https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 05 Jun 2026 19:18:34 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-562979 Wed, 13 Feb 2013 00:48:32 +0000 skibobrown 562979@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would just ask if it's ok to send your own food. Our daycare provides food, and it's healthy enough... although not quite as healthy as what we usually serve at home (plus they don't do any organic from what I can tell). Still, I have exactly zero time to pack lunches and snacks, so I thank my lucky stars that DD's daycare can provide balanced meals for what we pay in daycare tuition. If I had more time I would probably pack food instead... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-562956 Tue, 12 Feb 2013 23:30:23 +0000 Arden 562956@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would totally be THAT mom, sending all the food for my kid with them. I'm appalled at what some (most) centers are feeding little ones. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-562955 Tue, 12 Feb 2013 23:27:21 +0000 StbHisMrs 562955@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We send LO to our friend who has a home run very small (3 kids) daycare. I send breakfast and lunch usually, but she just told me today that she ate a little of the lunch I packed then refused it wanting the mac and cheese the other two were eating. We are kind of on the same page about food, but not completely. I admit I'm not feeding my family as healthy as I'd like but mac and cheese is about as far as I go with processed food.</p> <p>I would absolutely send food, and I wouldn't care two bits if I was judged for it. You have the choice to send home packed lunches at school, why not daycare? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-562839 Tue, 12 Feb 2013 21:34:52 +0000 Freckles 562839@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Pen: I just saw this post now! This is one major thing that was stressing me out about the daycare I'm sending LO to. Thankfully, they allow food from home and even one of the caregivers said it's a good idea if i pack food for LO. I actually get angry looking at the weekly menu, because is "lemon cake and grape juice" really a good snack to be feeding babies and toddlers???</p> <p>Unfortunately, day homes aren't even better. I was looking at this family-run day home and their menu included things like canned alphaghetti, corn dogs, french fries, etc. It's so upsetting when a lot of the home-run places are clueless when it comes to children's nutrition. </p> <p>ughh, end rant! I hope you end up finding a great daycare when you go back to work!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-537222 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:19:16 +0000 prettylizy 537222@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Pen: @Mrsbells: I'm guessing they have a highly allergic kiddo in the school somewhere. Even if you include ingredients they won't allow it. There is no way for them to know you didn't contaminate it with whatever. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-537193 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:09:11 +0000 Mrsbells 537193@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@prettylizy: wow that's a bit extreme </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-537188 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:08:01 +0000 Mrs. Pen 537188@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@prettylizy: oh my goodness!!! even if you included homemade items with an ingredient list?! I would be willing to do that if it meant my child bringing their own food. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-537178 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:03:55 +0000 prettylizy 537178@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrsbells: Nope, nothing that doesn't have a nutritional and allergy label on it. They prepare everything onsite for meals and don't want kids having snacks that might send another kiddo off into an anaphylactic episode. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-537170 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:01:31 +0000 Mrsbells 537170@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@prettylizy: wow they dont allow home made food? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-537168 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:00:52 +0000 prettylizy 537168@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I agonized over this too. The center daycare we loved the most has major rules about food, they provide all meals and if you want to send a snack or something off menu, it can't be home made and has to be in the original packaging you purchased it from. They do this to conrtrol allergies, they want to see the ingredients in everything. I hate it though, my daughter rarely eats any processed foods. We've decided to go with a homecare provider where we can send what we want her to eat. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-537145 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:54:52 +0000 Mrs. Pen 537145@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@T-Mom: aw you are so sweet!!! seriously why I love HB. IRL no one encourages me to eat healthy and do the same for my kid - they judge me and criticize! But people on HB say they love hearing about it. I love it :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-537137 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:53:07 +0000 T-Mom 537137@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Pen: Hang in there! You are doing so great instilling healthy eating habits! Definitely inspirational to me :-) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-537132 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:51:43 +0000 Mrsbells 537132@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I would definitely would send in my own lunch, regardless of how "healthy" their options are, a lot of daycares or schools take shortcuts in preparing the food so its nots as fresh or as healthy as I would like. My daycare doesnt provide food only a snack and when my LO is old enough for that I will look at the menu but most probably decline it </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-537125 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:49:38 +0000 Mrs. Pen 537125@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@T-Mom: couldn't have said it better! I LOVE Montessori. I wish I could afford it :) that's part of the reason I AM going back to school - to be able to afford stuff like that for my kid(s)! It will just be a few more years of living really tightly. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-537117 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:48:14 +0000 T-Mom 537117@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>One of the factors that influenced my decision to send my kids to our current Montessori daycare/preschool was that they did not serve food. The other Montessori I checked out served food and had much nicer facilities. The cost was not much more than our current day care. However, I happened to see what they were serving that day (cheesy mashed potatoes and some other stuff) and it looked so terrible. It was a dealbreaker for me, even though the facilities were so much nicer. If my kids are going to eat junk(admittedly there are days when they go to school with mac n'cheese), I want it to be junk that I packed for them :-) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-536955 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:09:12 +0000 littlek 536955@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our daycare provides food when they kids are older and the menus are very healthy. I think it depends on the specific daycare. