Show Me Your Meal Schedules

[newtodaycare22]

My food program used to require 2 hours between meals. Right now I do:

8am breakfast (most of my kids arrive between 7-8)
10 am snack (right after circle time)
12pm lunch
2:45 snack (after nap)

They changed it to 2.5 hours now, so that causes an issue. I can't move breakfast up because most kids wouldn't be here and I KNOW that would just make hungry kids (parents won't bother or won't bother with the RIGHT foods). I can't move lunch back because I have a kid who jumps on a bus at 12:30. I'm thinking of eliminating morning snack. Any thoughts on that?

[SilverSabre25]

Do 9 AM breakfast, eliminate snack, and 12 PM lunch.

HOWEVER--when you pose it to parents, don't say you're eliminating snack, say you're eliminating breakfast. Kids need to eat before they come and you'll serve a small snack at 9 to get them through until lunch.

Then, go on making it a breakfast at 9 AM so you can claim it as such. Just...don't call it breakfast to the parents.

[DCP]

I do either breakfast or AM snack - one or the other! But not both due to time issues such as yours. They are usually served between 8:45 and 9:45 depending on which and what I am serving.
All kids present get PM snack right after nap at 2:30

[Blackcat31]

9:00-9:30 A.M. snack
11:30-12:15 lunch
3:00-3:30 P.M. snack

I do not offer breakfast to my dck's. All families are required to feed their child before drop off. My A.M. snack actually contains all the components of breakfast (as I know most my dck's eat a granola bar or gummy bears for breakfast) so I can still claim breakfast for the food program but don't want to be feeding kids from the time I open until all the kids arrive so I find it much easier to simply wait until 9:00 and offer it then.

I say 'snack' for the benefit of the families and 'breakfast' for the benefit of the food program....

[DCMom]

9:00-9:30 A.M. snack
11:30-12:15 lunch
3:00-3:30 P.M. snack

I do not offer breakfast to my dck's. All families are required to feed their child before drop off. My A.M. snack actually contains all the components of breakfast (as I know most my dck's eat a granola bar or gummy bears for breakfast) so I can still claim breakfast for the food program but don't want to be feeding kids from the time I open until all the kids arrive so I find it much easier to simply wait until 9:00 and offer it then.

I say 'snack' for the benefit of the families and 'breakfast' for the benefit of the food program....

This is what I do also, except my start time for breakfast is 8:30. I feed the school age kids first, they get on the bus at 8:45. Then I feed the preschoolers and havae it all wrapped up by 9:00.

[jen2651]

I basically do 2 rounds of breakfast if needed (one for early arrivals and school bus kiddos and one for later kids)...but, my schedule looks like this:

7:30 breakfast and 8:15 breakfast (if needed, usually is) - same food tho
11:15 lunch
3:30 pm snack

I would love to eliminate breakfast and switch it to a snack (but really have it be breakfast) but my 6:30 arrivals would be STARVING by then. I already have exhausted, starving children at 11:15! Sometimes lunch is at 11 but I like to try and hold out til 11:15...

[daycare]

I would love to drop breakfast all together, but most of my kids get her for that purpose.....

my meal times are also 2 hours apart..

830
1030
1230
except snack is at 330

[wdmmom]

Breakfast is between 735am and 815am.
Lunch is about between 11am and 1130am
Snack time is about 3pm.

I eliminated morning snack.

[GrannyJ]

7:30-breakfast sa
10:30-snack
12:30-lunch
2:30-snack
4:30-dinner

My fp monitor told be to change my snack from 3pm to 2:30 then serve dinner. That way I get more money for the sa kids that don't eat lunch with me. She said just make it easy like a lunchable. So I serve something like cheese and crackers or lunchmeat and 2 fruits or a finger vegetable like carrots or celery. The kids love it, it holds them over until they get home for dinner.

[newtodaycare22]

Breakfast is between 735am and 815am.
Lunch is about between 11am and 1130am
Snack time is about 3pm.

I eliminated morning snack.

Did you have kids in care when eliminating morning snack? I'm not sure how mine would react. When we do some trips they never question missing snack but changing our routine at home would probably throw them. I'm thinking this:

8:30 Breakfast
12:00 Lunch
2:45 snack

There has to be at least 2.5 hours between the time one meal ends and the other begins and that makes about 3 hours between breakfast and lunch.

I don't want to eliminate breakfast or push it back to 9. Most of my kids are waking up between 6 and 7 and coming here for the purpose of breakfast. I'm even hesitant to make it 8:30 instead of 8 but I'm not sure if it's worse for them to get hungry before lunch or before breakfast!

[littlemissmuffet]

I do brekfast at 8am, lunch at 12pm and snack at 3pm. All my kids are just fine.

[Jenniferdawn]

Wow, my kids could never go that long between breakfast and lunch with out a snack. Two hours go by and they are starving, and I always feed good heart breakfasts too!

[Rachel]

We have to have 3.5 hours between the start times of meals. I do:

8:30 breakfast
12:00 lunch
3:00 snack

[Countrygal]

I do kind of the same as everyone else, but upside down!

8:00 Breakfast

10:30 snack - I've started making a very light snack here, not the big ones I used to give

1:00 Lunch

4:00 Supper

I have two that I usually claim the Snack, Lunch, Supper for unless they are earlier picking up, which happens frequently. They are here for all four meals. One is only here for B-S-L.

[littlemissmuffet]

Wow, my kids could never go that long between breakfast and lunch with out a snack. Two hours go by and they are starving, and I always feed good heart breakfasts too!

I give large portions of protein (usually non-animal) and I put ground up flax (fibre) into everything (yogurts, cottage cheese, cereals, pancakes, waffle batter, etc) and only serve water. Protein and water plus fibre keep everyone full for long periods of time. There are times where my kiddos tell me to save their snack until just before home time (4:30-5:00pm) because they are too full to eat at 3pm - after nap and 3 hours after their last meal