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The first few weeks at nursery are full of new experiences. New faces, new routines, new surroundings and of course new mealtimes to get used to.

For some children, it’s straight in with a happy appetite. For others, it can take a little longer to feel comfortable with unfamiliar foods and a new mealtime routine. They might watch their new friends, stick to foods they recognise or simply explore what’s on their plate before they’re ready to take a bite.

And that’s completely normal.

There’s no rush when it comes to helping children feel comfortable with food. Small steps count too – looking, touching, smelling and tasting are all part of learning.

A little helping hand for your team

We know there’s lots to think about when welcoming new starters, so we’ve created our Helping new starters settle into nursery mealtimes guide to give your early years team a little extra support.

Inside, you’ll find simple, practical guidance to help create calm, positive mealtimes, support children as they become familiar with your menu and recognise those little steps along the way.

Ready to tuck in?

The guide is free to download when you join our happy mealtimes club – a whole helping of exclusive resources to support happier, healthier mealtimes:

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The amount of fluid a child needs depends on factors such as their age, size, activity levels and the weather. The guidance below provides a general guide based on recommendations from the European Food Safety Authority:

How often should children have water during the day?

During hot weather, it's especially important to offer water regularly throughout the day and ensure it is easily accessible.

Breastfed babies do not usually need extra water, as breast milk naturally adapts during hot weather to provide more fluid. Formula-fed babies may benefit from additional water when temperatures rise.

For babies under 6 months, any water offered should be boiled and cooled. From 6 months onwards, freshly drawn tap water is suitable.

Some foods are also a good source of fluid such as fruits and vegetables, watermelon and cucumbers are a great example of this, also yoghurts, homemade ice lollies and dips such as tzatziki.

How can you tell if children are drinking enough?

Young children don't always recognise when they're thirsty, so regular reminders and easy access to drinks are important.

Signs of dehydration can include:
• Fewer wet nappies or less frequent urination
• Dark yellow urine (well-hydrated urine should be pale straw coloured)
• Dry lips or mouth
• Tiredness, irritability, confusion or unusual floppiness

Keep water within easy reach and encourage regular sips throughout the day.

If you notice that children seem less interested in food during a heatwave, you're not imagining it!

Hot weather naturally suppresses appetite. Digesting food creates heat within the body, so when temperatures rise, the body cleverly adapts by reducing hunger to help keep cool.

So what should you do?

Focus on hydration
Offer drinks regularly and make sure water is always within easy reach. Foods with a high water content can help too, such as fruit, vegetables, salads and yoghurt.

Don't panic
A few days of eating less is usually nothing to worry about as long as they are drinking well. Continue offering meals and snacks as normal and trust that their appetite will return when temperatures cool down.

Offer nutrient-dense foods little and often

Large meals can feel overwhelming in the heat. Instead, try lighter meals and snacks such as:
• Sandwich fingers
• Cucumber and carrot sticks with hummus or other dips
• Cheese slices
• Hard-boiled egg quarters
• Mini frittatas
• Wraps
• Watermelon, mango, pineapple or apple slices

 

 

Follow their appetite
Try not to pressure children to eat. Continue offering familiar foods and trust their hunger and fullness cues. Most children naturally make up for reduced intake once the hot weather passes.

Remember: less eating during a heatwave is usually normal. Staying hydrated is the priority ❤️

Salt is an essential nutrient, but in the UK, most of us, including young children, are consuming more than we need. In the early years, where eating habits are shaped for life, understanding and managing salt intake is an important part of supporting children’s long-term health.

Are children eating too much salt?
Across a wide range of studies, children under five consistently exceed recommended salt intakes. This excess salt isn’t usually due to adding salt during cooking or at the table. Instead, the majority of salt in children’s diets comes from everyday, commonly eaten foods such as:

This means that even when meals are prepared from scratch and no extra salt is added, it is still easy to exceed recommended limits.

Why does too much salt matter?
Excess salt intake in childhood has several important health implications:

The early years provide a critical window to shape children’s preferences. By keeping salt intake within recommended levels, we can support healthier outcomes both now and in the future.

