Given what we know about the links between living with obesity in childhood and adulthood, it has never been more important to ensure children are provided with access to a nutritious food provision

In doing so, you can build children’s understanding of the importance of healthier choices, which will support their development now and in the future.

One of the requirements of the EYFS, is for the provision of healthier, balanced and nutritious food and drink. It stresses the importance of providing access to healthier food, allowing children to have a balanced diet.

Are there any guidelines for early years setting to follow when menu planning?

Yes, the Eat Better Start Better (EBSB) are the voluntary food and drink guidelines for early years settings, here in the UK. The Department for Education recommend following the EBSB guidelines to support your setting to meet the EYFS requirements for the provision of healthy, balanced and nutritious food and drink.

Top tips for planning meals and snacks in your early years setting

The early years are a key time to encourage children to learn about food, eat well and set the foundations for their future health and well-being. Eating well in the early years has a number of benefits to children’s health and well-being, by influencing:

• Growth (providing them with the correct amount of energy and nutrients)
• Development (physical and emotional) and
• Academic achievement in later life (children are better able to concentrate and learn).

As childcare providers, you are supplying an increasing proportion of the food eaten by children in your care. Your food and drink provision provides a great opportunity to support children to have a positive and enjoyable experience at mealtimes. Your setting can achieve this by:

• Planning your menus against the EBSB guidelines to support children to achieve their nutrient requirements
• Planning your menus over a number of weeks to ensure the foods on offer are balanced and varied. A menu covering between two and four weeks will provide children with lots of dietary variety and keep them interested and excited about the foods on offer.

Including a variety of foods, tastes, textures and colours in your setting menus will help to keep your dishes looking interesting and appealing

• Catering for the cultural and dietary needs of all children and talking to families about how you can meet their child’s dietary needs
• Introducing a new menu cycle, at least twice a year, will mean that children are exposed to new foods, tastes, and textures throughout the year. It allows you to incorporates seasonality into your menus and teach children about foods in season
• Sharing your menus with families will help them to know what food their children has been offered. You can achieve this by displaying your menus at reception, emailing a copy to families and by inviting families to try new dishes
• Developing a Food Policy to reflect your food and drink provision, eating environment, learning about food and management of special dietary requirements.

Take a look at our example summer menu for lots of recipe ideas https://www.earlystartgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Example-Spring-Summer-Menu-1.pdf

Menu planning support

Here at Early Start Nutrition, we’ve developed Menu Planning training to support your setting to meet the EYFS requirement for the provision of healthier, balanced and nutritious food and drink. Our training has supported early years settings to have an understanding of:

• The importance of producing nutritious menus in your early years setting
• The EBSB food and drink guidelines and recommendations
• How to read food labels
• What information to include on your menus
• How to caters for special dietary requirements- including vegetarian, allergies and cultural and religious requirements
• Ideas to celebrate birthdays and special occasions in your setting
• How to create a positive mealtime environment.

Book Menu Planning training today: https://www.earlystartgroup.com/product/oral-health-promotion/

Book a Menu Review and receive the Early Start nutrition ‘Menu Approved’ logo to ensure your menus meet children’s nutrition requirements https://www.earlystartgroup.com/nutrition/nursery-menu-review/

Contact our team of expert nutritionist today to find out how we can support you: [email protected] or visit our website to find out about our full range of training: https://www.earlystartgroup.com/online-courses/