My child's daycare charges $169 a day, but fed her a cheese toastie for lunch

"Am I just being ridiculously fussy about the meals or are they in fact down right lazy?"

I’m a mum of two and a nutritionist so what my children eat is a big deal to me.

I am not a perfect mum by any means. I lose my temper, can barely keep up with the washing and drop the occasional profanity. In fact, if I am honest I am pretty average at lots of mum related tasks.

However, I am confident in my nutritionist skills and ensuring that my children are well nourished is something I value and feel is essential.

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The new daycare

My youngest daughter had recently started at a new daycare. A beautiful new centre close to our house with great educators, shiny new equipment and a rotating menu designed by a nutritionist.

Further to this, our family is Muslim and when undertaking the tour, the Director even promised she would look into sourcing halal meat for our daughter. This wasn’t make or break for me. So when our halal request was denied a few weeks later due to religious and not food allergy reasons it wasn’t a deal breaker.

When we eat out, we try to source halal but if not we are more than happy with vegetarian proteins or fish. So I put my daughter down as a vegetarian and moved on.

My daughter’s previous day care was $30 a day cheaper and fed her ridiculously well. I am talking gourmet meals with lots of colourful fruit and veggies and a balance of protein, carbs and fats. Sometimes their meals even made me jealous!

Coming from this experience I was so shocked when my daughter came home and told me she was fed a cheese toastie for lunch.

To add fuel to my fire, the next day her lunch consisted of baked beans and toast.

Then after looking into this further and speaking with the staff I found out some of the other vegetarian lunches consisted of pumpkin soup with toast, plain pasta and tomato sauce and rice with veggies and sauce.

This was certainly not the nutritionist designed meals I had in mind.

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Is a balanced meal too much to ask for?

Now I know I probably have higher standards than many people but these menu items have me questioning where exactly is the protein and how is this a macronutrient balanced meal?

I know that the cheese in a toastie is a source of protein. I also know that the baked beans pack a punch in terms of fibre whilst also being a source of protein. I also know my daughter likes both of these as I have given her these quick meal options on a Friday night when I have been too tired to cook. I accompany them with some vegetable sticks, fruit for dessert and voila, easy toddler meal done.

I also understand that these menu items can be good when accommodating fussy children. However, that is not my daughter. You can put her down in front of a plate of sushi, laksa or even a vegetable frittata and she would wolf it down.

She is a foodie through and through just like her mama.

So I don’t understand why the lack of veggies? Why the lack of colour? And most importantly why the lack of a variety of plant based proteins to keep her full and satisfied and not hitting them up for a snack an hour later?

The other glaring issue here is that my daughter’s day care charges a premium. They are priced at $169 a day before rebates and they claim that food items such as tofu or fish are too expensive for them.

My question is, am I just being ridiculously fussy about the meals or are they in fact down right lazy?

Originally published as My child's daycare charges $169 a day, but fed her a cheese toastie for lunch