Accounting for food

[Little miss]

I'm starting with a mindee next week - first child I will be providing food for. Parent is paying additional charges for a lunch and a tea.
I'm just wondering how do I put the cost of food provided to mindees through my books ?
What are the various ways others do this?
I also don't really understand claiming for milk?
Thanks for any advice.

[Bluebell]

you could work out an average of the kind of meal you provide and claim that as expenses. For example I tend to serve the same kind of food - meat vegetables fruit yoghurts. when I priced up what each portion cost they were all very similarly priced so I took an average and claim that. sometimes the child will eat more and sometimes less. (I once had a 2 year old that nearly ate me out of house and home but I still only charged £2.00 for an evening meal with pudding. she would have second portions, have bread or garlic bread with the meal, then have pudding which would be a cooked pudding with custard &/or cream and she would still have fruit and a yoghurt! - she ate more than my then 4 and 6 year old put together!)
Don't forget you could allow for the time taken to cook it and the cost of the electric to heat the oven!
if you were batch cooking for the mindee you could keep the receipts seperate but I assume she will eat with your family so cost up the meals and work out an average would be the reasonable easy way to do it. If you're like me you'll do a meal plan on a rotation anyway so there is always something nice planned but not always on the same night if you see what i mean1

[Chatterbox Childcare]

Another way is to take your food bill each week and divide it by the number of mindees and family members to get an average and then claim that. Don't forget to take off the non childminding items first

As to the milk you can claim via NFRU and give them your numbers each month and they pay the money straight into your account. This is the link if you want to register https://www.nurserymilk.co.uk/login.aspx