Nutrition and Meal Service at Basic Beginnings

“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live.”�— Jim Rohn

Child care that becomes a trusted member of your family team

Welcome!

This is an introduction to the nutrition choices and meal service at Basic Beginnings. Mealtimes here are very important parts of the child’s day, and not just because we fill up hungry tummies. This guide will help you understand the requirements of the Child and Adult Care Food Program in your classroom. And please remember these are requirements, not just “suggestions.” These policies and procedures have been determined by skilled and experienced nutritionists and early childhood educators, so please take them very seriously. WE do!

-Bon appétit!

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Nutrition

Basic Beginnings is a participant in the USDA Child and Adult Care Food Program, or CACFP.

As part of this program, we serve breakfast, lunch, and snack to children using Family Style Meal Service.  

Here is a video to help explain what that means:

�https://youtu.be/Jd2o9PvLqhk

�When you have finished watching it, come back here to complete your training.�

Nutrition – Meal Prep

Meals at our center are prepared in the kitchen by our very talented and wonderful cook. The cook is the most important employee at our center. The cook affects EVERYBODY. Kids, staff, and even parents!

Meals are prepared onsite in the kitchen using the guidelines of the CACFP. This affects the types of food served, the quantities, and even how it is prepared.

When the meals are ready, they are placed on a separate cart for each classroom.

Nutrition – Meal Prep

Once the cart reaches your classroom, you are in charge and responsible for the actual meal service.

Of course, the very first action you should take before any meal is to wash your hands! The children need to wash their hands as well. Every single time.

Please remember to wash and sanitize the tabletops before setting the table!

Nutrition – Meal Prep

Meals are set up at the tables in each classroom. Please encourage the children to help you set the table after they have washed up!

To make sure that the children are encouraged to serve themselves you should provide each table with its own serving bowls, serving spoons or ladles, and a pitcher of milk. This is called “Family Style Meal Service” and it has lots of benefits.

Educators must also have a place at the table to eat with the children. Please eat only the food the children are offered. We are modeling healthy nutrition, supporting the development of self-help skills, and demonstrating good table manners all at the same time!

Nutrition – Meal Prep

It is required that every child over 12 months of age receive a glass of milk (or an approved milk substitute) at every breakfast and every lunch.  Some snacks also require milk, but not all.  Check with the kitchen if you are not sure.  

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One year olds must have whole milk. Once a child turns two, they should be served only low fat milk, either 1% or skim.

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Check the cards attached to your cart to be sure you are serving the correct milk, or approved substitute, to each child.

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Nutrition - Allergies

Allergies can threaten the health and even the life of a small child. Check the classroom information board and the meal cart for information about allergies in your classroom.

If you can’t find an allergy list, ask the lead teacher. Do not assume anything!

If any of the children in your classroom have allergies, make sure you have a substitute for any foods they cannot have. The cook will be able to help you with that, as well.

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Nutrition - Meals

Now that the table is set and ready for the children, both children and Educators can enjoy their meal together. Family style meals enable children to learn good table manners and healthy food choices by passing food to their friends, serving themselves, asking others for what they need, and saying please and thank you.

PLEASE DO NOT EAT FOODS THAT ARE NOT OFFERED TO THE CHILDREN!

Eat as many items as you can from the same food offered to them. If you absolutely must eat an alternate meal, please do so on your break. You are teaching by example.

One of the ways that children learn best is by observing adults and then copying their actions and words.  All parents learn quickly that their children will imitate them, be that good or bad! 

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You can help teach children good manners AND good nutrition by modeling these concepts at our mealtimes with family style eating. 

Sometimes it is tempting to get your room cleaned and set up for the next activity while the children are occupied with food.  Please resist this temptation! Mealtimes together are valuable experiences for children AND adults! This is a great time for you to chat with the children, listen to their stories, and learn what interests them. Keep your notepad handy. This is where your curriculum is born!

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Nutrition - Meals

Children are great imitators

So

Let’s give them something great

To imitate!

Please and thank you

Healthy food choices

Serving themselves

Types, shapes, and colors of food

Please pass the…

Nutrition - Breakfast

Getting a good healthy breakfast is very important to a child’s day.  Breakfast at Basic Beginnings is served every morning at 8:15 a.m. Every child in attendance must be offered breakfast.

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On school days, the grade school aged children get an early breakfast at 7:15 a.m.

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Nutrition - Breakfast

If a child comes in after breakfast has been served but the parent indicates they have not eaten, please offer them breakfast! A hungry child will have difficulty learning, thinking, and problem solving.  Our cook will be happy to help you to make sure they get a healthy, balanced meal.

Nutrition - Breakfast

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Breakfast Components and Serving Sizes

Each child present must be offered all these components to be counted on the Point of Service record.

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Nutrition - Lunch

Now let’s look at Lunch

Lunch is very similar. It is served to every classroom at approximately 11:15 a.m. on the same cart as breakfast.

Please be sure the kitchen knows how many children and adults will be eating during the meal so the cook knows exactly how to set up your cart.

Children are not good at waiting, so make sure you are not expecting them to sit and wait for the food to arrive!

Nutrition - Lunch

Lunch Components and Serving Sizes

Each child present must be offered all these components to be counted on the Point of Service record.