Recommended salt intake for children

The recommended maximum daily salt intake varies by age:
0–12 months: less than 1g salt per day
1–3 years: maximum 2g per day
4–6 years: maximum 3g per day
7–10 years: maximum 5g per day
11+ years: maximum 6g per day

Thanks to national salt reduction initiatives, manufacturers have made gradual improvements in lowering salt levels in some products. However, as a population, we are still consuming too much salt overall.

One challenge is that our taste preferences adapt to what we regularly eat. Many adults, and children, become accustomed to salty foods, meaning lower-salt options can initially taste bland. The good news is that taste buds adjust quickly. With gradual changes, most people find they no longer miss the extra salt within a few weeks.

For young children, this is even more important. If they are not exposed to high levels of salt early on, they are less likely to develop a strong preference for salty foods later in life.

Practical tips for reducing salt
Supporting lower salt intake doesn’t mean compromising on flavour. Small, consistent changes can make a big difference:

Shaping habits for life

Eating habits are formed early. The foods children are exposed to in their first years influence not only what they eat now, but what they will choose in the future.

By keeping salt intake in check, prioritising minimally processed foods, and focusing on flavour from natural ingredients, early years settings can play a powerful role in shaping healthier generations.

Easter naturally brings increased exposure to foods such as chocolate and other sweet or celebration foods. If you are a parent struggling trying to navigate the extra chocolate with your little one this Easter, here are 5 ways to keep your cool and support your child’s relationship with food...

1. Remember, chocolate is just food! 

Try not to make it a reward or something to earn. Saying things like ‘you can have chocolate if you eat your dinner’ or ‘only if you’ve been good’ can make it more appealing in the eyes of the child.

2. Avoid overt restriction

Overt restriction means that your child is aware that the chocolate is there, but they are not allowed to have it. The more a child knows a food is off-limits, the more they want it. Instead let them enjoy the chocolate without a fuss, then carry on with your usual food routine.

3. Offer the chocolate alongside other foods

For example alongside a sandwich at lunch time or alongside fruit and cheese at snack time. This helps keep all foods on a level playing field andmoves the temptation to negotiate how much of the other foods should be eaten before the sweet stuff is allowed.  

4. Make celebrations about more than just sweets

Alongside chocolate at Easter include other fun foods such as sandwiches in the shape of a bunny or chick, fruit kebabs or hard-boiled eggs so children see that all foods can be part of the occasion.  

5. Zoom out and focus on the bigger picture
Easter is just a few days. What really matters is how your child eats most of the time. One weekend won’t undo a healthy balanced diet in the longterm. 

Last year, you might remember that we became official ‘keen bean promoters’ as part of the Food Foundation’s #BangInSomeBeans campaign. This year, we’re taking that commitment one step further.

We’re proud to have signed up as Gold Bean Pledgers, committing not only to deliver on the actions we already promised, but also to increase our sales of bean‑containing dishes by 75% by 2028.

Why?

Quite simply, beans are brilliant! And we want children to grow up enjoying them as a normal, tasty part of everyday meals.

The evidence is hard to ignore:

For us, this is about adding even more value to our menus. We will continue to offer a wide range of meat, fish and vegetarian dishes because variety and balance are at the heart of high‑quality early years food. But we also believe it’s our responsibility to respond to the evidence and offer food that is good for children’s health, good for the planet and genuinely enjoyable.

Our pledge is about confidence in the evidence, belief in the food we serve, and a commitment to supporting children’s health, both now and for the future.

Why early years matter

Early childhood is a critical window for shaping food preferences and eating habits. By introducing beans regularly during the early years, when children are developing their taste preferences and learning what foods are tasty and familiar, we help to:

Beans are not a ‘swap’ or a ‘replacement’. They are a positive addition that helps children experience variety while meeting their nutritional needs.

What do we mean by “beans”?

When we talk about beans as part of our Bean Pledge, we’re using the term broadly, in line with the campaign’s definition, to include beans, peas, lentils and chickpeas, foods that often sit under the umbrella of pulses.

This includes:

What makes beans so good for children?

Beans are rich in fibre, protein and key vitamins and minerals, making them a valuable food for growing children.

