Menu
Food / Meals
Food / Meals
A cook qualified in food handling, menu planning and nutrition is employed at the centre and prepares all meals for the children. Each day’s menu is developed in accordance with the Food for Health Dietary Guidelines for Australians, which means that 50% of your child’s daily nutritional needs will be met by the food and drink provided at the centre. Please feel free to make comments or suggestions on the meals we offer at Keymer.
Menus are displayed at the centre in the kitchen and each room on a 5-week rotating menu roster. Children are offered a variety of nutritious snacks and meals, including fruit, milk, biscuits, cheese, and toast for morning and afternoon teas. Lunch is generally a hot cooked meal for example spaghetti bolognaise, tuna mornay, or cold meats and salads. Children are not forced to eat anything; however, they are encouraged to taste the foods on their plates. The daily childcare fee covers the provision of Breakfast, Morning Tea, Lunch and Fruit, Afternoon Tea and light Late Afternoon Tea.
Your child’s room may say a short thank-you before lunch. All backgrounds and cultures are respected, and this is not a prayer just a means of being thankful for our family and friends and the lovely meal we are about to eat. Mealtimes are a happy, social time that is enjoyed by all.
If the children arrive early in the morning, up to 7.40 am we will provide them with cereal or toast with milk and water.
Allergies
A major concern for child care providers today is the increase of children with food allergies. Children who are severely allergic, such as anaphylactic can even react to the smell of the substance on someone’s clothing or breath when they enter the service.
Some high reaction foods are Nuts, Honey, Eggs, Oranges, and Milk.
If your child has food allergies and requires a special or restricted diet, please speak with your child’s educators in the room or come and see Office staff to discuss this. We also have a space to list this on your child’s enrolment form so please do so and if any changes occur also please inform educators of this so that we can update our charts and inform the kitchen of any changes that need to be made to your child’s meals during the day.
PLEASE DON’T SEND: Cakes, Biscuits, Lollies, Chips, Flavoured Milk, Juices, cordial, etc with your child to the centre. We provide ample nutritious food throughout the day. Birthdays are an exception. If you wish, you may send along a birthday cake for your child to share with the other children at afternoon tea. Cupcakes are best as each child can have their own cake to eat.
Bottle Feeding
If your child is bottle fed, please ensure you provide your child’s feeding routine and requirements to the educator’s in the room and office staff to put on your child’s file.
On arrival you will need to place your child’s bottles into the bottle prep area. If they are pre-made with formula or have expressed milk in them they need to be placed into the fridge until needed.
For children who drink cow’s milk, our centre will provide the milk for you. You just need to provide a clean empty bottle for us to use. All bottles, lids, caps etc need to be clearly labelled so it reduces the chances of bottles becoming mixed up.
Donations requested
We ask that each family provide a piece of fruit each day. Occasionally we have an oversupply of apples and oranges so as an alternative you may wish to consider donating: vegetables (potatoes, carrots, onions, pumpkin), sweet or savory biscuits (Jatz, Sao etc.), packets of dried fruit, other fruit (watermelon, grapes, strawberries etc.). Of course, we would only expect you to bring these larger pantry items in once a week if your child attends 3-5 days or once a fortnight if they attend 1-2 days per week.
