Separating Food???

[misol]

Not sure if she's on the food program but if she was then you have to offer it. For those like me that aren't actually on enrolled on the food program but still follow it's guidelines (what a child should be fed to stay healthy) then offering breakfast, AM snack, Lunch, and PM snack is the recommendation.

I think it depends on the times that you serve each meal. I am on the food program and I serve 3 meals. The kids eat every 3 hours. My meal times are:

9:30 Breakfast
12:30 Lunch
3:30 PM Snack

My breakfast is so late because one dcb doesn't arrive until 9:45a. I have 2 siblings that arrive at 8:30a who have already had breakfast at home at 7a. My own kids eat two breakfasts also (Dad gives them a small bowl of cereal at 7 while he is getting ready for work - then they eat again at 9:30breakfast.) So, I guess technically my "breakfast" is really a "morning snack" of sorts. But since the food program only reimburses for 3 meals and the reimbursement for breakfast is higher than for a snack, I call it breakfast.

[Pammie]

Not sure if she's on the food program but if she was then you have to offer it. For those like me that aren't actually on enrolled on the food program but still follow it's guidelines (what a child should be fed to stay healthy) then offering breakfast, AM snack, Lunch, and PM snack is the recommendation.

I am on the food program. Participation in the federal food program does not require offering 4 meals/day - which is what breakfast, am snack, lunch and pm snack would be. The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) standard practice is for children not to go more than 4 hours between meals and reimburses for the maximum of one meal and two snacks per day OR two meals and one snack per day. So even though you aren't enrolled you might want to check their regulations before you quote their guidelines.

[MarinaVanessa]

I am on the food program. Participation in the federal food program does not require offering 4 meals/day - which is what breakfast, am snack, lunch and pm snack would be. The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) standard practice is for children not to go more than 4 hours between meals and reimburses for the maximum of one meal and two snacks per day OR two meals and one snack per day. So even though you aren't enrolled you might want to check their regulations before you quote their guidelines.

I was on the USDA food program and this is what it says on the handouts:

"Meal Service times: Meals are to be served no less than 2 hours apart and no more than 4 hours apart when serving major meals and snacks. Meals that can be claimed include Breakfast, Morning Snack, Lunch, Evening Snack and Dinner. Meals can only be claimed for children that are in care at the time the meal is served."

What I meant by "have to offer it" was that if it were more than four hours then you have to offer the child a meal or snack if the child is in care and they already havn't gone over their max. I hadn't heard of the CACFP food program sorry. This is for the USDA food program.

[nannyde]

Feed your famiy however you want. The only thing I would make sure is that your kids don't eat stuff in front of the kids that they can't have.

I feed the kids what we eat. I have always made all our meals from scratch but in March of this year I made a big change in our meals. I do a fully organic, grass fed, chemical free, gmo free, pastured meats, etc. I don't buy name brand foods because most don't meet what I need for our diet.

I make all of our food in advance and make in quantities and freeze. We put up seasonal fruits and veggies and buy our meats as they are slaughtered seasonaly. Our grains are also bought in bulk and I make our breads with these.

I don't go to the grocery store very often because I buy most everything directly from the farmers. I do get our organic milk from a specialty store here and buy our cheese from them in bulk when I can get it. It freezes really well so we use that for a source of protein too.

We eat beans and rice to balance out the high cost of the grass fed meats. My kids love beans and rice so we have that a couple of times a week and it's usually mixed in with some of our pastured meats. I make broth from the pastured meats to cook the beans and rice in. I make a ton of soups and stews with every kind of bean and rice you could imagine.

My cost per day per kid is about four dollars a day average. I get 3.50 a day on the food program. My new parents pay the premium rates to cover the cost of the labor and accessing the organic foods. Any incoming client will pay for it in their fees so eventually everyone will pay into the food service. Once the current group ages out I will replace them with children from families that only want a fully organic menu and are willing to pay for the food and the HIGH cost of labor to make it happen. That should take about two more years and then I'll be square.

If you are only getting 75 a week I would definitely keep the food cost as low as possible. There is no way you can feed them any other way. It shouldn't be a problem though because the parents are paying for the very lowest of low food service. You need to stick to the cheapest possible calories with the least amount of labor for that food.

If you are doing breakfast I would stop that immediately. The parents need to make sure they have a home cooked breakfast with protein, fresh fruit and milk to start their day. Then I would have them bring a packed lunch every day that is ready to eat out of the lunch box so that you don't have to do any preparing and the packaging and containers can be put right back into the pack for the parents to clean. I would just serve an afternoon snack of crackers and juice. Maybe even have the parents bring you a bag of that every week and a couple of big containers of the juice.

You shouldn't have to do much of anything except supervise them eating their packed lunch and a quick service of the treat they have for snack. With only 75 a week you need to stay out of the food as much as you possibly can other than supervision. You need the full 75 a week just for your salary for caring for them and the hard costs of having them in your home. Food shouldn't be included in that low fee.

