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Hot topic: Are schools doing enough to feed our kids well?

The good news is that the government has set aside an extra £280 million for the improvement of school dinners. In addition, the School Food Trust was set up and as of this month, new school food standards will be introduced including:

• not less than two portions of fruit and vegetables per day


• oily fish served regularly


• easy access to fresh drinking water


• bread should be made available at lunch every day


• the only drinks served should be water, pure fruit juices, milk, yoghurt and milk drinks with less than 5% added sugar, smoothies, low calorie hot chocolate, coffee and tea


• confectionery such as chocolate bars, chocolate-coated biscuits and sweets should not be available for lunch


• savoury snacks such as crisps should not be available for lunch


• salt should not be available at lunch. Condiments, such as ketchup and mayonnaise, should only be available in sachets


• meals should not contain more than two deep-fried foods, such as chips and batter-coated products, in a single week


• manufactured meat products, such as chicken nuggets, burgers and sausage rolls, may only be served occasionally, and only providing they meet standards for minimum meat content

All of these initiatives should help to encourage healthier eating in school kids. But it’s yet to be seen the extent to which schools will follow these standards and even if they do, whether kids will choose the healthy options. So as a parent, what can you do?

• Ask your school about the food it serves and if possible, go and see and taste the meals on offer


• Speak to your child about food choices at lunchtime, encouraging them to opt for the healthier alternatives. Make a game of it – where they have to select a meal, a side and a dessert – and give them maximum points for choosing healthy options


• Consider packed lunches if your school isn’t meeting the required standards (see the article below for ideas)


• Start teaching your children early about eating well. From their first tastes of pureed veg, opt for fresh, home made tasting food like Babylicious rather than over-processed jars. See our Teach the Tastebuds campaign for more information on this


• Make food education a part of everyday life. Toddlers in a supermarket trolley need entertainment – so spend time holding up different vegetables and asking them to guess what they are

Something to smile about: Lunchbox envy

So how do you get you child to eat well without being seen as a lentil-weaving, tree-hugging new age foody by his friends? In fact, how do you get your child’s lunchbox to become an object of envy yet still be nutritious?

• Key rule: it’s all in the packaging.


• Let’s start with the sandwich. Try out different bread types – a variety of rolls, mini pittas, wraps - instead of just plain old bread. The bread is the packaging for the sandwich – so the more interesting it looks, the greater the chance it will be eaten.


• Fillings: Consider letting your child make their own sandwich at school by providing the fillings separately – particularly if you’re using pittas or wraps. This is where brightly coloured tupperware comes into its own. A small tub of boiled egg and mayonnaise, with some fresh parsley. Tinned tuna mixed with finely chopped tomato, avocado and light mayonnaise. Strips of cheese, ham, cucumber or bell pepper batons with a tub of homemade guacamole. A tub of mashed roasted butternut with chicken strips. Add in a groovy looking plastic knife and fork set featuring the latest character hero, and voila! A fun eating experience


• Sides and treats: Make your own hummus and put it in a brightly coloured tub or buy one of the mini packs of hummus now available. Add some brightly coloured vegetable batons – like carrots, red peppers, cucumber, celery sticks. Boxes of raisins – they look more like junk food that way. A bag of home made popcorn. A tub of berries with a yogurt for dipping into. A home made muffin (use brightly coloured muffin cases to add appeal) or 3 mini muffins of differing flavours. A bag of trail mix. Fresh fruit. Bags of dried fruit.


• Alternatives: Get a compartmentalised plate with a fitted lid – make up a picnic platter, like pasta or potato salad, slices of cold meat or grilled chicken strips, cherry tomatoes and mini bell peppers, a wedge of pre-wrapped cheese. You can get small bags that are kept in the freezer/fridge, which then keep food cold. In winter, consider some home made soup in a cool looking thermos, with a bag of crunchy croutons for popping on top.


• Drinks: pack water, fresh fruit juice or smoothies (and these do come in cool packaging!)


• Get the kids to help make up their lunchboxes – they’ll feel more bought into the process and will be more willing to eat what’s in it.


• Most of the ideas above are suitable lunch ideas for toddlers too!

For other good lunch box ideas, go to:
www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2004/sep/lunchbox2
www.raisingkids.co.uk/food/fea106_packedlunches.asp
www.bbc.co.uk/bigchallenge/changinghabits/lunchboxes.shtml
www.lunchbox.com – a US site but with a great range of lunchboxes!

Competition: Win the perfect weaning crockery and cutlery set from Truly Madly Baby

Tips & Tricks: Tastylicious & Taste Buddies

Soup is a great way to get vegetables into kids. Try this easy Butternut soup: peel, deseed and chop up a butternut. Put the pieces into a pot along with two peeled, chopped potatoes, one coarsely chopped onion, a sprinkling of cinnamon, ground cumin or garam masala. Cook together briefly before covering with water or stock and let it simmer for an hour or until all the veg are soft. Blend it until smooth, pour in a splash of milk before serving. I give my kids fingers of bread which they dunk into the soup. It’s easy to freeze in cubes too and is a great emergency standby.

Tastebuddies – Great accompaniments to Babylicious
This great idea comes from Mary Russell from Cork, Ireland. Thanks for the idea on how to make Babylicious go even further:

Each week, I cook up a large batch of potatoes and mixed vegetables (carrot, broccoli, peas, parsnip etc.), mash them together with baby milk and butter. I then freeze the mixture in individual baby pots. Then it's simply a matter of defrosting one batch of potato & veg., mix it with two defrosted cubes of a different babylicious variety each day and my nine month old just gobbles it down. It's a lot less work then trying to cut up tiny pieces of meat or pick out fish bones. I feel quite chuffed that my baby gets a delicious and nutritious home made meal, albeit from two different sources! I just wish you were around when my three older children (10, 7 and 4) were babies. It would have meant a lot less work for me!

Feedback

• Congratulations to the following five lucky people who won the travel bags from Tots To France, simply for letting a friend know about us:
  
  
  • Sarah-Jayne Windridge-France from Leeds
  • Tracy Boyd from Bristol
  • Jo Bryan from Peterborough
  • Kirsty Baker from Rochdale
  • Katharine Hills from Uxbridge
  
  
  Happy travels to you all!
  
  
• We’re still receiving great feedback from so many of you – and we like to share, so here are some more recent comments we’ve received:

  “Just wanted to say I think you’re doing a great job with Babylicious range! My son is 8 months and he always finishes his whole bowl! I can't fill the spoon quick enough for him before his mouth is open for the next spoon!!!! I've tried all the other brands and yours is the only one I have managed to taste and not cringe!!!!!! Well done, can't wait for some new flavours!!” Tanya Farnaby, Farnham




• Two of you had queries or issues:

  “Your new range is fantastic , one small though problem the cubes are very hard to get out”
  D Hawksworth, Sheffield

  We’ve had a few people tell us this recently. We think it might be caused by the supermarket freezers working overtime during the summer heat which is effecting how easily the cubes pop out. We suggest leaving the tray out for a few minutes before trying to pop them out or simply run some warm water over the base of the cubes you want to release. Best wishes, Babylicious

  “I've used your range of Babylicious food which my daughter loved. She's now one and I want to move her onto the Kiddylicious range but her appetite is still hit and miss. Does the Kiddylicious have the individual pop out sections or is it one complete meal which you have to heat up at once?”
  Jeanette Lucas

  The Kiddylicious meals are a complete meal, not cubes. But you could defrost the meal (by leaving it in the fridge overnight), then scoop out the amount you need and heat it. Keep the rest in the fridge for up to four days and heat when needed. Best wishes, Babylicious

Please send us any comments or questions you may have!