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:

• Nutritious: 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.
• Planet-friendly: Beans have a low environmental footprint and help support healthy soils and biodiversity through their natural growing properties.
• Versatile and delicious: From lentils in our lasagne to chickpeas in curries, beans feature in cuisines around the world and can be enjoyed in a wide range of dishes children already love.

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

• 69% of all Nursery Kitchen dishes contain beans
• 52% of our meat and fish dishes include beans alongside animal protein (think lasagne, cottage pie, moussaka, bolognese, chilli con carne, chicken fajitas and curries)
• 77% of our vegetarian and vegan dishes contain beans

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!