I do a full home made meal service here with the highest quality food I can find. All of my parents pay for the labor to do the home made and my new kids pay for the specialty foods. I charge a much higher weekly fee to cover that service. If they don't want to pay for it then they can't have it. I don't care where you live... seventy five dollars a week buys ZIPPO in food service. You are NOT getting paid for meal service so don't offer it. Have the parents do breakfast, stop the morning snack, have them bring packed lunch, and do a CHEAP afternoon snack.

[nannyde]

The going rate in my area for one full time school age kids is $100/week...I am not sure what kind of discounts other daycare's in my area give a family. I get $100/week for the 2 school girls during school days for before/after care where I average about 4 hours each day with them during school so that equals out to about $2.50/hour each during the school year. This was one of my first families and yes, I cut her the BEST deal and I know I could be making more on them..I'm just afraid if I raise my rates on her, she will find other means of care and these girls are good kids. Plus she ALWAYS pays without issue and never uses any free days even though they are offered if the kids are not here. Now if these kids were "monsters" I wouldn't bother, .

I get $125/week for my infant-Pre-K. I have one full time 10 hours/day and one I get $100/week for part time care 5 hours/day..plus my school age neice just for the summer (she's 10 years old)...so I can afford to opperate but yes, all those extras do add up...I have been buying the oriental trading crafts to keep the kids busy...saving on food is a must.

If I'm reading this right you go from 2.50 an hour during the school year to 1.36 per hour in the summer. That's almost a fifty percent decrease in pay. If you are tolerating this summer pay so you can have the school pay please reconsider that in the future. A summer of 55 hours a week at such a low rate ends up being half the total hours you are caring for the kids over the year. When you average that you are only making less than two dollars an hour per kid over the course of a year. There is not enough money in that to be serving all of those meals especially if you are doing breakfast during the school year. You need that whole weekly rate for your salary and the hard costs of having the kids in the house.

I would stop doing any crafts that cost money and stop the food service. At some point the parents need to realize that you can't get more than basic supervison and basic utilities for that kind of hourly rate. It's okay if that's what they want but you should NOT have to use any of that money for food when they can easily provide the meals and do the work of the meals. If they want to save money they need to be willing to do the work and make the day to day decisions what kind of nutrition they want for their kids. At less than two dollars an hour you shouldn't even be THINKING about the kids food. They should be doing EVERYTHING except the direct supervision of the kids while they are eating lunch and afternoon snack.

You get what you pay for and they aren't paying for food and food service. Let them take it over.

[Bizzymom1111]

[QUOTE=MarinaVanessa;36965]I was on the USDA food program and this is what it says on the handouts:

"Meal Service times: Meals are to be served no less than 2 hours apart and no more than 4 hours apart when serving major meals and snacks. Meals that can be claimed include Breakfast, Morning Snack, Lunch, Evening Snack and Dinner. Meals can only be claimed for children that are in care at the time the meal is served."

What I meant by "have to offer it" was that if it were more than four hours then you have to offer the child a meal or snack if the child is in care and they already havn't gone over their max. I hadn't heard of the CACFP food program sorry. This is for the USDA food program.[/QUOTE

I am on the USDA food program and we can not claim more than 2 meals and one snack per child. There is not even any space on the meal count form for more than 3/day. It is ridiculous for parents to expect a provider to serve all that food to their child. Most of the time the kids don't even eat their lunch if they are given a morning snack. At my daycare, the kids know that they don't eat until lunch, so they ALL eat up at breakfast. They eat better at lunch, and I find are more willing to try new foods when they are hungry. They don't need more then that. No one is going to starve if they don't get a morning snack. I can only imagine all the wasted food and money.

[QualiTcare]

i've always fed my children the same food as the DC children. that doesn't mean i wouldn't leave the steak in the freezer and make chicken when the DC kids were here, but i'd never give the DC kids one thing and my kids another. personally, i think that's cruel.

[QualiTcare]

If I'm reading this right you go from 2.50 an hour during the school year to 1.36 per hour in the summer. That's almost a fifty percent decrease in pay. If you are tolerating this summer pay so you can have the school pay please reconsider that in the future. A summer of 55 hours a week at such a low rate ends up being half the total hours you are caring for the kids over the year. When you average that you are only making less than two dollars an hour per kid over the course of a year. There is not enough money in that to be serving all of those meals especially if you are doing breakfast during the school year. You need that whole weekly rate for your salary and the hard costs of having the kids in the house.

I would stop doing any crafts that cost money and stop the food service. At some point the parents need to realize that you can't get more than basic supervison and basic utilities for that kind of hourly rate. It's okay if that's what they want but you should NOT have to use any of that money for food when they can easily provide the meals and do the work of the meals. If they want to save money they need to be willing to do the work and make the day to day decisions what kind of nutrition they want for their kids. At less than two dollars an hour you shouldn't even be THINKING about the kids food. They should be doing EVERYTHING except the direct supervision of the kids while they are eating lunch and afternoon snack.