Fibre: Beans support healthy digestion and can help to prevent constipation. Fibre also feeds beneficial gut bacteria that support immune health. We know that most children do not get enough fibre in their diets, and beans are a simple, sustainable way to help close this gap.

Protein: Beans provide plant‑based protein, which is essential for growth, muscle development and tissue repair - particularly important during periods of rapid growth in early childhood.

Vitamins and Minerals: Beans contain important vitamins and minerals such as iron, which supports brain development, learning and concentration, and zinc, which plays a key role in immune function, wound healing and normal growth.

When beans are offered regularly, in a variety of child‑friendly ways, they help support children’s nutritional needs while also expanding their food experiences.

Our Bean Pledge:
Becoming a Bean Pledger reflects what we’ve always believed: early years food matters.

This pledge reinforces our mission to:

We’re excited to go bolder with beans! If we can help children love beans now, we’re helping to shape healthier futures for years to come.

January is a big month in the early years. New children are settling into nursery life, routines are finding their rhythm, and for many little ones, mealtimes can feel unfamiliar and sometimes a little overwhelming.

If you’re welcoming January starters right now, you might be seeing cautious or reluctant eaters, food refusal, or children who are still finding their confidence at the table. The good news? This is all completely normal, and with the right support, mealtimes can quickly become calmer, happier, and more positive for everyone involved.

At Nursery Kitchen, we believe mealtimes should feel calm, reassuring, and positive. Even when children don’t eat much, simply sitting with their peers, seeing familiar foods, and feeling safe at the table all play an important role in building confidence over time.

That’s why our Head of Nutrition and Policy, Catherine Lippe has created a practical, supportive resource to help nurseries navigate mealtimes with January starters and beyond.

Our free resource is packed with gentle, evidence-based strategies to help early years practitioners:

- Create calm, reassuring mealtimes

- Support children who feel unsure around food

- Encourage positive eating without pressure

- Build confidence and curiosity at the table

At Nursery Kitchen, supporting positive mealtimes is at the heart of everything we do. From freshly prepared, chilled meals to menus that meet (and often exceed) EYFS nutrition guidance, we're here to help nurseries feel confident and supported every day.

Download our resource to explore all seven tips and support children to feel safe, secure, and curious at the table... one mealtime at a time.

Download resource

If you work in the early years, you’ll understand better than most that food isn’t just fuel. It shapes children’s health, habits and food preferences from the very start. But with rising food and energy costs, balancing nutritious, varied food with tight budgets is placing increasing pressure on early years settings and on families too.

At Nursery Kitchen, we support our partners by sourcing high-quality ingredients at the best possible prices. Because we prepare food at scale, we’re able to offer nutritious, well-balanced meals at a price that would be hard to match if you were preparing the same dishes yourself. At the same time, we recognise that many of the challenges around food don’t stop at the nursery door. They often show up at home too, whether for staff or for the families you support.

This article shares some practical tips for healthy eating on a budget. The good news is that many of the most budget-friendly food habits are also the most sustainable, helping settings, staff and families reduce waste, save money and be a little kinder to the planet.

Reducing food waste
Planning meals and snacks around what’s already in the fridge, freezer and cupboards is one of the simplest ways to save money and cut waste. One of the benefits of Nursery Kitchen meals is that the planning and sourcing are taken care of for you. But for any food you source separately in your setting, and for food shopping at home, checking what you already have and writing a list before you shop can help prevent unnecessary purchases and forgotten food.

Food waste has a significant environmental impact, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and wasted natural resources. When feeding young children, a certain amount of waste is inevitable (there’s nothing more unpredictable than a toddler’s appetite!), but thoughtful planning can help reduce what’s avoidable.

Shopping habits that help budgets go further
Small changes to how and when we shop can make a real difference. Sticking to a list, avoiding shopping when hungry (we’ve all been there!), and choosing own-brand products where possible are all proven ways to reduce food bills without compromising on quality. Shopping little and often can lead to impulse buys, while a more planned approach helps keep costs predictable.

Buying seasonal fruit and vegetables, using loyalty schemes, and building meals around affordable staples like potatoes, pasta, rice, eggs and pulses as well as opting for tinned foods e.g. beans and fish or frozen e.g. meat and fish instead of fresh can also help stretch budgets further.

