Massaman potatoes with kachumber salad, broccoli and celeriac stroganoff, or murgh kari (chicken curry) and naan bread are dishes likely considered more at home on a fancy restaurant’s menu than a nursery’s meal plan. But these are just some of the lunches that the children attending The Old Forge Day Nursery in Findern, Derbyshire enjoy, along with more familiar meals including fish pie with carrots and beef chilli con carne.
Exploring and being exposed to a wide variety of flavours and ingredients is regarded as an important part of the children’s learning at the nursery, which won the Nursery Food Award at the Nursery WorldAwards 2024. Catering manager Kate Cresswell (right), who creates the menus and recipes and oversees the catering at The Old Forge along with The Den Nursery Group’s other two settings, believes that by introducing a variety of foods at a young age, children are more likely to grow up willing to try and enjoy an extensive assortment of meals throughout their lives.
‘We’re giving them the building blocks for the future and I’m really passionate that as children grow older and they go out with their friends, they’ll know what different foods are and have the courage to continue trying new things,’ she says.
International foods are regularly included on the menu. Kate asks parents, who she regards as her ‘best resource’, for their meal suggestions so she can include dishes that are authentic to different cultures. This helps children and their families to feel included and supports children in their appreciation of different cultures in a tangible way, while expanding their understanding of the world. For example, Kate liaised with a mother who is Jewish to create a Passover meal, and a Chinese staff member showed how to make zongzi – sticky rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo to form a pyramid – traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival.
VARIETY
‘We use a lot of pulses and grains along with superfoods such as kale and spinach,’ says Kate. A seasonal 16-day rolling menu ensures part-time children have the opportunity to experience all of the dishes, regardless of the days they attend.
The nursery aims to go beyond the Early Years Guidelines at every meal. Kate uses The Eatwell Guide (https://bit.ly/3ZGtZAX) as a tool to confirm that children are being served a balanced diet. Instead of always serving meat, the nursery offers a lot of vegetarian and vegan meals, so care is taken to include a variety of protein-rich foods such as lentils, soy products such as tofu, and dried beans. Whole grains are regularly provided, including wholemeal flour, rice and bread. Menus also include oily fish, which is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids essential for growth and development – such as a tea of mackerel paté with oatcakes and cucumber slices.
Dessert is eaten at lunchtime and provides more fruit and even vegetables, for example, sweet potato cookies and carrot, and flax seed muffins. Fresh fruit is always offered at tea time along with whole milk or an oat or soya alternative.
Some children only attend for the afternoon and Kate wants to make sure they have a ‘complete meal’, rather than a simple sandwich. ‘Many days, especially in winter, we have hot teas and serve really good, hearty soups with lots of vegetables,’ she says. Cullen skink – a Scottish soup made from smoked haddock, potatoes and onions – is a favourite.
FRESH IS BEST
The vast majority of the food served is made fresh from raw ingredients by the nursery cooks, rather than resorting to jars of pasta sauce and other processed foods. This means they can control what is added, such as not using salt and avoiding preservatives and additives. ‘All our puddings are sweetened with fruit and vegetables, only a small amount of sugar is added to taste,’ says Kate. ‘We only use organic coconut sugar, unrefined sugars, agave nectar and honey.’ She is also committed to using low-saturated fats with lean meats and fish being grilled, baked, poached or steamed.
Care is taken to be sustainable with the ingredients wherever possible. They have seasonal menus and source meat from a local butcher – which is free from added hormones and antibiotics – and eggs from a free-range farm to reduce food miles and packaging along with maintaining freshness and quality.
Children are supported to understand where food comes from by helping to plant seeds and grow vegetables in the nursery garden. They also help to prepare some of the food, even making garlic bread and cooking it on an outdoor fire. This year, staff plan to grow their own wheat and use a hand-operated mill to grind it into flour.
For children with intolerances and other dietary requirements, chefs provide dishes that resemble what the other children are eating.
MEANINGFUL MEALS
Children have a short meditation session before mealtimes to help calm them before they sit at the table. This helps mealtimes to be an enjoyable and positive experience. ‘Staff will always sit at the table with the children, eat alongside them and chat,’ says Kate. ‘We see that as an essential part of our ethos because we want mealtimes to be social.’
Conversations during mealtimes include staff asking the children what foods they can identify, talking about where they come from and why they are good for them – such as dairy being good for their growing bones.
WORKING WITH PARENTS
‘It’s essential to also have lots of communication with parents around food,’ says Kate. She promotes to parents the importance that a varied diet plays in children’s bodies and minds growing strong and healthy. She also explains how she combines food types in the recipes to complement and maximise the absorption of the nutrients within that meal.
The menu is published for parents and includes icons so that they can easily see some of the benefits of the foods their children are consuming that day. ‘We are dedicated to helping parents give their children the best nutritional start,’ says Kate. ‘Once parents understand our food philosophy they then embrace it.’
On the menu – the first five days of The Old Forge’s autumn/winter menu
Day 1
Lunch: Chicken with homemade pesto (nut-free), pasta and peas or pesto, pasta, tofu and peas
Dessert: Beetroot brownie
Tea: Thick winter vegetable and whole grains broth
Allergens: wheat, dairy, soya, gluten.
Supports: brain, bones, blood, heart
Day 2
Lunch: Yellow dhal curry with pol sambol
Dessert: Fruit and Greek-style yoghurt
Tea: Chicken or vegetable noodle pot
Allergens: dairy, wheat
Supports: eyes, bones, brain
Day 3
Lunch: Beef or vegetable and barley goulash with cabbage
Dessert: Banana and avocado cream
Tea: Cheese, lettuce, gherkin and salad cream wraps
Allergens: dairy, gluten
Supports: muscles, bones
Day 4
Lunch: Ratatouille and jacket potatoes
Dessert: Plum cake
Tea: Crumpets, cheese and carrot batons
Allergens: dairy, wheat
Supports: bones, eyes
Day 5
Lunch: Thai fish or vegetable curry
Dessert: Fruit trifle
Tea: Homemade baked beans with bread
Allergens: fish, dairy, wheat
Supports: brain, heart