You get what you pay for and they aren't paying for food and food service. Let them take it over.

you say they aren't paying for it, but at the same time - she's not charging for it (and i'm sure not saying, "by the way, your kids are just gonna get basic supervision")

[Preschool/daycare teacher]

The dc kids here get the off brand, generic food, if that's what happens to be cheapest. Nothing at all wrong with feeding the off brand food to the dc kids, and brand name to your own children, as long as they aren't eating something different from the dc kids while they're there. The easiest route, I'd think, would be during daycare hrs your kids eat daycare food like all the other kids. After/before hours they eat whatever you want them to (including brand name). If that makes any sense? Of course, if your kids are older and will know that during daycare hrs they don't get something as good as they do during off hrs, I'd definitely make sure they just eat seperate from the dc kids, but eat what you want them to.
At our daycare we have to offer them breakfast, am snack, lunch, and pm snack (because of the food program). However, it would save a lot of wasted food if we could eliminate am snack. They fill up on it, and then aren't hungry for lunch, and pretty much their whole plate goes to waste. Then at pm snack they eat a lot, because they're hungry from not eating lunch. But then part of the problem is that they are very very picky and no matter what we serve they "don't like it". We have to put a veggie and/or fruit on their plate at lunch. They NEVER eat the veggies, so they go completely to waste. The other food mostly goes to waste too, because they aren't hungry after am snack, and the food program requires us to give them too big of portions, in my opinion. We'd save a lot if we could only put on their plate what they'll eat, and only the amount they'd eat and then give them seconds as many times as they ask (during a meal; snack would be a different story). And eliminate am snack. They eat breakfast at 8:30, snack at 10:30, and lunch at 12:00. There's not enough time in-between for them to even need more food! So if you aren't on the food program, feel free to feed them whatever you want, when you want. If you choose to eliminate am snack so they'll eat lunch, go for it!

[boysx5]

I do the food program but that doesn't cover the cost of everything. I plan out my meals and my boys are allowed to eat what they want. I try to buy things at costco or B.Js to save money on snacks. Fruit is expensive and with having to serve it at breakfast and then lunch I find that I go through alot of that. Wow your rates are low I complain getting 150 a week for this six year old girl I watch who is a pain she hates most things I serve so I didn't put her on the food program and most days she will just eat peanut butter and jelly.

[judytrickett]

i've always fed my children the same food as the DC children. that doesn't mean i wouldn't leave the steak in the freezer and make chicken when the DC kids were here, but i'd never give the DC kids one thing and my kids another. personally, i think that's cruel.

MY kids are not in daycare.

My kids NEVER eat with the daycare kids. MY kids eat with ME and hubby at OUR lunch time.

I don't think it's cruel AT ALL.

Daycare is daycare. The dckids are not MY kids.

[TGT09]

I seperate some things but we don't have any kids of our own. So some things are "luxury" items for us that the DCK's do not get. I buy almost all store brands for us and them though. I don't always even have a different lunch than the dck's but same days I do. The school agers will get all nosy and ask what I'm eating, my reply is "MY lunch".

I also think that it depends on what you're giving your kids that the dck's aren't getting and if they are eating it right in front of them. If they are eating it somewhere else then I wouldn't feel the least bit bad about it.

I was told many years ago that they aren't really store brands. Stores pay the brand name companies to use their product and then put their labels on it at a cheaper price. I had a friend that was a grocery stocker for YEARS and he found this out along the way. I have found very minimal differences over the years after being told that by him....maybe it's psycho****tic for me now though. :-)

Our local grocery store has 2 different levels of store brands....cheap and super cheap. I rarely buy the super cheap because I'm sure the quality is also cheaper.

Edited to add: that they are "bleeping" out a word that is no way a cuss word and I can't figure out why.

[momma2girls]

I quit serving breakfast about 4 yrs. ago, I do have an am snack around 9:00- 9:30, and dinner at 11:00. THis works so much better. THey were wasting breakfast(which honestly with babies coming in that needed fed, kids getting ready for school, etc.) I really didn't have time for breakfast, til around 9:00, so we made this our am snack instead. It works so much better!!

[nannyde]

MY kids are not in daycare.

My kids NEVER eat with the daycare kids. MY kids eat with ME and hubby at OUR lunch time.

I don't think it's cruel AT ALL.

Daycare is daycare. The dckids are not MY kids.

Yup

My ds10 has never eaten a meal with the day care kids. We eat our meals together. He's not a member of the day care and never has been.

[MarinaVanessa]

I quit serving breakfast about 4 yrs. ago, I do have an am snack around 9:00- 9:30, and dinner at 11:00. THis works so much better. THey were wasting breakfast(which honestly with babies coming in that needed fed, kids getting ready for school, etc.) I really didn't have time for breakfast, til around 9:00, so we made this our am snack instead. It works so much better!!

For whatever reason, my DC kids that I've had all always shown up after 8am sometimes even 9am so I never have to serve breakfast (I schedule it at 7:30). Even though I could also claim dinner (if I was still on the food program) I schedule that at 6:30 (same time that my family eats dinner) but I close at 6pm so unless the parents are late they don't get dinner either.