Breakfast or lunch?

[Maza]

Do you consider scrambled egg and toast sufficient for a lunch - or would you consider it only a breakfast?

All my new parents have filled in the sheet on food likes/dislikes that they always get. I have noticed that they have all said they have scrambled egg and toast for breakfast (as well as porridge on other days). As a family, we generally only have eggs for breakfast at the weekend when we have more time and that's good enough for us, so I won't be doing eggs for breakfast for the mindees. I do however do scrambled egg for lunch once a week for current mindee (he is fussy and this is one thing he loves), but I wonder if people consider it odd to have it as lunch? We do have something on the side to bulk it out, like cherry tomatoes etc.

Am I being mean by not offering avocado on toast for breakfast?

Nut butter? I take it that doesn't mean peanut butter but something more ... expensive?

Chia seeds in porridge? ...

[loocyloo]

scrambled egg on toast is a standard lunch here! and as you say, with some tomato and cucumber on the side!

years ago I had a mindee who had scrambled egg for breakfast ... ( when they arrived at 7.15 :laughing: !! but luckily only one day a week) because it was one of the only things mum had found that they would eat, that she could get milk into, that they would consistently eat ! )

i rarely do breakfast. No one has ever commented on them having it for lunch.

DD eats chia seeds on her porridge and on yogurt, she also has 'nut butters' occasionally - yep, they are expensive, but i don't think they are actually any better source of protein etc than peanut butter, but I tend not to give that to minded children anyway.

We've sometimes had avocado as a side to lunch or tea, but as it is something i loathe, it isn't very often i even think of it!

[Pixie dust]

I think it's fine for lunch, I would give it but I have a child with an egg allergy so we keep clear of egg related food. I don't do breakfast as all mine have had theirs before they arrive but in the past it's been the normal array of cereals/toast. (No sugar/chocolate cereals)

[Mouse]

I give parents a list of food that I might provide and ask them to indicate if their child likes it and if they’re happy for their child to eat it. It sounds like your form asks more about what they already eat at home so would there be an expectation then for you to offer that food?

On my form scrambled egg comes under the lunch heading so there’d be no expectation for me to serve it at breakfast. We don’t often have it at the moment due to a child’s allergies, but when we do it’s accompanied by tomatoes, cucumber etc.

[Maza]

Mouse you're right regarding my form. It's the one I've always used and it previously always worked well and I was able to use it to plan a realistic and economical menu. I like the fact that childminders can tailor the menu to suit specific children whereas nurseries can't do that. Recently though, it seems to have been interpreted as a way for parents to gently request certain foods and ones which use more expensive ingredients. Your form sounds like the type of thing I need to design Mouse.

My current mindee is dairy free and mum offered to provide all his butter etc but I wouldn't dream of it when it is a genuine allergy. I really appreciated the gesture though. With my new sets of parents (no such gestures from them) I'm going to have to be tactfully strong when I explain the types of food I provide. It's a good thing for me to reflect on.

[SYLVIA]

Breakfast here is either cereal or toast. Cereal is porridge, weetabix or cornflakes. They all arrive at different times and I’m not making eggs over and over again.