Daycare lunches... trigger food!
 

I run a family daycare. I provide healthy and nutritious snacks and parents send lunches for their kids. Oftentimes they are NOT healthy (or as healthy as I would like them to be) but it's THEIR children.... so what can I say?

Well today one of the girls mom send homemade chicken pot pie and sent ME a portion. Goodness. I LOVE pastry pies. Love them. Love them with a love that is completely unwholey.

So I thought "well that's fine... I'll just eat 1/2 of THIS instead of what I was going to eat! No problems!!!" and I take one bite. And it's soooo good. And another bite... 5 bites in and I realize that I WILL eat the entire thing and it's like 600 freaking calories and I DON'T NEED IT! So I chucked it out. Gone. I logged my five "just a bites" (they were smallish bites) changed around my meal plan, eliminated the yogurt and one laughing cow wedge I was going to have with lunch and carried on.

But you know what? I think I am going to start including lunch with daycare fee's. These kids bringing pizza, chicken nuggets, NUTELLA sandwiches etc into my daycare is really really bothering me.

Sigh.

Just a vent ;)

It's worth a shot, but you might find some parents object. Or worse, you'll end up catering to a bunch of kids who won't eat what you make. You would think nowadays people would appreciate their child getting a healthy nutritious lunch, but people always surprise me. One suggestion before you do, send some type of questionnaire to the parents, specifically asking about food allergies (and things that the child won't eat). For example - as a child, no matter what you did I wouldn't eat dairy products (still don't much), as they upset me.

I do think that it's a wonderful idea, so I hope you get it started!

My son's daycare provides fairly nutritious lunches including fruits, veggies, dairy and generally lean meats so I would not be the type to object as my son eats anything (2 years old and the boy loves spinach).

However, I have a friend who takes her son to a daycare that does not provide meals so parents are responsible. She told me she sees some kids "lunches" and it's left over pizza, Taco Bell, Crustables (yuck, taste nasty anyway) and just the worst of the worst. She even saw a half eaten bar of chocolate in there.

If you have to increase the weekly cost, (which is likely to cover your overhead) some will object and probably leave. But, on the flipside, that spot might be filled with some busy working mom who just does not have the time to make lunches every day for her child and will really appreciate your concern for their child's health.

Good luck with the decision.

Gosh that was nice of the mom to do. And that sound marvelously tasty too, I guess this is one of my ex-comfort foods. I can see where the whole lunch thing would be a pretty tricky question with you on a strick plan and some kids with tempting stuff and other kids that aren't getting good lunches from their folks. Congratulations to you for such an amazing weight loss under kinda complicated circumstances.

I too LOVE foods like chicken and meat (as opposed to desserts) cooked in any type of pastry dough. And chicken pot pie is one of my favs. Check out the nutrition label on Peppridge Farm Pastry sheets and I think you'll be cured (at least semi-cured anyway). The calories and fat content is ENORMOUS. Just not worth it.

The year I was losing, I had to make those type foods completely off limits. I banned them. And it's one of the few things that I've yet to add back in even as a once in a while splurge. I just can't get past the calorie content. So even if I DID decide to have it as a splurge, it's not as pleasurable for me as it once was. Too high a calorie consequence to pay and therefore I just don't derive the same enjoyment from it. Hard to believe, but true.

I ran a child care business out of my home for 20 years and I did provide healthy lunches because I found it much easier than trying to give a bunch of kids different things. I never liked it when a parent would send something for little Johnny and all the other little tykes would balk that they weren't getting the same for their lunch. You might try using consistency as a reason to get parents to let you prepare lunch. It is also cool I found out to request foods be brought and donated to the group and not just for their kid.

I totally agree with pita!