At Learn and Laugh we take great pride in the fact that all our menus are planned by our qualified cooks and all our meals are freshly made on the premises of each centre.
Our wonderful cooks attend ongoing professional development days each year. They have also attended many workshops including exciting culturally specific workshops to learn more about specific styles of cooking.
* Photos from a recent workshop, which was also a great way for our cooks to all come together and share their passion for cooking.
Our kitchens are set up to keep up with the food handling and safety requirements.
* Separate trays for processing meat, fruit etc.
Our menus include Breakfast, Morning Tea, Lunch , Afternoon Tea and a late snack, which ensures all children are provided with more than half of their daily nutrition requirements.
We use a variety of resources to plan our weekly menus with the right balance of nutrition that children in long day care need for optimal growth and development. (see list of resources below) Therefore, making it worry free for families who work long hours.
Our cooks plan seasonal menus, taking into consideration the children’s favourites, this is gathered by talking to the children each day at meal times. We also offer a variety of meals to expose the children to different tastes, textures and cultures.
* Lunch menu during Chinese New Year.
We ensure that the food provided is chosen having regard to the dietary requirements of individual children taking into account any specific cultural, religious or health requirements, such as allergies and special intolerances.
* Each food cart has an alert chart for Allergies
*An example of a separate portion for a child with special dietary requirement
When possible we aim to use the fresh produce from our gardens as much as we can, like any herbs and vegetables that are in season. The children and educators work hard to grow vegetables and love to watch and document the process right up to when it is cooked and finally eaten. Yum Yum!!
We are strong believers in building strong relationships with our Learn and Laugh families and the local communities. In our Hornsby centre, one of our lovely Grandparents kindly stops by to share his wonderful harvest with us. In this photo he is delivering a huge bucketful of sweet potatoes to Chrissy.
The senior preschoolers worked together to scrub the potatoes clean ready for Chrissy to whip up some delicious nutritious treats.
Many parents often ask us “what is for lunch today?” Claiming that their children eat better than they do!
We are so very proud of the commitment and dedication of our cooks and educators who understand how important nutrition is for all of us.
A list of resources used:
- Caring for Children- Birth to 5 years
https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/heal/Pages/caring-for-children-manual.aspx
- Feed Australia – A Department of Health Initiative
https://www.feedaustralia.org.au/
- Munch and Move – An initiative from Healthy Kids Get Active NSW
https://www.healthykids.nsw.gov.au/campaigns-programs/about-munch-move.aspx