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-536914 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:54:18 +0000 winniebee 536914@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ours doesn't provide food and none that I know of in the area do, either. I pack a lunch for T every night along w/ bottles. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-536898 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:49:08 +0000 Mrs. Pen 536898@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@brownie: yeah the food pyramid irks me. These daycares say they are following government nutrition programs but IMHO they totally suck. Carbs/grains are not healthy as well as sugar, all you have to do is go off grains/sugar for a week and see how much weight you lose! I did it for a month and it was amazing how much better I felt. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-536864 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:35:06 +0000 blackbird 536864@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ew, no. You're not being crazy. </p> <p>Our home daycare will do all organic and healthy stuff when it's time for her to eat. Thankfully, she feels strongly about this, too, and said that we are more than welcome to send our own foods in, because it's "about what the parents want" </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-536801 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:13:42 +0000 brownie 536801@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>You have to be careful with sending food. A lot of programs use the USDAA food standards (basic crappy food pyramid). You can only get a waiver for a medical reason and you literally need a doctor's note. We had this for a while. A home program may be a better fit. We start preschool in the fall (Montessori toddler) and we have to send food so I am excited for that. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-536742 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:45:51 +0000 mediagirl 536742@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Pen: You know I'm not into any diet stuff and eat like crap a lot. :) That being said, I do care what goes into M's mouth because she's too young to eat like I do (haha!) While she's not eating there yet, she will soon. </p> <p>My daycare does not have a great menu for the kids but I know it's a cost saving thing. I go to one of the best rated but lowest cost daycares in my area. I'll try to take a picture of their weekly menu tonight and send it to you. I think the biggest thing that bothers me is the sweet cereal for breakfast (like corn pops). I wouldn't mind if she had Cheerios but Pops bug me. So, I plan on taking in Cheerios and a banana or something healthier than Pops on days when they do that. At lunch, they provide a protein, carb and veggie (I'm pretty sure that's every day) so that I can handle. </p> <p>I know you're looking at price at these daycares and I think it's going to be very difficult to find a reasonably priced daycare where they provide very healthy meals like you do at home. What I can suggest is you offer the best stuff at home and if there are one or two things you're totally opposed to, bring something to replace that that day. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-536722 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:39:21 +0000 MamaMoose 536722@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Pen: our day care definitely lets you bring whatever you want if your child is intolerant to the food, doesn't like it, etc. you just can't brig nuts to school because of allergy concerns. So hopefully you won't have trouble finding a place that can accommodate you! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-536694 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:29:45 +0000 Mrs. Pen 536694@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MamaMoose: I would rather not pay for a more expensive daycare and just bring my own :) as I research more I'll be looking for this. And I'm a student not working, obviously I can't afford a high end daycare. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-536689 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:27:55 +0000 MamaMoose 536689@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our day care actually provides really healthy balanced meals. You would never see a corn dog there! But it's also expensive for our area. I think the issue is that healthy food is much more expensive than unhealthy food so you have to be willing to pay for a higher end day care. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-536663 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:22:29 +0000 purrpletulips 536663@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't think you are crazy but it is something to discuss with the daycare when you tour them. When we were looking the ones that provided food didn't allow you to bring your own; we opted for one that you could either buy their lunch or bring your own (breakfast wasn't provided but you could bring it). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-536628 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:10:31 +0000 Mrs. Pen 536628@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Bee: these were home daycares! There wetted home daycares I looked at that shared their meal plan and two centers.</p> <p>@Lozza: that's nice they phased it out! But I can imagine some parents feel it's more work to pack a kids lunch every day </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-536626 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:09:50 +0000 banana 536626@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>If you're not happy with what they provide, I see no problem with sending your own food! My son's daycare provides healthy food (rice, fish, veggies, fruit...nothing fried) so I don't have to pack his lunch. But they don't provide organic milk so I provide that myself. I don't see anything wrong with wanting to provide healthy, nutritious meals for your LO. And being "that mom" is awesome! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-536621 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:08:59 +0000 CupQuakeWalk 536621@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Pen: tell whatever lie you have to tell to ensure your child eats healthy foods, however, you should not have to. They should respect the fact that you have your child on a "diet" of X,Y,Z. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-536618 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:07:40 +0000 Mrs. Pen 536618@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Thehistoryofus: thank god it's not just me... Yah don't even get me started on snacks: teddy Graham's, goldfish, etc... I definitely have an issue with those foods you listed too- especially fruit/veggies from cans!!<br /> All those foods are things my parents gave us as treats, never on a daily basis and I'm sorry if this offends anyone but its diets like that that contribute to childhood obesity!<br /> Is it bad I'm considering saying my child has a sugar/wheat/soy sensitivity so he doesn't get fed that stuff haha </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/daycare-food#post-536614 Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:06:28 +0000 Mrs. Bee 536614@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>that would really bother me too and would probably be a dealbreaker. our daycare doesn't provide food. luckily the ones that do in our neighborhood tend to provide organic food... the elementary school even offers organic food, vegetarian options, and chocolate milk only once a week, but it's also very granola-y here.</p> <p>it will be tough to keep him away from the daycare food if all the other kids are eating it. maybe a home-based daycare would be a better fit? </p>