Utilise the freezer
Think of your freezer as a pause button. Freezing food helps it last longer, reduces waste and rarely affects nutritional quality. Portioning up leftovers and freezing them for another day is one of the easiest ways to stop good food ending up in the bin.

Many foods freeze well, including bread, milk, cheese, cooked rice and pasta, fruit, vegetables, pulses and even sandwiches. For families, batch cooking and freezing meals can save time, reduce energy use and make busy days easier by cooking once and eating twice.

If you’re ever stuck for ideas, the Love Food Hate Waste website [Food Waste Recipes | Foods & Recipes | LFHW] is a brilliant resource. You can search by ingredient and find recipes designed specifically to help make the most of leftovers.

Using food dates wisely
Did you know that an estimated 4.7 million tonnes of edible food is thrown away in the UK each year? Understanding food date labels is a key skill for saving money and reducing waste.

Best before dates relate to quality, not safety. They’re found on foods such as tinned, dried and frozen items. Food past its best before date may not be at its very best, but it’s usually still safe to eat if it looks, smells and tastes as expected. Best before dates are now often used on milk and some dairy products instead of use by dates to help reduce food waste.

Use by dates, however, are about safety and must always be followed. They apply to perishable foods that could cause food poisoning if eaten after the date, such as meat, fish and seafood. Even if food looks and smells fine, it must not be eaten beyond its use by date, as harmful bacteria may not be detectable. The good news is that food can be frozen right up to and including the use by date, so if you’re unlikely to use it in time, freezing can prevent waste and save money.

Check your fridge temperature
Keeping your fridge at the right temperature helps food stay fresher for longer, reducing waste and saving money. Ideally, fridges should be kept between 0–5 °C. When running at this temperature, some foods can last up to three days longer!

Many fridges are set too warm, and the internal dial doesn’t always reflect the actual temperature. Using a fridge thermometer is a simple, low-cost way to check. For the most accurate reading, place a thermometer in a glass of water in the fridge for a few hours and avoid opening the door.

A few other simple habits can also help:

These small changes can make a big difference to food freshness and safety.

Less meat more bean and pulses
Beans and pulses are not only nutritional powerhouses, but they are also one of the most effective ways to eat well on a budget while also reducing environmental impact. Affordable, tasty, filling and rich in fibre, protein and important micronutrients to support children’s growth and development, they work well in meals such as stews, curries and pasta sauces.

Using more beans doesn’t have to mean ditching meat altogether. Simply swapping some of the meat for beans or lentils in dishes like chillies, lasagnes or bolognese can help meals go further for less. Tinned beans work really well as they are quick and easy to prepare and don’t require soaking like dried beans do. Just be sure to opt for beans or pulses tinned in plain water and not salted water for young children.

Nursery Kitchen proudly supports the Bang in Some Beans campaign, which encourages adding beans and pulses into everyday meals. Compared with many animal-based proteins, beans require fewer resources to produce and generate lower greenhouse gas emissions making them a simple, practical step towards more sustainable eating and a brilliant source of nutrition for little ones. Naturally high in fibre and plant-based protein, beans are a great source of nutrients such as potassium, magnesium, iron and zinc and they even count as one of your 5-a-day – it’s a win, win, win for nutrition, the planet and the purse!

Everyday actions create lasting impact
Early years professionals are powerful role models. The habits you build at home such as reducing waste, shopping mindfully, storing food well and choosing sustainable, nutrient-dense ingredients, can reinforce the values you promote in early years settings and help shape a healthier, more sustainable food future for children.

At Nursery Kitchen, we’re proud to support settings with food that’s nutritious, balanced and sustainably minded and to stand alongside the early years workforce and families as they navigate the realities of feeding children well in challenging times.

As we mark Sugar Awareness Week 2025, this year, Action on Salt and Sugar are shining a spotlight on the urgent need for stronger food and nutrition policies that prioritise health and make it easier for families to choose healthier options.

At Nursery Kitchen, we fully support this call to action. We know that children’s early food experiences shape their long-term eating habits, and the food environment around them plays a huge role in that. Hidden sugars, confusing labelling, and halo marketing claims make it far too easy for children to consume more sugar than recommended often without parents or early years professionals realising.

