On 21st February 2025, the Department for Education (DfE) released updated guidance on delivering funded childcare hours, aiming to ensure no family is ‘priced out of the support they need.’ This involved re-stating the fact that early years settings can continue to charge for meals, but these charges must remain optional.

So what does this mean for food and nutrition at nursery? It is possible that some nurseries may find they receive more requests from families wanting to bring packed food from home. Offering families flexibility is important, but this policy update means settings now face the challenge of:

• Supporting families who wish to bring food for nursery from home, with little to no support or training to guide this process.
• Encouraging healthy eating and ensuring compliance with the new early years nutrition guidelines.

Why Nursery Meals Matter

Food from home might offer flexibility for families, but meals provided at nursery remain a crucial part of the picture, especially under the new early years nutrition guidance, which comes into place in September. Shared nursery meals deliver many benefits such as:

• Balanced and consistent nutrition - at Nursery Kitchen our menus are carefully planned to meet children’s nutritional needs, in line with the latest guidance. Our healthy meals help to support growth, development and concentration for learning and play.
• Improved food safety - we follow strict food safety standards from sourcing to handling and storing food. You can be sure that every effort is taken to ensure our nursery meals are safe for children, and we have the SALSA accreditation to prove it!
• Allergy controls - from ingredient procurement to production and packing, we have clear and robust processes for managing allergens and reducing the risk of cross contamination. These include a full ‘allergen clean-down’ after preparing foods which contain one of the main 14 allergens.
• Sociable eating experiences - shared mealtimes in childcare settings encourage children to interact with peers and practitioners. This helps to develop social skills, communication and positive attitudes towards food.
• Exposure to new foods - nursery meals give children opportunities to try a wide variety of flavours, ingredients and dishes that they might not otherwise come across at home. This includes foods from different cultures, supporting both diversity and inclusion as well as the development of adventurous eating habits.
• Fun learning opportunities - our ‘lunch and learn’ and ‘cultural capital’ events turn mealtimes into engaging experiences, linking food to wider learning about seasons, celebrations, countries, language and more.

Children are always at the heart of what we do, and our concern is that an increase in packed lunches could incur certain risks:

• Nutrition gaps - evidence shows packed lunches are often less varied and can be higher in fat, sugar and salt than nursery meals.
• Health inequalities - families on lower incomes may struggle to provide diverse, balanced lunchboxes, which could widen existing health gaps.
• Limited food exposure - children bringing packed lunches may miss out on trying new foods they wouldn’t encounter at home, which can impact long-term food preferences and eating habits.
• Food safety risks - not all settings have suitable chilled storage for lunchboxes, which raises food safety concerns.
• Policy dilemmas - many of you tell us how hard it is to manage packed-lunch policies sensitively, particularly when cost is an issue for parents.

These issues become even more significant when viewed alongside the new EYFS framework, which places higher expectations on the nutritional quality of food at nursery.

How Nursery Kitchen Supports You

At Nursery Kitchen, we’re here to help you navigate these changes and continue delivering the best possible mealtime experiences.

By outsourcing your food provision to us, you can rest assured that we are taking care of:

• Consistent nutritional quality - our meals are designed to meet the new EYFS nutrition guidance, so you can feel confident in your compliance and even opt-in for our nutritionist approved menu accreditation to help you evidence this.
• Safe and allergen-aware food preparation - our SALSA accredited kitchen means our food safety inspections exceed the minimum required by law. In addition, we ensure that potential allergens are always managed with expertise and care.
• Operational ease - we handle menu planning, shopping and cooking, freeing your team to focus on what they do best – caring for children.
• Calmer mealtimes - we support a positive, relaxed atmosphere at mealtimes, which encourages every child’s enjoyment of food.
• Lunch Box Policy - our new example Lunch Box Policy, available to our nursery partners, is designed to support you in promoting the importance of balanced, nutritious meals in line with the updated EYFS nutrition guidance. It provides clear, positive messaging around the benefits of nursery meals whilst also offering practical guidance for families who do choose to bring food from home.
• Food and nutrition education - we offer a wide range of webinars, workshops and downloadable resources for staff and families, covering everything from weaning and allergies to food refusal and where food comes from. These are designed by nutrition and early years professionals to build confidence, support informed choices and create a consistent, positive food culture across your nursery.

We’re proud to work alongside you in delivering nutritious, varied meals that help children build lifelong healthy relationships with food, even as the policy landscape changes.

Become a partner

If you’d like to discuss how these updates might affect your nursery, or how we can support you further, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Contact us