Finding it hard to stick to a menu

**JCrakers** · 11-11-2011, 12:21 PM

Hi,

When I started minding 4yrs ago I had a lovely Menu but always found it hard to stick to it.
Recently I thought to myself 'How hard can it be' Lets try it again so I tweaked it, gave it to parents.

Monday was fine - roast dinner from Sunday
Tuesday was Lasagne which I made and we had it for family dinner too
Weds -was supposed to be pizza but because dd had an unexpected friend round I used this for them...so I did cottage pie
Thurs - Was tuna pasta...easy to make
Today was supposed to be toad in the hole but because I went to toddler group this morning and didnt get into 11.45am, sausages were in the freezer as I had forgotten to get them out.

I have a 20month old and thought do I really want to be defrosting a whole pack of sausages to use 1 and spend time cooking toad in the hole at 12pm for 1 child??

So I did pasta and sauce.

Its just soooooo difficult to stick to a menu with my hectic week
Im so cross with myself as I really wanted it to work this time

amirose · 11-11-2011, 12:40 PM

As long as your feeding them healthy nutritious meals why does it matter?

**Tealady** · 11-11-2011, 12:42 PM

That's exactly what happened with me. I planned a really good menu and found it hard to stick to. Something often happened as you have found.

I now use it as a sample menu in my parent pack, and just advise parents what the children have had in their daily diary. I do kind of follow a pattern though as I try and match the School dinner menu so as I don't double up on what the schoolies ate at lunch time. So it tends to be:

Breakfasts - cereal followed by fresh fruit but it's toasted things on a tue & thur because that's the day the milkman comes and he's often late so we don't have enough milk.

Lunches - this is the main meal - Schoolies have school dinners.

Monday - Pasta - What the pasta dish is depends what I've got in and what needs using up.
Tuesday - Curry stir-fry and rice (or mini pastie and veg if we've run out of time or I forgot to get curry / meat out of freezer as the pasties can be cooked from frozen)
Wednesday - Meat and mini roasties (quicker to cook and no par boiling) veg
Thurdsays - Nobody here for lunch
Fridays - A Fish dish, today we had roast salmon with sweet potato wedges & veg, sometimes its fish fingers / fishcake or sometimes a fish pie.

Teas - I kind of go with the flow often its a sandwich or pizza with veg sticks, Beans on toast, soup (although not that often as they only like Cream of Tomato) or sometimes a filled jacket potato.

Nobody has had a problem with me not providing a menu. Occasionally like you I try and implement one and it only ever lasts a week or too.

**sarah707** · 11-11-2011, 12:48 PM

We have recently introduced a new flexible menu in response to rising food costs and children being picky.

We now give parents information about the main parts of the meals but say they must allow us to buy at best prices and change things without notice.

We are also giving children a slightly bigger snack so they don't need as much tea and this is working really well.

Out of 7 families only 1 had a problem and we resolved it through lots of discussion

**wendywu** · 11-11-2011, 12:49 PM

Just have a sample menu and thats what it is a sample.

Many things can affect what you feed them, the weather, how they feel in themselves ( who wants to eat a heavy beef casserole when you have a bad cold and are off your food), what gets delivered in your shopping.

And to be honest it must be boring to have say spaghetti every monday

**Mouse** · 11-11-2011, 01:01 PM

I have only recently started providing mindees' food (lunch only) and have done a menu which seems to be working well.

I did it mainly because I sometimes do a cooked lunch, but sometimes sandwiches if we've been out in the morning. I thought it would be helpful for parents to know in advance if their child was going to be having a cooked meal or not. It's also been really good for me as I don't have to think about what to do for lunch each day. I buy all the food at the weekend & know I have it ready for the week ahead.

I've made parents aware that it could change at the last minute, but so far I've stuck to it

**mummyMia** · 11-11-2011, 01:35 PM

Like a few others I just have a 4 week sample menu that shows parents the types of meals that I provide. Then I write what they actually had in the daily diary. I also make it clear to them that we don't have a cooked meal everyday and some days we will just have sandwiches/wraps/etc. I serve them whatever my family had the night before. I struggle to find the time to cook one meal a day let alone two. I try to cook from scratch as much as possible but if I am really rushed on a particular day then my family get chips & beans in the evening and mindees get sandwiches the following day!

TheBTeam · 11-11-2011, 01:44 PM

I flatly refuse to work to a menu, simply because i can not be that planned and it relies on the right stuff all the time being delivered. I do have a list and details of the types of food we provide and state that i do not guarantee whether this will be a hot or cold lunch meal. I only provide evening meals as supplied by parents cos dont want to be cooking a meal in the evening.

