31/10/2024
⭐Tea recommendations for early years settings⭐
🍽In today’s post we’re sharing recommendations around planning TEA to meet the EBSB guidelines:
✅Each tea should include a main course & dessert each day
✅Provide a starchy food as part of tea each day & be sure to provide at least three different types each week, such as pitta bread, potato, couscous
✅Provide vegetables and/or fruit as part of tea each & be sure to provide a variety across the week, such as pepper sticks, cucumber fingers, mashed banana
✅Provide protein foods as part of tea each day, such as baked bean, chicken, tuna
✅It’s best practice to provide three portions of milk & dairy foods each day, & one of these can be as part of tea, such as grated cheese, yoghurt
✅Provide only fresh tap water & plain milk for children to drink.
Tips:
📝Be clear on what’s included in each dish. For example, instead of ‘vegetable curry’, you could say ‘lentil curry with butternut squash, aubergine, peas & tomatoes, with brown rice’
⭐Mealtimes are a great time to involve children in the preparing, cooking & serving of the food (where appropriate). For example, they can help to chop vegetables, set the table & serve elements of the meal themselves
⭐Talk to families about the timing of tea so that they can plan their child’s routine at home in the evening
We've lots of support to help you meet these guidelines:
➡️Our online Menu Planning training explores topics including how to: develop and review your menus to meet the EBSB guidelines, cater for special dietary requirements, support children at mealtimes & create an encouraging dining environment
➡️Menu Review- have your menu reviewed by our team of expert registered nutritionists, who will provide recommendations & suggestions to help you update your menu to bring it in-line with the guidelines
➡️Blog- Menu Planning FAQ’s & Common Pitfalls
➡️Example menus- to provide tea ideas & menu inspiration.
➡️Access the support resources here- https://linktr.ee/earlystartnutrition
🌟Photo credit- food images by First Steps Nutrition