Advocating for change: our CPPG report on early years nutrition
Earlier this year, we, alongside Action on Salt and Sugar, and other professionals contributed to the Cross-Party Parliamentary Group (CPPG) report on Early Years Nutrition – Settings the Standards for Change. The report made a series of strong recommendations to government and policymakers, including clearer food labelling, stronger regulation around marketing to children, and the extension of free school meals to early years settings, all aimed at building a food environment that truly supports children’s health.

This year’s Sugar Awareness Week perfectly reinforces that message: to improve outcomes for young children, we must access to good food easier by ensuring that transparency, not confusion, guides every label, product, and policy decision.

The reality of sugar in children’s diets
On average, children in the UK consume around three times more sugar than is recommended. The consequences of this are stark with rates of tooth decay, childhood obesity, and diet-related illness on the rise. Last financial year alone, tooth extraction under general anaesthetic in children cost the NHS £74.8 million, a shocking reminder of the impact of high-sugar diets on young lives and our health system.

According to the most recent National Diet and Nutrition Survey, most of the added sugars in children’s diets come from foods such as buns, cakes, pastries, fruit pies, sweet biscuits, breakfast cereals, sugar-sweetened drinks, smoothies, and fruit juices. These foods and drinks are often marketed directly to families with ambiguous labelling meaning families are often not aware of their hidden sugar content.

Our commitment to establishing healthy habits early
At Nursery Kitchen, we believe in setting the highest standards for children’s food. We take our role in shaping children’s health seriously and are proud to go beyond existing guidelines in many areas of nutrition but especially in reducing free sugars across all our menus.

Our approach includes:

We also work closely with our nursery partners to consider how children experience, learn and talk about food. Through our training and tailored resources, we support early years practitioners to reflect on how their language, approach, and wider food environment shapes children’s attitudes towards eating, not just what children eat, but how they feel about food and mealtimes.

Shaping healthier futures together
Our commitment goes beyond the food we provide. We support the wider movement calling for clearer labelling, stronger policy, and a fairer food system that makes the healthy choice the easy choice.

This Sugar Awareness Week, we stand alongside Action on Salt and Sugar, and all those working to improve the nation’s food environment. Together, we can help ensure that every child has the best possible start in life, one that’s shaped by nourishing food, honest information, and a culture that values health above all else.

Why Nursery Kitchen supports the #BangInSomeBeans campaign

At Nursery Kitchen, we’re delighted to announce that we are officially ‘Keen Bean Promoters’! We are supporting @The Food Foundation’s #BangInSomeBeans campaign because we want to see a UK where everyone is inspired to enjoy, cook with, and eat more beans.

By including beans in delicious and varied ways across our menus, we’re already helping children, families, and early years settings make beans an easy and appealing choice. But now, as official ‘Kean Bean Promoters’, we have set ourselves some ambitious SMART targets to help reach the Food Foundation’s target of doubling UK bean consumption by 2028!

Our SMART targets are focused on increasing the familiarity of beans, creating and sharing parent-friendly bean recipes, engaging and inspiring early years professionals and enhancing our menu development with exciting bean-based options.

Building bean lovers from the start
Early childhood is the perfect time to explore new tastes and textures. By introducing beans during these formative years, we help children build familiarity and acceptance, laying the foundations for healthy eating habits that last a lifetime. If we want to see a nation that loves beans, it makes sense to start young and nurture that enjoyment from the very beginning.

Why we’re all better off with beans
Beans are a brilliant addition to children’s diets for so many reasons:

Beans on the Nursery Kitchen menu
We’re already big bean champions! Here’s how we use beans across our dishes and menus:

Across our sample menus, we offer between 6-9 child portions of beans each week, featuring a variety of 6-8 different bean types, from kidney beans and chickpeas to lentils and butter beans.

Our commitment
We’re proud to support the #BangInSomeBeans campaign and play our part in inspiring the next generation of healthy, adventurous eaters. By introducing beans in fun and familiar ways, we’re helping children discover that everyone really is better off with beans!

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