Are you on the Food Program?

[LaLa1923]

Who is and isn't on the food program??? Why or why not??

[Blackcat31]

I am on the food program.

Why?

Because the amount I get for reimbursement makes it 100% worth it.

Oh, and my food program coordinator is just as awesome as my licensor.

[SquirrellyMama]

My reimbursement amount isn't worth the hassle. I've been on it before and I know what to feed the kids. I feed them like I'm on it but don't want to deal with the paperwork and classes.

K

[melilley]

I am on it! For me it's so worth it! I supply all food and have to pay for it anyways and if you can claim online, it's so easy!

[snbauser]

Yes. Well I was and will be back on it as soon as I am relicensed -hopefully next week. For me, I follow all of the guidelines anyway. My food program rep is awesome. And every little penny helps. I am tier 1 so the reimburesment is totally worth it.

[Willow]

Definitely on it! Did my whole first year without it thinking it wouldn't be worth all the work and then kicked myself once I learned how easy it was .

I don't have to do any classes save for one annual "test" that's online and open book. Takes me just 20 minutes and it counts towards my annual licensing training I'd have to take anyway. I enter my meals and attendance on my phone daily (takes 2 minutes) and hit submit on my home computer at the end of each month. Two weeks later I am sent a check that wipes my daycare grocery expenses for the following month out. My rep is awesome and she always brings great activities for me to do with my group.

The less of my income I have to spend on things like daycare groceries the more of my income that goes directly into my pockets to spend on doing fun things with my family

[littlemissmuffet]

There is no food program in Canada. Where I live, at tax time I can write off about 60% of my annual grocery bill - which is fairly accurate. My kiddos eat nutrituious, home-made food with the extremely occasional treat/junk food.

[MyAngels]

I'm on it. It is minimal effort and I never turn down what basically amounts to free money ::.

[LaLa1923]

I am on it, but it basically just reimburses me for the money I spend for daycare food. I am on the higher rate.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I am.

Pros:
I love the free Minute Menu Kids Pro.
Submitting my claims is EXTREMELY easy online!
I love receiving some reimbursement money for the meals (not as much as many receive since I am Tier II I believe, but every penny helps).
I have to take 1 little class every year. I attended a REALLY cheap training seminar hosted by all of the food programs in the area recently ($5 for 6.75 credit hours which applies towards the 30 I need every year) and they covered the annual food program training during our lunch break by simply talking for 15 or so minutes.

Cons:
I do not feed my own children the way the food program would like for all of the children to be fed. The amount of grains and milk required truly grosses me out. My teenager (17 tomorrow) obviously eats other foods and does not participate in the daycare. I'm not sure what to do about my infant. I don't know if I have to uphold their guidelines or not.

[bunnyslippers]

My reimbursement amount isn't worth the hassle. I've been on it before and I know what to feed the kids. I feed them like I'm on it but don't want to deal with the paperwork and classes.

K

Me, too. I used to do it, and had a great coordinator who was easy. She retired, they hired some crazy lady who liked to do surprise visits and wanted to see every fridge in my house (even the upstairs one that isn't used for daycare). I was on the lowest reimbursement tier...it just wasn't worth the hassle.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

Me, too. I used to do it, and had a great coordinator who was easy. She retired, they hired some crazy lady who liked to do surprise visits and wanted to see every fridge in my house (even the upstairs one that isn't used for daycare). I was on the lowest reimbursement tier...it just wasn't worth the hassle.

Wow, that would really stress me out.

The woman who inspects over here is really easy going. When I wanted to get extremely accurate measurements on food portions she just told me to wing it. LOL! She has never once looked in a pantry, fridge, freezer, etc. nor has she come in my kitchen beyond me initially signing paperwork in there now that I think about it. She chats with me a little bit, looks at what they have on their plates, looks inside their cups, writes a little bit down and leaves. She's here maybe 15 minutes. I've seen her about 4 times in the past year. At the training seminar I saw her again and she remembered my name and greeted me, which I thought was pretty good! She works with a lot of people.

[nothingwithoutjoy]

I was for a few years, but dropped it. It wasn't worth it to me. I didn't like:
--planning meals to the letter with little ability to incorporate leftovers
--lack of support for eating locally (for example, we eat apples A LOT when apples are in season--every day, just about--and other fruits in other seasons. Example #2--home-canned foods are a no-no.)
--lack of understanding of/support for vegetarian meals (for example, tofu is forbidden because they're afraid you'll open a package, save half improperly stored, and it'll go bad. Um, hello? Can't you also prepare meat improperly? And how could you possibly use only half with a group of kids anyway?)
--stupid rules (for example, cookies for snack ok; raisins not ok)
--WAY too much bread expected. My kids eat much healthier meals than that.
--too little understanding of dairy issues.
--too little support for breast feeding.

That was just some of my differences! (Yes, I'm a pain in the butt.)

[nanglgrl]

I'm on it. I went off for a while but went back on because its required to participate in Childnet and QRS. Those programs give me yearly grants that make it worthwhile.
I'm a level II so I don't get much of a reimbursement and I hate how they do that. Luckily a few if my clients qualify for the higher reimbursement rate. We can do everything online and its so much easier and quicker. I also like that I can just decide that day what we are having instead of planning everything in advance. They come out twice a year unannounced and once announced and all of the monitors in my area are friendly and helpful.
They don't ever look in our fridge or care about leftovers thank goodness. If they come and we haven't entered stuff in for a week we don't get paid for that week unless we have written what we served and who was here down somewhere.

[LaLa1923]

I'm on it. I went off for a while but went back on because its required to participate in Childnet and QRS. Those programs give me yearly grants that make it worthwhile.
I'm a level II so I don't get much of a reimbursement and I hate how they do that. Luckily a few if my clients qualify for the higher reimbursement rate. We can do everything online and its so much easier and quicker. I also like that I can just decide that day what we are having instead of planning everything in advance. They come out twice a year unannounced and once announced and all of the monitors in my area are friendly and helpful.
They don't ever look in our fridge or care about leftovers thank goodness. If they come and we haven't entered stuff in for a week we don't get paid for that week unless we have written what we served and who was here down somewhere.

You don't have to plan ahead? I thought you did have to in the food program. This would save me a lot of time.