My ofsted inspector was fine with this when i explained that i shop online weekly and stuff is used as dictated by its use by date, by the plans of my family of an evening as to whether there is food suitable to serve the next day or whether we are making fresh for the mindees on the day and then using for our tea that night. All of these factors meant that we could not specify exactly what would be given on any one day, the parents of the children we care for know that we give a healthy, suitable meal and often dont even wish to be told what it was! I do not believe me giving a child a hotmeal or cold meal at lunchtime should dictate what food they give of an evening, and that it wont hurt a child to have two hotmeals in a day and the chances of them being exactly the same has happened once in 9 years (the child said even then they tasted different).

**loocyloo** · 11-11-2011, 01:53 PM

i plan a menu each week; mainly so that i can use up what is in the freezer/buy the ingredients i need, but when i actually go shopping, various meals often change, depending what is good value or on offer.

the reason to have a menu so that i remember what i planned to cook, as have different children different nights, and was aware that one child must think that we only ever had pasta and sauce, as we always seemed to have it the night she had tea! i try to vary teas & lunches, so if having meat at lunch, it might be fish or veggie for tea, etc.

the menu is there for parents to see, but i have never had a parent comment on it or query what their child is being given. ( no one has ever asked where it is, if it isn't on the wall either! )

**AliceK** · 11-11-2011, 02:07 PM

I plan a menu at weekends but only in order for me to write my shopping list and get my shopping. It depends on who I've got and what days they come. It makes my life much easier to do this but I never give it to parents. I have a "sample menu" in my folder and on my noticeboard which lists the type of things I give for lunch and tea but that's all it shows. Obviously I write down on their sheets what the LO's have eaten every day so that parents know at the end of the day.

xxx

**rickysmiths** · 11-11-2011, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by TheBTeam

I flatly refuse to work to a menu, simply because i can not be that planned and it relies on the right stuff all the time being delivered. I do have a list and details of the types of food we provide and state that i do not guarantee whether this will be a hot or cold lunch meal. I only provide evening meals as supplied by parents cos dont want to be cooking a meal in the evening.

My ofsted inspector was fine with this when i explained that i shop online weekly and stuff is used as dictated by its use by date, by the plans of my family of an evening as to whether there is food suitable to serve the next day or whether we are making fresh for the mindees on the day and then using for our tea that night. All of these factors meant that we could not specify exactly what would be given on any one day, the parents of the children we care for know that we give a healthy, suitable meal and often dont even wish to be told what it was! I do not believe me giving a child a hotmeal or cold meal at lunchtime should dictate what food they give of an evening, and that it wont hurt a child to have two hotmeals in a day and the chances of them being exactly the same has happened once in 9 years (the child said even then they tasted different).

This sounds a bit like me!! It would drive me nuts to have a set menu rotation for every 4 weeks, too much like work!!! I was a Catering Manager in my past life! Like you and Sarah so much depends on whats on offer, mood of the children, how many etc etc.

TheBTeam · 11-11-2011, 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by rickysmiths

This sounds a bit like me!! It would drive me nuts to have a set menu rotation for every 4 weeks, too much like work!!! I was a Catering Manager in my past life! Like you and Sarah so much depends on whats on offer, mood of the children, how many etc etc.

Yes and one of mine this week decided to go off of bananas and beans, just as well they were not written in a menu that another parent was relying on! And if i from one day to the next almost dont know what i am eating then i sure as hell can not tell them a half term in advance! Just be lucky they are eating

!

**LeeMarie** · 11-11-2011, 03:17 PM

I've never had a set menu for each week. I have a sample menu for parents to see and then write on the daily sheet what they ate each day. Thismeans I can make the most of special offers when I shop and often I ask the children what they'd like from a couple of choices before I prepare it which I couldn't do with a set menu.

**PixiePetal** · 11-11-2011, 03:26 PM

I don't do a menu either - just a list of some possible meals as examples.

I am non that organised with my own family let alone anyone elses meals

I often stay out longer than expected and have to root about the freezer for a quick meal - only have 2 to feed twice a week so keep a few portions in the freezer. Parents of sibling don't mind in the slightest, just as well!

**samb** · 11-11-2011, 09:34 PM

I always have a rough idea but I don't give in advance to parents as like others it could change and I don't want to confuse issues. I like to be my own boss and make my own decisions. I am happy for parents to make suggestions or have requests such as "please can x have a hot meal at lunch on xday as we wont have time to give one in the evening" - i always have portions of things in my freezer for a back up plan. My daughter has loved spag bol since she could first eat it, she is 6 and for the first time today said "do we have to have spag bol again"?! It is the only thing I make every week and that is cos it is the one thing everyone eats! ... well, was!

**christine e** · 11-11-2011, 10:12 PM

I plan at the weekend what I intend to put on the menu but then swap it around what children actually come, Tues and Wed have to be wheat free and Tues and Thurs have to cater for a very fussy eater so if either of these children don't come or change days then the menu changes also and whilst I always did main meal in an evening I have changed this to lunch time on Mondays (one child leaves early to go to Beavers and it was very rushed) and Fridays because I often end up with only 1 child at tea time.

Cx