All My "Giving A Crap" About Anything Is All Gone. Bye Bye. Adios. SEE YA

[allsmiles]

Ummm...I'm not sure what you mean. ?? My food program must be different. I'm in Ohio & I participate in the Children's Hunger Alliance. I'm allowed to serve chicken nuggets. I'm essentially allowed to serve whatever I want, but it has to follow the guidelines, for example, lunch has to be 5 components:
1 protein
1 grain
1 fruit
1 veggie
milk
(I can serve 2 fruits or 2 veggies instead of 1 of each...and I can serve chocolate or strawberry milk instead of white if I want to.)

What kind of food program are you guys using?

well i thought the food program was a federal program but that state of local agencies handled the enrollment and participation so that could be why each agency may interpret the rules a little different..

my agency requires only 1% milk and it cannot be subsititued with flavored milk.

with my agency same components are required, HOWEVER if i use processed food, i must substitute with a credible component (like adding cheese to a frozen pizza)
or have a CN label which my worker told me i could buy foods at SAM's or Costco and some of those packaged foods had CN label..i THINK she did mention getting it from the manufacturer too, now that you guys mention it!

[blandino]

well i thought the food program was a federal program but that state of local agencies handled the enrollment and participation so that could be why each agency may interpret the rules a little different..

my agency requires only 1% milk and it cannot be subsititued with flavored milk.

with my agency same components are required, HOWEVER if i use processed food, i must substitute with a credible component (like adding cheese to a frozen pizza)
or have a CN label which my worker told me i could buy foods at SAM's or Costco and some of those packaged foods had CN label..i THINK she did mention getting it from the manufacturer too, now that you guys mention it!

Ditto. We have the same requirements you listed, but any processed foods for the protein must be supplemented with a credible protein. So that's why I use a hard-boiled egg.

[cheerfuldom]

ha! well I am definitely in agreement to your new attitude. thats how I am and I know people think I am mean but I dont care. I made a mom stand on my porch just this week because she thought she could drop off "a few minutes early". I didnt open the door till right at 730 even though she was knocking and calling

As for the food issue, this is one reason why I am currently unlicensed. It is too much work to keep up with food programs and crazy parents and picky kids. I have parents send their kid with a sack lunch and the parents know that any junk food outside of one small treat will be thrown away. If they send all junk food, I will throw away the whole lunch and their child will get nothing that day. Amazing how compliant parents are when they are the ones starving their kid and wasting money sure they send lunchables and other options that are not the greatest but at least it is something their kid will eat and it is not chips/soda/candy.

[MarinaVanessa]

I'm in the USDA food program through our local CHild and Adult Food Program and I'm only allowed to serve chicken nuggets if it's a certain brand. I think it's Tyson but I'm not sure.

[MamaG]

Glad I'm not on the food program! I've sat with the kids and ate chips or something and they say 'I like those' 'I want some, I'm hungry' sitting in front of untouched lunches. My reply, 'Eat everything on your plate and you can have some.' Some times it works other times it doesn't. I've started giving super small portions when I know x won't it or h doesn't like that.

[Country Kids]

I'm in the USDA food program through our local CHild and Adult Food Program and I'm only allowed to serve chicken nuggets if it's a certain brand. I think it's Tyson but I'm not sure.

We aren't allowed to use tyson here. It has to have a CN label on it, then we have to photocopy that and send it into the fp.

We are only allowed to use the brand that makes Dino Bites and Schwans.

[Play Care]

Glad I'm not on the food program! I've sat with the kids and ate chips or something and they say 'I like those' 'I want some, I'm hungry' sitting in front of untouched lunches. My reply, 'Eat everything on your plate and you can have some.' Some times it works other times it doesn't. I've started giving super small portions when I know x won't it or h doesn't like that.

I have been on and off the food program and I find the requirements not to be that difficult or time consuming. I figure if I'm already serving the kids healthy meals, why not get reimbursed some of the costs to do it.

Like a pp I also serve family style. The kids are allowed to take either the serving size (I use measuring cups to serve so I control portions that way) a little or none at all. If Tommy says "No thank you" to fresh steamed green beans, he doesn't get any. No waste happyface

Any leftover gets packed up and served either to my family at dinner or for another dc meal later in the week (my food program allows leftovers that are properly handled). But I will say that whenever I interview and the parents go on and on about how wonderful their families diets are and how little Susie just looooves her veggies, that once they sign on I'll find out they were not being the most truthful.

[My3cents]

There are certain chicken nuggets, fish sticks, etc. that are crediable for the food program. I think your local agency can give you a list of items that are approved in your market area. There are a couple generic brands here that work for us, though I don't serve them very often.

I still believe in serving healthy foods. Yes, I throw away alot, but it's worth it to me to know that I may be the one person in their life that is caring about the foods they eat and I think that the parents do care! I just think they are too busy to acknowlege it or follow up with it at home.

