £5.50 in total.

Hope that makes sence

[ma7ie]

I really wouldn't worry too much. On the tax course I went on last year we were told that we could claim reasonable costs for food. I charge £1 for breakfast, £1.50 for lunch and if I have to do a tea which I don't usually, I'd charge £1.75. I think this is reasonable as the local nurseries round here charge more than that.

This link tells you more http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/bimmanual/bim52751.htm

Food and drink

Reasonable estimates for the costs of food and drink provided for the children being cared for are acceptable and receipts will not be required.

[chez1373]

Im so glad im not doing it wrong ive got alot of things i need to do before i have my first inspection
Thanks for your reply's

Chez

[Pauline]

What the tax office says is that they will accept reasonable estimates, so using a variety of bills, estimates etc. it should be possible to work out roughly what a meal would cost. Then, like someone what already said (sorry forgot who it was) you can keep that price for some time, then work it out again to allow for price increases.

:)

[Tickles]

HI,
i do all my shopping together & at the end of the month, i deduct anything that can't possibly be for childminding. i then divide it by the number of weeks & then by 4.

I use a quarter of my weekly bill as mindees expenses but this also includes cleaning products etc

Hope that all made sense

[lilliuspillius]

thats also how i do it, divide my tesco bill by numbers in my family and minded children.