Learn the difference between picky eating and problem feeding and what might really be going on for the child.

Our mushroom barley risotto is a warm and comforting dish made with soft pearl barley, gentle mushrooms, and butterbeans, all cooked together in a creamy, cheesy sauce. Serve with peas and broccoli and it’s a nourishing meal that’s perfect for happy little tummies.

What do we love about our mushroom barley risotto?

With its soft, creamy texture alongside tender grains and blended beans this dish is easy satisfying for all ages. Pearl barley and butterbeans provide a natural source of fibre and plant base protein, while mushrooms, onions, and herbs contribute important vitamins and minerals. The milk, crème fraîche, and cheese also provide calcium, supporting strong bones and teeth for growing children.

Ingredients

- oil

- red onion

- mushrooms

- rosemary leaves

- thyme leaves

- pearl barley

- water

- milk

- butterbeans

- dried porcini

- nutritional yeast

- black pepper

- Italian cheese

- creme fraiche

- lemon juice

Download the full recipe, HERE.

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

While summer days may be more relaxed, maintaining some structure around food and snack times can help reduce stress for both parents and children.

Snacks provide a useful top up of nutrients and energy for young children but, without a consistent approach, frequent grazing can reduce appetite for main meals and make it more difficult for children to recognise and respond to their natural hunger and fullness cues.

Strategies to Support a Snack-Time Routine

A helpful principle to guide feeding is to remember that the parent or carer’s role is to decide what food is offered and when. The child’s job is to decide if and how much they wish to eat from what is offered.

Setting boundaries around snack times doesn’t mean you are restricting food, it means you are helping your child understand what to expect.

To help establish a consistent approach to snacks, consider the following:

• Use visual aids, like flashcards or a written schedule, to show when meals and snacks happen.
• Display the routine somewhere visible so your child can check what’s next.

If your child asks for food outside of snack times, you could say:

• “It’s not snack time right now, it’s playtime, snack time is coming soon, I’ll let you know when.”
• “Let’s check the plan together. We’ll have a snack after we come back from the park.”

Consistency is key. It might take a few days, but children usually adapt well to new routines and benefit from the structure.

Responding to Snack Requests

Snack requests often arise from factors other than hunger, such as boredom, excitement, or the influence of peers. Rather than responding with a firm “no,” using responsive feeding strategies can help maintain structure while also supporting your child’s relationship with food.

Here are some practical examples:

Scenario: You’re having a picnic and your child spots the ice cream van

Child: “Can I have an ice cream?”

Possible responses:

• “Yes, we can have ice cream. Let’s play and enjoy our picnic first, then we’ll get one on our way home.”
• “You had an ice cream yesterday. Your tummy needs lots of different foods to help keep you strong. If you’re hungry now, let’s have our picnic, we have lots of refreshing foods like watermelon or yoghurt.”
• “Ice cream isn’t on our menu for today, but we can think about a good day this week to have one. We’ll be here again on Thursday shall we put it on the menu for Thursday?”

Scenario: Your child spots their friend eating something they want

Child: “My friend has crisps. I want a crisps too!”

Possible responses:

• “Those do look tasty. We’ve brought some other crunchy things to try today, want to help me open the snack box?”
• “That isn’t our food. We’re sticking with what we packed today, but next time we can bring some crisps too.”
• “It’s so kind of your friend to share their crisps with you. Thank you! We can share some of our snacks too in return.

When Routine Doesn’t go to Plan

Life happens, especially during holidays. Some days, routines are impossible, and your child may graze on snacks all day or may be offered foods you wouldn’t normally choose. If this happens, try not to worry.

Instead, adjust your expectations around meals and consider the bigger picture of your child’s overall dietary pattern. If they have snacked all afternoon, they may not be hungry for dinner and that’s OK. If they’ve enjoyed more ice creams that usual with friends or family, try to focus on the positives they’ve gained from those shared experiences and remember that you can work on creating balance in the long term.

Instead of focusing on a single meal or food choice, reflect on the variety and balance of your child’s intake across the whole day, week or longer. One day of more flexible eating is unlikely to have a lasting impact, particularly if a supportive routine is re-established in the days and weeks that follow.

Key principles to keep in mind

When navigating snack requests, especially when they seem constant, these principles may help:

• Acknowledge your child’s feelings and respond with empathy.
• Maintain a consistent routine where possible, so your child knows what to expect.
• Avoid labelling foods as “good” or “bad”, which can create shame or guilt.
• Limit less nutritious foods gradually and without making them forbidden. Forbidding or overtly restricting certain foods can increase their appeal and make them more desirable in the eyes of the child.
• Reinforce the idea that all foods can be enjoyed, and that our bodies benefit from a wide variety of foods.

Remember…

Summer snack requests can feel relentless, but with structure, consistency, and some handy phrases in your back pocket, you can handle them confidently and help your child develop long term habits that support health, wellbeing and a positive relationship with food.

Peas might be small, but they’re bursting with nutrition!

It’s Great British Pea Week – the perfect time to celebrate one of the UK’s most underrated nutritional powerhouses! These little green gems might be small, but they’re packed with goodness and play a big role in supporting children's health and well-being. Let’s take a closer look at why peas deserve a proud place on every plate.

Pea facts 

• Peas belong to the legume family, just like lentils, chickpeas, and beans?
• Most British peas go from field to frozen in under 2.5 hours! This super-speedy process locks in nutrients and freshness, which is why frozen peas are just as nutritious as fresh ones (and often even fresher!)

Pea nutrition

Naturally sweet and easy to enjoy, peas are a great source of plant-based protein, fibre, and essential vitamins and minerals including vitamin C, iron, and folate.

For children, peas support immune health, growth and development, and help keep digestion running smoothly. Their protein and fibre combo also helps keep little tummies full and energy levels steady. Plus, peas count towards your child’s 5-a-day and offer a valuable plant point, making them an easy win when aiming for more variety and balance in the diet.

Whether blended into sauces or dips, stirred into pasta, or simply served on the side, peas are a versatile, child-friendly veggie that deserves the spotlight this Great British Pea Week!

So, this Great British Pea Week, let’s give peas the praise they deserve! Nutritious, convenient, and loved by children, they’re a simple yet powerful way to boost mealtime variety and nutrition. Peas prove that good things really do come in small packages.

Why not try out our award winning pea & paneer curry recipe which will go down a hit with all the family! Download HERE.

With recent guidance from the Department for Education (DfE), nurseries now have greater flexibility when it comes to meal provision, allowing them to set their own policies on whether to charge for meals, allow packed lunches, or reduce costs for families.

But what does this mean for children’s nutrition and overall wellbeing? Our Early Years Nutritionist, Catherine Lippe, shares her views on the impact of this change and highlights the benefits of nurseries working with specialist early years caterers.

Read the full Connect Childcare blog, HERE.