Food Charges

[natalie28]

Hi

I have a 5 year old and a 9 year old that i am looking after, before and after school.

I have gone with charging 50p per meal, e.g breakfast and evening meal.
This is what some other childminders charge within the area. I am now having second thoughts, as they eat more than 50p's worth.

Would you send a letter increasing the meal charges? if so how much do other childminders charge out there?

Many thanks

Natalie

[Natternic]

I'm registered and still not got any children yet, but plan to charge 50p b, lunch 1 and dinner 1.50 unless they are here all day and on my day rate which includes meals. Think this is going rate locally tp me hth

[Katiekoo]

I charge seperately for meals; £1.50 cold lunch (sandwiches), £2 for hot dinner. 50p seems very cheap to me, mine are smaller kiddies too (under two years) so slightly smaller portions. I make hardly any money at all on meals - I provide really nice meals and I see it as making parents lives a bit easier.
Food bills are going up and unless you feed them really small portions and totally cheap food I think 50p would be unsustainable. I would write a letter introducing a higher meals fee, saying you wish to continue to provide good quality meals but can't continue to do this at the current fee.

[natalie28]

Thank you for your replies.

As i have only had the children a month, would you generate a letter and say the food charges will be increasing from October? i really need to sort this out now, as i have had a mum contact me re care of another child.

thank you for any advice x

[funemnx]

I charge £2.50 for lunch and the same for dinner

[Sara T]

Hi, Im looking to see what others charge for meals. I tried working out a price for breakfast, lunch, after school snacks and hot tea etc and as I have different children at different times I have set myself a rate of £2.00 for food and drink per day per child.

I dont charge parents extra but I put this in my expenses record for my accounts to come off my end figures

do you think this is reasonable as I know we are allowed reasonable estimates and I thought £2 was fair.

At the end of each month I then total the number of days per child x £2 to keep it simple.

They all have more or less the same with a combination of breakfast, lunch, after school snacks, drinks and hot tea depending on times they are here etc

I hope im on the right track as don't want to look like im over or undercharging myself if you know what I mean!!

thanks

Sara :-)

[cs01]

My local primary school charges £2 for lunch so I base my charge on this. Snacks are included in my hourly rate, but for accounting purposes, I allow 50p per snack, although not sure that is enough - a punnet of bluberries is £3 in my supermarket. Food has got so expensive

[The Juggler]

Thank you for your replies.

As i have only had the children a month, would you generate a letter and say the food charges will be increasing from October? i really need to sort this out now, as i have had a mum contact me re care of another child.

thank you for any advice x

i would hon. be honest. tell her you are new and had totally underestimated food costs and costs per meal. I would charge at least £2.00 for a cooked meal and maybe £50p for breakfast? I would offer her an opt out of just giving a substantial snack after school (crumpets and fruit etc) for the price she is paying now.

[Chatterbox Childcare]

Sorry but an apple and a yoghurt cost .50p

When I was working out my prices I looked at how much it would cost to prepare and cook a meal for one. It is surprising how much it does actually cost. My prices are .50p for breakfast (cereal and toast), £2.50 for a cooked or sandwich tea.

I think it all depends on what is offered too, beans on toast is alot cheaper than a chicken roast with yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes and veg with a pudding.

Check with the other minders and see what they are actually providing as the .50p sounds like a snack price.

As to when to tell the parents I find newsletters, emails, texts etc very impersonal. I would invite them for a meeting, explain that all is going well but it is impossible to feed their children for .50p and if you are to continue with food then the cost is x. Also do you have your costs in the contract? Consider changing it too.

It is all a learning experience as there won't be any 1 minder who has done this right first time

[Tatjana]

I include all meals, snacks and drinks in my fees.

For my accounts I put: snacks £1, breakfast £1, lunch £1.50, dinner £2

hth

[Sara T]

thanks, my food is included in fees but I did not want to not put enough through my books.

I provide cereals, toast, squash, fruit, crisps, fromage frais, after school snacks, ice cream on a friday and evening meals for some of the children that are here. I try to stick to mainly pasta or potato based meals as they are more cost effective.

Ill stick with the £2.00 per day for this tax year and will monitor it as the way food prices shooting up Ill probably have to up it for my accounts next year.

As i dont charge the parents extra I didnt want to end up doing myself out of money! Ill keep an eye on it and in the mean time just try to make things that are filling and tasty but don't cost the earth.

thanks for your input ladies