Nutrition - Snack

And finally, Afternoon Snack

Afternoon snack comes after nap, at about 2:30 p.m.

Again, the food will be prepared in the kitchen. However, usually by the time snack is over, the cook has gone home, so you will need to be conscientious about returning and cleaning up your own cart.

Please discard used paper supplies and spoons in the trash and pour your milk down the sink.

Any unused food may either be thrown away or placed on the counter for clean up. If anything is perishable, please put it in the refrigerator, marked with the date.

Nutrition - Snack

Snack Components and Serving Sizes

Each child present must be offered 2 of these components to be counted on the Point of Service record. A liquid must be served - either milk, juice, or water.

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Nutrition – Your Role

One of the ways that children learn best is by observing adults and then copying their actions and words. All parents learn quickly that their children will imitate them, be that good or bad!

You can help teach children good manners and good nutrition by modeling these concepts at all our mealtimes by joining the children and eating family style with them.

It is tempting to get your room cleaned and set up for the next activity while the children are occupied with food. Please resist this temptation! Mealtimes together are valuable experiences for children AND adults!

Nutrition – Your Role

It is also important that you only eat the food the children are eating (baby food excepted, of course!). Please do not eat a different meal in front of them. If you are willing to eat green beans with the children, they are much more likely to try them. You are setting an example.

Encouraging children to try new things is important. However, children should never be forced to eat anything they do not want. You may not withhold seconds, either, in an attempt to get a child to eat more of another food.

Nutrition – Your Role

DID YOU KNOW??

Research shows that a child takes up to 15 exposures to a new food just to learn to accept that food. 

Please treat the children with the same respect that you would like shown to you. We all have likes and dislikes, after all!

Nutrition – Seconds

Children are always welcome to have seconds.  You certainly should encourage them to try a variety of foods, but you may not withhold seconds on any meal component until they have eaten everything on their plate, or even until they have TRIED everything on their plate.

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Make sure you have recorded each child who was there for lunch on the “Point of Service” sheet. This must be done while the children are at the table! NO EXCEPTIONS!

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Nutrition - Documentation

FAQs about recording children’s meals on the Point of Service (POS) sheet:

What if they wouldn’t eat anything?

Please have all children sit down at the table for the meal. If they resist eating, encourage them to try one item at a time. Suggest that they drink their milk.  This is often a good starting point to trying other foods. If the child sits at the table and is offered each food item in the meal, they should be recorded on the meal count.  

What if they come in late?

If they arrived, sat at the table to eat, and were offered the meal with all components, they should be counted.  If they arrived when no meal service was going on, and were not fed the full meal, do not count them. If they were offered all components, count them on the POS sheet.

If they came after the meal was done and you were informed by the parent that they had not eaten, please feed the child.  The cook will be happy to put together a meal for them.  Meals are important for brain development and learning, and we have plenty of food! However, you cannot count this child on your POS Sheet.

Nutrition - Documentation

More FAQs: 

What if they brought their own food from home?

Please keep the cook informed if someone is bringing food from home. We need to discuss the food service we provide and find out why they are bringing food from home.  If the parent provides substitute food for one of the meal components, they may be afraid the child won’t eat what we are serving due to the child’s preferences. If the parent provides more than one component of the meal, please let us know by circling that child’s meal on the POS record. Please do not count the meal if the child eats a substitute for more than one meal component.   

What are the meal components?

Well, that depends upon the age of the child!  Please check in the kitchen for the full chart, look at the guide on your food cart, or ask the cook.  They will be happy to help!  And remember, for the meal to be counted on the POS sheet, the child must be offered ALL required components.

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Nutrition – Clean-Up

After the children are finished with their meal, please assist them in cleaning up their space. They will need to throw away their used paper supplies. However, please watch carefully. Often they throw away things they shouldn’t if they are not supervised closely enough!

You may also allow them to help clean the tables after the meal is done. You will probably need to do it again when they are done, but…oh, well!

Nutrition – Clean-Up

• Following the clean-up for each meal, the cart must be returned to the kitchen, and trash must be emptied and taken to the dumpster.
• It is very important that no food is left in the trash cans at the end of the meal. This is a significant health hazard!

Nutrition

The use of food as either a reward or a punishment is absolutely prohibited. That means that you may not threaten a child with getting no snack if they “do not behave.”

You also may not reward them by giving them candy when they are “good.” This is true, even for potty-training!

These practices are proven to lead to eating disorders later in their lives.

Nutrition – for Staff

We provide meals and snacks for our employees at no charge. Please eat with the children and model good eating habits and manners.

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Nutrition

Don’t stop yet!! One more slide!!

The Next Step

Civil Rights training is required annually for all employees of Basic Beginnings.  The link to this training is here: 

https://wyonutritiontraining.com/

Look for Civil Rights Course WDE-150. �DO NOT TAKE THE COURSE FOR THE NSLP or you will need to retake the entire course!

�You will need to register to complete the training, and this part will probably take about an hour.  When you are done, please print out the certificate at the end and give it to the front desk.�

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In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR%20PComplaint-Form-0508-0002- 508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:

1. mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or

2. fax: (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or

3. email: program.intake@usda.gov

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.