Running Out Of Food, Too Many Snack Times

[laundrymom]

I only offer Bfast lunch and afternoon snack. If they say they are hungry, I give them water and tell them we will eat soon.

I do get the food program but they only cover 2 meals and 1 snack or 2 snacks and 1 meal. So 2 I always pay for out of pocket and I only get $15 - $20 per day per kid. with.

[Country Kids]

I serve every meal of the day plus 2 snacks.

Breakfast 8:00am

AM snack 10:00am

Lunch 12:00pm

PM snack 3:00pm

Dinner 5:00pm

I do get the food program but they only cover 2 meals and 1 snack or 2 snacks and 1 meal. So 2 I always pay for out of pocket and I only get $15 - $20 per day per kid. It is hard I know it.

As for snacks I try to keep the sugar out as well but I do make the muffins, banana bread, zuchini bread and such once or twice a week. We do fruit kebabs, apples and PB, ants on a log, veggies and ranch dip, fruit slices and yogurt, Hard boiled eggs, and some wraps. Maybe try to make snack time more fun for those who dont have an interest. Like use a cookie cutter to cut pineapple slices and let the kids cut shapes out of a PB& J sammy. Even the wraps u can leave flat and help the kids cut shapes out of the tortilla with cheese and turkey or whatever filling u may use. Try setting fruit and veggies out as a buffet style with dif yogurt choices, PB, Jelly, honey, anything that they can dip they have fun with.

Wow, Pitter Patter you must make a ton of money off the food program if they are paying 15-20 dollars per day per kid. Am I reading that right? If that is correct I would be making like $100 dollars a day on the food program. I get about 100 dollars a month per kid if I'm lucky and everything works out right.

[jessrlee]

Wow, Pitter Patter you must make a ton of money off the food program if they are paying 15-20 dollars per day per kid. Am I reading that right? If that is correct I would be making like $100 dollars a day on the food program. I get about 100 dollars a month per kid if I'm lucky and everything works out right.

I wonder if she means 1.50 or 2.00. For tier 1 you get .66 a snack, 1.27 for breakie, and 2.17 for lunch and dinner. I know tier 2 is a lot lower but I don't know the numbers.

[SilverSabre25]

I wonder if she means 1.50 or 2.00. For tier 1 you get .66 a snack, 1.27 for breakie, and 2.17 for lunch and dinner. I know tier 2 is a lot lower but I don't know the numbers.

I think she might be talking about how much she gets paid per kid, as in, her daily rate, not what the food program pays.

[CheekyChick]

We serve breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack.

Typical breakfast:
Cereal, fruit, milk.
French toast, fruit, milk.
Bagel or toast with spread (peanut butter or cream cheese), fruit, milk.

Typical lunch:
Sandwich, fruit, veggie, milk.
Grilled chicken, grain, fruit, veggie, milk.
Casserole, fruit, veggie, milk.
English muffin pizza, fruit, veggie, milk.

Typical snack:
String cheese, crackers, juice.
Peanut butter, crackers, juice.
Yogurt, graham crackers, juice.

My motto is: Keep it simple. Kids love simple.

[nannyde]

I want to be on Pitters Food Program.

I could just do neighborhood meals and not work.

[mrsp'slilpeeps]

We serve breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack.

Typical breakfast:
Cereal, fruit, milk.
French toast, fruit, milk.
Bagel or toast with spread (peanut butter or cream cheese), fruit, milk.

Typical lunch:
Sandwich, fruit, veggie, milk.
Grilled chicken, grain, fruit, veggie, milk.
Casserole, fruit, veggie, milk.
English muffin pizza, fruit, veggie, milk.

Typical snack:
String cheese, crackers, juice.
Peanut butter, crackers, juice.
Yogurt, graham crackers, juice.

My motto is: Keep it simple. Kids love simple.

Thanks for the ideas. they sound yummy

[Unregistered]

I have tryed the having access to fresh veggies and fruit all the time but "they dont like those".

They aren't hungry if they have time/energy to be choosy. Feed them what is reimbursed on the FP and nothing more. Don't offer crappy snacks like chips etc, that is a waste of your money and terrible for little kids to eat anyway. I would be mad if my provider offered that to my child while in care.

[CheekyChick]

Thanks for the ideas. they sound yummy

You're welcome.

[kidkair]

I couldn't do every two hour feedings. My kids wouldn't eat lunch if I did that. I do breakfast at eight thirtyish... lunch at eleven... snack at three fifteen

My kids eat very well like this. I think it's largely due to the fact we are outside every second that we can be and all the windows are wide open whenever possible so they get tons of fresh air and movement. They are up and down and all over inside and outside. I also am pretty strict with the food amounts at snack and there is absolutely no seconds on snacks so they get just enough to tide them over the next couple hours but in no way are they filled up. The only time I have issues with them eating is when they don't like the healthy food I give them. My 10 year old school ager is the worst about eating healthy and refuses to try new things and has even tried to get the other kids to not eat so I wouldn't serve it again. I just tell him eat or don't. With all the movement, outside time, and good food I give him he's actually come down to a healthier weight in the last month so there is no way I'm going to load him with junk. I compost whatever is not eaten because Duluth has a community compost that allows you to compost meat as well.

