Do they provide food? Do you have to provide food? What about snacks? Do they provide anything?
Our daycare provides food and has breakfast, lunch, and snacks! But Xander's allergic to milk, so we have to send in his own milk, yogurt, and often lunches!
GOLD / squash / 13464 posts
They handle it all, breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, and an evening snack if we are late picking up.
pomelo / 5524 posts
They only provide snack which is ok with me. On Fridays, they'll provide food, but you have to pay extra for it. I always just send in food b/c S is allergic to eggs, so it's easier for all to have his own stuff.
GOLD / wonderful coconut / 33402 posts
They handle morning snack (always fruit), lunch (with milk), and an afternoon snack. They will give them a little something at 5 to hold over till they are picked up and get dinner.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@looch: So you have to send everything? Lunches, snacks, drinks, etc?
eggplant / 11716 posts
Our daycare now provides nothing.
The daycare I'm considering for next year is cheaper and provides morning snack, lunch, and afternoon snack. But my LO is also allergic to dairy so I'm not sure if that's a positive in our case.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@Anagram: Xander's also allergic to dairy, so the fact that my daycare provides food has been an issue for us because they're not always as careful as I need them to be. I'm wondering if it's just my daycare or if other daycares that provide food would have similar issues.
GOLD / cantaloupe / 6581 posts
Our daycare doesn't provide anything. I think in the 3-4 year old rooms they provide snacks, but that's it.
papaya / 10570 posts
They have a chef on site who cooks fresh meals every day. They provide a mid morning snack, lunch (with dessert) and tea. They have a four week menu they rotate so they have something different every day for 4 weeks. They also provide water and they have juice two days per week.
We have to provide her bottles of formula. I'm not sure how it works when they go onto WCM - I presume we have to provide that, too.
Oh and for info, they have an individual care plan in place for every child with an allergy - so they would be meticulous at keeping your little boy away from dairy. It's a shame is several thousand miles away!
eggplant / 11716 posts
@Adira: I asked about that when I took a tour and the teacher assured me they have lots of experience with kids who have dairy allergies and they just leave cheese off things---but I was like, "yeah, but a lot of breads and other foods have hidden dairy so I would really need to see labels or talk to the cook" and she seemed so perplexed by the fact that dairy doesn't just equal straught up milk and cheese.
So I'm a little concerned. She said I could just send all our own food, but I'm not sure how they would make sure LO doesn't start eating the provided snacks.
cantaloupe / 6730 posts
Just snacks and milk. Oh and you can buy a fun lunch on Fridays. Things like pizza, mac and cheese, alphagetti etc.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@Cherrybee: I'll just have to move to your neck of the woods! 
@Anagram: This is EXACTLY how my daycare seems to be too! I've been sooooooooo adament that he can't have ANYTHING that might contain milk in it and they STILL don't seem to get it! Just yesterday they fed him fig newtons for his afternoon snack and it says right on the container in the ingredients CONTAINS: MILK! It's so frustrating!
@looch: I think Xander would be better of in a daycare like that! Unfortunately, I don't know of a good one in my area. 
I was just looking into another daycare that's supposed to be good, but they also provide food. And other daycares are too far from us. Ugh!
eggplant / 11824 posts
They provide everything and have an on-site chef who prepares all the meals. They work hard to feature local ingredients and buy from local farms which I think is cool. They also serve good food and a variety, not just "kid food" every day.
admin / watermelon / 14210 posts
we pack lunch, they provide afternoon snack which is crackers/fruit.
clementine / 806 posts
I provide everything which keeps the cost of daycare down but it's tiring packing 2-3 small lunches, a fruit and yogurt snack and water everyday.
pear / 1510 posts
They provide everything. One of the girls in LO's room is allergic to eggs, so her teacher makes sure that no eggs are in the room ever. There's a a picture of the girl and "no eggs" written underneath it taped to the table where she eats. I think this is a reflection of the number of student workers (whom I love) at the day care. I'm impressed with how they handle allergies, even though it's not an issue with LO.
apricot / 349 posts
our daycare provides everything...they provide a monthly menu and parents can circle (or cross out) things off the menu the teachers can/can't give to their child...
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@butterbean: Our daycare does that too, but the menu is only for lunch. They don't list the million things they might serve for snacks!
coconut / 8234 posts
Both of the daycares we are looking at provide everything. I can tell you it will be a breath of fresh air to not have to pack everything the night before or scramble around in the morning to do it.
