Should I Pay For The Expensive Foods Or Go For Cheaper?

[EchoMom]

First, I'm not on the food program, legally unlicensed, not interested in registering to get on the food program.

I and my DS eat the same foods that they DCKs do, so I buy the kinds of foods I want my DS to eat. I pay FOUR times the price for eggs in order to get the cage free organic eggs. I pay $3.50-$4.25 for a dozen eggs. If I got regular eggs it would only be $1.19 for eggs. And we use ALOT of eggs. I make scrambled eggs several times a week for DC breakfast and it's on of my DS's favorite foods.

I can't really make seperate food for DS and a different batch of regular eggs for DCKs. Too much hassle, mess, time. I pay alot more for organic whole milk for DS. If I bought regular milk it would be $2.80 a gallon. Buying organic milk costs me $7 a gallon. I buy organic apples, carrots, etc.

Not EVERYTHING is organic and I am not by any means a health fanatic (I have a terrible fast food addiction for myself).

The parents do not ever ask what I feed their kids, they just trust that it's good. They have no idea the quality of ingredients I'm buying. So am I wasting a ton of money buying them top of the line groceries? I could be keeping so much more money for my profit if I bought the regular grocery items.

But I want better for my DS, not perfect, but better where I can. I just feel like I'm throwing my money away when a DCK is eating a bag of Funions for breakfast and a sticky bun, but then I'm giving him organic eggs that are four times the price...

[SilverSabre25]

*sigh*

I was in your shoes a couple years ago.

and I came to the conclusion, after a lot of soul-searching, that it isn't worth it. Unless you have families that care, unless you have SOLD the organic, unless you are charging accordingly...it is not worth it.

When I had to drop my rates from $140 to $120 (and getting $120 is a struggle let me tell you) and I realized that my families don't CARE about organic...I quit a lot of it.

Separate milk would be cake for you to provide. Separate fruit...well, maybe not so much (although apples are a Dirty Dozen item so you might want to keep those up). Eggs would be difficult but you could always try to keep those separate.

Also, you could try Costco as a source for some of the stuff--eggs in particular. I haven't looked closely at them but I think they're cheaper. And I JUST tonight was there and priced organic milk at $3.33 a half gallon (3 half gallons for $9.99). They have organic frozen fruits and veggies for about the same price as conventional frozen ones that the regular store.

But yeah, long story short...it's a waste unless you have families who care.

[SilverSabre25]

I should add, that as a family of 4 plus feeding dcks I have found our Costco membership to be absolutely invaluable. $50 a year and we save quite a bit on a lot of things. Batteries--the Kirkland batteries are good and reasonably priced. Paper, too, both construction and printer. Scotch tape and gluesticks. A lot of the food, like turkey lunchmeat, awesome cranberry juice, big boxes of graham crackers and animal crackers for snacks...among other things. i shop there almost weekly and it's awesome. Definitely consider checking it out.

[EchoMom]

We have a Sam's Club membership but I don't really find their prices to be cheaper in the long run. I'm really content with the prices at Kroger. But yeah, another example is when I make deli meat sandwiches, I pay for the EXPESNIVE Boar's Head deli meat, when I'm sure the parents would be just as happy with the much cheaper brand, or packaged stuff....

And I recently put a white board up by my front door so I could write down everyday the meals and snacks for that day so parents would know. They repsonded positively, but I think I'm just making more work for myselfs because I know they really don't care. They never ever ask what they ate that day, how much, what, etc. I can't believe they don't ask, I WOULD ASK. I would ask every detail of my kids day if he were at daycare! But then again, I couldn't bear to leave him, hence, me working from hom...

I don't know if I should just take the white board down...

And I have WONDERFUL parents. I'm not saying they're crappy parents whatsoever, I just truly think they saw my excellent menu examples at the beginning and it sounded good to them and they just trust that I'm following through on that. They know their kids are very happy and healthy.

And on a side note, how can they never ever ask what activities their kids did or what they're learning? HOW CAN THEY NOT ASK??? Again, I would want to know what my kid did all day long! Who's he friends with, what are his interactions like, what was his reaction to playdough for the first time, etc. I don't get it, I really really don't.

[MizzCheryl]

Wish we could get eggs for $1.19 and milk for 2.80. THose are great prices.

[SilverSabre25]

Seriously...try costco over Sam's. The prices *are* better and there is a LOT of organic stuff you can get for the same price as conventional at the grocery store.

[countrymom]

since i shop in the states all the time I will say that sam's club is cheaper than costco, but Aldi's is really cheap.

really parents don't care what you feed their kids, as long as its healthy, heck I think at this point they really don't care. Yesterday I had dcb tell me that he loves my cooking, awww that was so nice. He eats alot of take out and canned/frozen stuff. So even thou the parents don't care the kids do.

[Soccermom]

I would stick to the cheaper stuff for the DCKs if I were you. Especially if the DCPS are not expecting (or paying for) you to be serve their children organic foods.
Groceries are SO expensive and it is important for you to keep as much of your daycare profit in your pocket as possible. You work hard for your money.

I would buy organic eggs for your family and regular eggs for your daycare. Same goes for fruit and veggies.
Maybe try to seperate the two. If you are eating organic during family time and regular foods during daycare time, I think you are still doing quite well for your DS. There is a lot of talk about organic not necessarily being any better for your health anyway so I wouldn't stress about it too much.

But if you really feel strongly about DS eating organic you could buy the organic versions of foods for him and the regular version for the daycare kids and don't feel bad about it. He is your DS and you need to do what you feel is best for him. As long as you are feeding your DCKS complete, healthy and balanced meals, you are doing a great job. I wouldn't expect my DP to provide organic foods to my child if I wasn't paying the added cost for it.