I seem to throw away less food once I switched to family style serving instead of plated. Atleast I can save the uneaten, untouched food and serve it to my own family.

I feel the same way- I might be the one person that showed a child good eating choices. It is our job to serve the food it is the child's job to eat it, even if they choose to eat nothing at all. To save on waste I give smaller portions and always offer more if a child wants it. They usually do. I have been doing daycare for a very long time and most of the time children will eat if they have been active in the morning to build up a good appetite, are offered foods but not given choices for something else. You will find out who really doesn't like something and then can adjust from there, and if you don't force a child to eat something. If kids see friends eating good foods they like to try too. You will run into the child that is strong willed and refuses but if you don't make a big deal out of it, they pick up like the rest of the kids and learn to eat when it is time to eat.

I think some parents would serve better food choices if the price of produce was not so expensive. Grapes can be unaffordable to me at times. I don't want to pay the price. A lot of food gets thrown out in super markets because of high prices. Apples were a dollar a piece. Same with a navel orange. I don't think so. Want people to eat better make it affordable for good food choices.

Anyhow wish you the best sounds like you have had parents taking advantage of you but your backbone has grown strong

[wahmof3]

Silly question, but what is a CN label? I'm on the FP (Ohio) and have never heard of it.

[Country Kids]

I feel the same way- I might be the one person that showed a child good eating choices. It is our job to serve the food it is the child's job to eat it, even if they choose to eat nothing at all. To save on waste I give smaller portions and always offer more if a child wants it. They usually do. I have been doing daycare for a very long time and most of the time children will eat if they have been active in the morning to build up a good appetite, are offered foods but not given choices for something else. You will find out who really doesn't like something and then can adjust from there, and if you don't force a child to eat something. If kids see friends eating good foods they like to try too. You will run into the child that is strong willed and refuses but if you don't make a big deal out of it, they pick up like the rest of the kids and learn to eat when it is time to eat.

I think some parents would serve better food choices if the price of produce was not so expensive. Grapes can be unaffordable to me at times. I don't want to pay the price. A lot of food gets thrown out in super markets because of high prices. Apples were a dollar a piece. Same with a navel orange. I don't think so. Want people to eat better make it affordable for good food choices.

Anyhow wish you the best sounds like you have had parents taking advantage of you but your backbone has grown strong

I so agree with you about the price of foods! For a family of six to eat real foods 3 times a day plus snacks (non processed) in my mind would be astonomically high.

My husbands big gripes with produce are always oranges and grapes!

[mamac]

Costco carries their own "Kirkland" brand of chicken nuggets that have the CN (Child Nutrition) label on them. I don't know about other areas, but here they are Mickey Mouse shaped nuggets. My own kids love them. I believe BJ's has their own brand which are dinosaur shapes.

[daycarediva]

I don't know how accurate this is, but a friend of mine who is a provider said that her food program rep told her that most companies that manufacture processed foods, will send you a CN label for it if you ask them to.

I do, serve a hard boiled egg with my premise chicken nuggets (when I use premade) - as I have not asked for a CN label.

OP-this was pretty hilarious, although I'm not sure you really intended it to be. I can sooooo vent like this at times!

as per food-
This is what I do as well, then my 2 fruit/veggie sides.

I only offer seconds of fruits & veg. No grain/carb. Sorry.

I also split my produce so that it is a combo of frozen/fresh/canned. I have better success with frozen firt with cool whip to dip (popscicleish), or made into smoothies and served with bunny grahams. Canned is GREAT over yogurt. My kiddos fav snack is a parfait of FF vanilla yogurt/peaches(canned, packed in juice)/whipped cream.

My kids gobble up soup, and it's so easy and cheap to make that we do LOTS of soup & 1/2 whole wheat, good cheese grilled cheese, or seasoned oyster crackers, or whole grain rolls. They eat THOSE carbs (even my pickiest eater!).

[nanglgrl]

We aren't allowed to use tyson here. It has to have a CN label on it, then we have to photocopy that and send it into the fp.

We are only allowed to use the brand that makes Dino Bites and Schwans.

Do you have to send a copy every time you serve it? I've never had to send a copy of any of that stuff and if I did it would probably be the straw that broke this camels back. Here we can serve whatever, if it doesn't have a CN label we have to pair it with something, I always choose cottage cheese.

[Country Kids]

Do you have to send a copy every time you serve it? I've never had to send a copy of any of that stuff and if I did it would probably be the straw that broke this camels back. Here we can serve whatever, if it doesn't have a CN label we have to pair it with something, I always choose cottage cheese.

Once we send it in we don't have to send that particular one in again but if we use another brand we have to.

I just try and not serve it.

[MarinaVanessa]

We aren't allowed to use tyson here. It has to have a CN label on it, then we have to photocopy that and send it into the fp.

We are only allowed to use the brand that makes Dino Bites and Schwans.

Oh maybe that's what it is. I don't serve them so I don't really know but I know that there are some that are allowed.