[momofboys]

They aren't hungry if they have time/energy to be choosy. Feed them what is reimbursed on the FP and nothing more. Don't offer crappy snacks like chips etc, that is a waste of your money and terrible for little kids to eat anyway. I would be mad if my provider offered that to my child while in care.

She already said there was no food program where she is located!

[PitterPatter]

Wow, Pitter Patter you must make a ton of money off the food program if they are paying 15-20 dollars per day per kid. Am I reading that right? If that is correct I would be making like $100 dollars a day on the food program. I get about 100 dollars a month per kid if I'm lucky and everything works out right.

LOL I wish!! No I meant I make $15 - $20 per day for child care service through the state. So by the time I spend all the extra in food it is hard to manage sometimes. I only get $5 per day MAX from food prog per kid. That's if I claim lunch, dinner and snack. Most of the kids aren't here for dinenr so I only get $4 per day or less for those children.

[kidkair]

They aren't hungry if they have time/energy to be choosy. Feed them what is reimbursed on the FP and nothing more. Don't offer crappy snacks like chips etc, that is a waste of your money and terrible for little kids to eat anyway. I would be mad if my provider offered that to my child while in care.

She already said there was no food program where she is located!

Just because she's not on the food program doesn't mean she can't follow it's guidelines. The food program is a good resource concerning portion control and how much of each group of food should be given.

I know a lot of people on here say that they provide a protein for every snack but I don't. I tend to make sure I give a grain and fruit or veggie for snacks because that fills me up more than protein and fruit or veggie does. I know I could do protein and grain but I want to get as many veggies into the kids as possible since fast food places tend to be heavy on protein and I know some of my kids get that crap too often. My kids never complain about hunger because they are satisfied and can go play knowing I'll be giving them more at lunch.

Someone mentioned that carrots are not filling and they are right. However you don't need to be full ever. Eating until we are full is wrong. We should eat until we are satisfied. When we eat until we are full we push more food into our bodies then our bodies need. I teach the kids portion control by serving strictly to the guidelines. I also teach them the each part of the meal is important. Lastly I teach that water makes a good filler to finish off the meal if the milk wasn't enough.

[rjskids]

Man! I've been learning a lot from this thread! When I started I wasn't planning on serving breakfast, just snacks and lunch. But I found myself making breakfast for the kids cause I'm hungry in the morning and want to eat! . So I never thought of cutting out the morning snack and now I think I may know why my kids don't eat lunch well...
But my question is this...For those of you who wait till 8:30 to serve breakfast, how early do your kids come? I have some kids come at 6:30 in the morning so I don't think I can wait that long to serve breakfast. I was always under the impression that we have to serve kids something to eat every 2 hours. Is that not right?

[nannyde]

Man! I've been learning a lot from this thread! When I started I wasn't planning on serving breakfast, just snacks and lunch. But I found myself making breakfast for the kids cause I'm hungry in the morning and want to eat! . So I never thought of cutting out the morning snack and now I think I may know why my kids don't eat lunch well...
But my question is this...For those of you who wait till 8:30 to serve breakfast, how early do your kids come? I have some kids come at 6:30 in the morning so I don't think I can wait that long to serve breakfast. I was always under the impression that we have to serve kids something to eat every 2 hours. Is that not right?

All you have to do is tell the parents that you serve breakfast at eight thirty. If their child needs to eat a meal before then then they of course will take care of it.

If you find that the kids are unable to wait until eight thirty to eat then just communicate that with the parents. Let them know that the child is saying they are hungry and acting hungry before breakfast. Tell them that every single time. Text them and let them know as it is happening and bring it up when they arrive for pick up.

As long as you let them know that whatever they are feeding in the morning is not keeping the child satisfied until you serve your first meal... then you should be fine.

I like doing a later breakfast. It allows the parents to have a meal with thier child in the morning before they come. Kids who have TIME and food with their parents before coming to day care ........ to me..... seem more settled and happy. It eliminates the "pull out of bed and throw them in the car seat" problem.

Some parents will solve it by giving them a cosmic brownie on the way to car. Just make sure that they understand that you don't do ANY breakfast until eight thirty...... that means that you don't prepare, serve, supervise, clean up.... NO breakfast until eight thirty. They can't bring in food that will require you to supervise or clean up. If they feed them on the way they need to completely clean them up before bringing them to the door and leave any leftovers in the car.