GOLD / wonderful coconut / 33402 posts
@Adira: Ask them for a snack menu. We get a lunch and snack menu. Given his allergies they should be providing something to make sure he can have it.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@Smurfette: I'm honestly not sure they even have one. They have a well-stocked pantry and I think they just grab something each day for a snack. I'm not sure they go by a menu at all. But I can look into it.
grapefruit / 4545 posts
Ours provides everything. Three meals plus 2-3 snacks. You can opt out of anything by highlighting or crossing out items on your childs menu.
pomelo / 5258 posts
My current one provides everything. Aside from food allergies I really prefer it. LO was in a daycare where I packed all the food and I struggled to keep up with a healthy variety of things that weren't too messy and DH struggled with washing all the tiny lunchbox pieces.
However, LO has food allergies (sensitivities?) Just when I think daycare understands them (lightly cooked eggs & avocado) I get a text like "she can have cheese, right?" I'm glad she asked before feeding her but she should really know the answer to that one. It's so frustrating to uncover layer after layer of misunderstanding about allergies.
We don't get a menu so I can't call out specific things ahead of time. Plus a lot of the food is Chinese and I don't really know what contains egg and what doesn't by seeing the name of a food.
wonderful olive / 19353 posts
They handle everything unless you have a food allergy or if your LO is eating purees, then you bring your own.
GOLD / squash / 13464 posts
@Adira: Given their inability or unwillingness to accomodate his allergy I would probably ask if you could bring all your own food and if they could discount your tuition appropriately.
grapefruit / 4110 posts
DCP 1 (SAHM) 6 wks - 18m - provided some food as he got bigger. She was great and always checked with us. She still occasionally baby sits and feeds him if he is there. She is amazing and learned what she needed.
DCP 2 (Preschool) 18m - 3y - provided breakfast lunch and snack each day. We provided all food at first but they were so good to us (letting us look at labels, etc) that we trusted them. If we worried about him they would take of the dairy for a day just if we asked. It was a small school (only 2 rooms) so I am sure that helped. Also SAHM friend got employed there and she was in his room.
Preschool #2 (Montessori) 2y - 3 y - provided snacks. We had to provide our own snacks because it was a rotating schedule and they couldn't trust anything. This actually bothered me the most because I had to provide snack for 10 kids once a month BUT my kid never partook of the snacks others brought. At least I know he ate the foods I wanted him to eat...
Preschool #3 (3y - ?) - the new school provides snack only, we provide lunch. I don't trust them at all based on some issues. So yeah. But snack is things like goldfish (he can eat those) and the main culprits for soy are not there (meat, american cheese and breads). So I am trying to let it slide since I can't do anything about it. I pretty much hate them but daddy loves them and he has to deal with them more than me. I also haven't found a better alternative yet.
persimmon / 1165 posts
We have to provide all food, drinks and snacks. It is a pain getting it ready everyday but at least I know what she is eating.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
@MamaMoose: That's a good idea! I was HOPING it wouldn't come to that though because they do have a wide variety of items and a lot of them ARE safe for Xander to have and I was really hoping that he might eventually eat more finger foods if he's eating a lot of the same foods as the other toddlers! Ugh!!! Just grow out of this milk allergy already, kid!
nectarine / 2220 posts
We have to provide everything at our day care. LO has no allergies so I anticipate this just being kind of a pain, and really fun way to waste a ton of food since she's so random with what and how much she's willing to eat.
coconut / 8430 posts
We send lunch Monday-Thursday and hemp milk. They provide whole milk (for the other kids) and 2 snacks of mostly grains and fruits. On Fridays they do a pizza lunch for everyone.
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
They provide everything! Snacks, breakfast, lunch, and milk.
bananas / 9227 posts
They provide it all and tailor to allergies. Our daycare is a wing at an elementary school, so the kitchen staff does all the cooking. They have messed up though! Two weeks ago they were understaffed (everyone called in sick) and the temp workers didn't realize the vegetarian meat option they served DD had trace amounts of egg in it. She broke out in hives and we had to go to the hospital just in case. Yeh, that sucked.
honeydew / 7091 posts
She provides everything except formula and breast milk. She cooks even healthier than I do, so I am incredibly grateful to her!
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