This is why I started having my DCKS provide their own food. I wanted my family to eat mostly organic, homemade, unprocessed foods and it was getting expensive..plus some kids are used to packaged foods and would refuse to eat the homemade versions. So now they bring their own food...they eat what DCPS want them to eat and my children eat what Mommy wants them to eat

[saved4always]

When I was doing childcare in my home, I was also legally unliscensed. And I charged less than my friend who was also doing childcare and providing food. I really strive to stay within our weekly grocery budget for my family so I did not provide expensive foods for my daycare. I did not do organic anything (I don't do that for my family). Even if I did do organic for my family, I would have had no problem *not* providing my dck's the more expensive food. I provided regular skim milk since that is what my family drinks. If parents needed soy milk or organic, they were welcome to supply it. Most did bring their own milk either in a cup each day or in a carton for the week. I did alot of store brands, too. My son only likes cheez it crackers. I would get those for him but the dck's got the store brand due to price. My contract only said that I would provide lunch, snacks and skim milk so parents were not promised any certain kinds of food.

[saved4always]

since i shop in the states all the time I will say that sam's club is cheaper than costco, but Aldi's is really cheap.

really parents don't care what you feed their kids, as long as its healthy, heck I think at this point they really don't care. Yesterday I had dcb tell me that he loves my cooking, awww that was so nice. He eats alot of take out and canned/frozen stuff. So even thou the parents don't care the kids do.

I LOVE Aldis. There are alot of things there that taste good and are so much cheaper. I used a lot of thier food items for daycare and for my own family. I always have to be careful of produce though. Often it goes bad much faster than other stores...especially bananas. They always seemed to rot withing a couple days...maybe because Aldis has them in plastic bags?

[saved4always]

I should add, that as a family of 4 plus feeding dcks I have found our Costco membership to be absolutely invaluable. $50 a year and we save quite a bit on a lot of things. Batteries--the Kirkland batteries are good and reasonably priced. Paper, too, both construction and printer. Scotch tape and gluesticks. A lot of the food, like turkey lunchmeat, awesome cranberry juice, big boxes of graham crackers and animal crackers for snacks...among other things. i shop there almost weekly and it's awesome. Definitely consider checking it out.

Are they the ones that have the fabulous cakes? I went to a birthday party once where the cake was soooooo good and I think it was from Costco. I should look into a membership there. We used to have a Sam's Club membership from my husband's work but I never went. Maybe I shoudl look at Costco.

[MyAngels]

I just truly think they saw my excellent menu examples at the beginning and it sounded good to them and they just trust that I'm following through on that. They know their kids are very happy and healthy.

It sounds like this was a selling point when your families signed on - maybe they just trust that you're following through and don't want to micro-manage you by asking for every little detail of their menus?

If it was a selling point when they interviewed I would run it by them before you make a change. If it's something that they feel strongly about you could consider raising your rates a bit to accomodate the higher cost.

If it was not something that was specifically mentioned during the interview process, then I'd just make the change and be done with it.

[Blackcat31]

I was thinking the same thing as MyAngels said, maybe your parents trust that you are feeding their child well and doing fun activities.

I think as a parent if my child is happy at pick up and eager to attend in the morning at drop off then I don't think it is important that I know the theme for the week or the specific content of the daily lesson plan.

If you have good communication with the parents and do things such as the white board to notify them of menus and such, then why do they need to ask additional questions? If they trust you and feel comfortable about the level and type of care their child is receiving I think all is well. It might be a different story if you had bad behavior reports every day for their child and they weren't saying anything in return I would be concerned but it sounds to me like you have things under control so I wouldn't stress about that part.

As far as the Sam's and Costco thing.....I am surprised at the number of people who prefer Costco over Sam's. I have shopped at both and ultimatley prefer Sam's. They have great prices in my area and excellent customer service!

....and milk at $2.80 a gallon! Wow! That is cheap! Milk is $3.49 a gallon here for generic or store brands.

[itlw8]

I am not a big organic person but I do believe in eating healthy I garden and though I do spray some I try to use natural sprays when possible and only when necessary

this is a tough one. You believe in organic and want your son to only eat organic so that is great. I do not think you need to feed the dck organic to make them healthy meals

but somehow it just hits me wrong to hear you feed your child different food than mine because you believe the food you feed my chid is not healthy.

how is that for a run on sentence ???

So no it is not wrong to feed your child organic food but the parents may feel differently if they find out.... AND your child will feel left out when he can not eat what you serve the other children

[LK5kids]

Once I open I'll use organic milk, butter, yogurt, apples, carrots, eggs, sugar, flour, & frozen veggies. That's what I can get in my area easily. But I will be on the food program.

I don't think parents in my area will care too much about organic. I still want to offer organic to the kids because I feel it's better for them and it's important to me. In addition to that I use organic because all those chemicals getting into our drinking supply is a problem and then there's the concern about pesticides affecting bees. Without bees we are all in big trouble!

So my reasons are a bit broader. That said, If I wasn't on the food program I would probably just buy organic dairy if I could afford it because in addition to chemicals used to grow the feed there is the growth hormone issue. Food is expensive enough so without the fp I'd be hard pressed to buy much other organic food for my program!

I love Aldi's but be aware that fruit and veggies grown outside of the USA can and probably do have pesticides that are outlawed here...one being ddt...a nasty, nasty chemical. I always check where fruits are grown on the pkg. Fruits like melons or even bananas that have a thicker skin, I don't worry as much about.

Thanks for the info on Cosco. The closest one to me is two hrs away....but I might go a few times per year and stock up on those veggies! I'll also have a garden with tomatoes, green peppers, green beans, etc. that will help out in the summer.