Kindergarten menu for children

Eating in the kindergarten is a painful issue for parents. If the baby has yet to go to kindergarten, the mother is worried whether the child will eat there, whether he will like the proposed menu. If the child is already attending the kindergarten, it is always interesting whether he is eating enough, not starving in anticipation of being taken home. Sometimes there are other difficulties - in which kindergarten to send a vegetarian child or a baby with food allergies.

In this article, we will tell you in detail what a kindergarten menu is, on what principle it is compiled, how to teach a child to eat everything that is given in a preschool institution, and also how to choose a kindergarten for a kid with non-standard nutrition.

Catering principles

Baby food in any kindergarten of any region of Russia is rather tightly controlled. The whole principle of its organization is subject to strict standards. The main principle is nutritional. Food for pupils of a preschool institution should provide the child's body with all the substances necessary for growth and normal development.

In the daily diet, certain ratios of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins and minerals are necessarily present. The total calorie content of dishes also plays a large role, because food for children should be not only a pleasure, but also a source of energy.

If nutrition is organized correctly, children are less likely to get sick, feel better, and show more abilities in learning activities.

Every day, the diet of children without fail includes meat, fish, milk or sour milk products, eggs, butter, vegetables and fruits, bread, cereals. If you exclude at least one group of food products, the overall morbidity among pupils will inevitably increase - such experiments were carried out back in the Soviet Union. The existing requirements and principles of baby food in preschool educational institutions are not invented out of nothing, they are entirely based on practice, experience, mistakes of the past.

Collecting all these products on the menu is important, but alas, not enough to achieve a result. Therefore, the second principle of baby food in kindergarten sounds like this: "Dishes should be beautiful and attractive." Even very healthy cutlets or salad, the child will not eat if the serving was completely unattractive. And no arguments about the benefits in this case will help.

The third principle is regularity. The existing norms imply a minimum of 4 meals, three of them must contain hot dishes. Why this is done is unnecessary to explain - without hot food, the child's digestion cannot be healthy, and the metabolism cannot be full. Hot meals should be provided for all children who stay in the kindergarten for more than 3.5 hours a day. This is a rule that applies to all forms of kindergartens - private, municipal, departmental, etc.

The intervals between meals should be 3.5-4 hours. And this is also a rule. If you take longer intervals, then in a few weeks this will affect the health of the pupils - memory will decrease, immunity will weaken. Until preschool age, pediatricians give unequivocal recommendations - to eat every 4 hours.

Pupils of kindergartens receive up to 70% of the daily ration in kindergarten.

That is why educators, doctors, parents must necessarily be interested in what and how the child eats, whether he is full.

In specialized kindergartens (for children with disabilities, with a sports bias), the principles of nutrition in general must comply with the standards, but it is allowed to add some products in excess of the required, taking into account energy consumption. For example, children with low mobility due to diseases are advised to reduce the amount of cereals and confectionery and add fruits, while young athletes, on the contrary, are given more carbohydrates, since their energy consumption is several times higher. Based on the same principle, in the summer, the nutrition of all preschool children should be lighter than in the winter.

Age features

There are only two children's ages for organizers of baby food - from 1.5 to 3 years old and from 4 to 6 years old. For these two groups of children, the menu is organized with some differences. To begin with, it should be noted that the calorie content of different meals is not the same. Breakfast accounts for about 25% of the daily calorie requirement. At lunchtime, your child "eats" about 40% of the calories he needs, at an afternoon snack - about 15%. Thus, for dinner (and the child will be at home for dinner), parents should provide such food that will give him the remaining 20-25% of the calorie requirement, no more. In kindergartens with round-the-clock stay of pupils, this is exactly the approach.

In general, kindergarten chefs prepare the same basic dishes for all ages - soups, cereals, meatballs and casseroles. But when serving for a nursery group, age characteristics will be taken into account - the kids will be chopped finely vegetables into a salad, they will not be served oranges, which can cause allergies, replacing them with apples. For older children, portions are increased because they have a higher energy requirement.

Documentation

Have you ever wondered why, upon entering the kindergarten, the smells immediately return us adults to the memories of our own kindergarten childhood? The answer to this question is very simple - modern children are prepared according to recipes that were approved back in the USSR. With minor changes, but still food in the kindergarten continues to build according to the established traditions and the existing regulatory framework.

The director of the kindergarten can decide what to feed the children, but only on the condition that the compiled menu meets the requirements, documentation, if the control calculation shows that the calorie content is not violated.

So that parents understand why in the kindergarten their beloved child is not given fries and hamburgers, but they are offered oatmeal and compote, you should know what documents regulate catering (and, if you wish, familiarize yourself with their content):

SanPiN 2.3.2.1940-05 - "Sanitary rules for the organization of baby food";
SanPin 2.4.1.3940-13 - "Sanitary and epidemiological requirements for the organization of meals in a preschool educational institution";
Federal Law No. 52-FZ - “On the Sanitary and Epidemiological Welfare of the Population of Russia”.

In addition, a quality certificate, a waybill and a veterinary certificate must be available for absolutely every product.

If the kindergarten is private, this gives him the opportunity to buy food wherever he wants, but at any time he should be ready to check the regulatory authorities, and Rospotrebnadzor loves to visit private kindergartens with revisions.

The municipal kindergarten is deprived of choice - the products are supplied to it by the organization that won the municipal tender. It should be noted that the lack of competition very often leads to sad consequences - the products are supplied the cheapest, and sometimes they do not meet sanitary requirements. The products for kindergarteners are transported by drivers who must draw up a sanitary book. In the kindergarten, a nurse accepts the goods, and all labels from products with the date of their production are stored for at least two days.

The head of the kindergarten always has at her disposal an approximate ten-day menu, which any parent has the right to familiarize with at any time. There is also an exact menu for the week. He is certified and signed for a week in advance. If there are any claims and questions about the organization of meals in a particular kindergarten, the child's relatives have the right to contact the regional Rospotrebnadzor.

It is not necessary to go and write a statement or complaint. You can report violations by phone to the department, each request is checked. If the state social catering organization is responsible for food in the kindergarten, then you can additionally complain to the municipality and the management of this organization itself.

Security and control

To ensure that food does not harm children prone to allergies, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, the methods of cooking in the kindergarten are rather limited. No fries or popcorn for a child here. All dishes are thoroughly heat treated, but only by cooking, baking at high temperatures, stewing, steaming. Recently, most kindergarten kitchens have been equipped with useful equipment such as combi steamers.

The cooked lunch will not be delivered to the group until the quality of the dishes is checked by the cook, the head of the kindergarten kitchen (or his deputy), and also by the nurse. Each of the controllers puts his signature in a special reporting form. With this signature, these people take full responsibility (moral, but still more legal) for the possible consequences.

After checking, a daily sample is taken. If the dish is portioned, then the whole portion is included in the sample. If not portioned (soups, main courses, cold snacks), then the sample is at least 100 grams. The sample is kept in a separate refrigerator. It must be marked with the date and exact time of preparation, date and time of sampling.

Samples should be stored for at least 48 hours. This is done so that the regulatory authorities and sanitary specialists can take samples for laboratory research at any time if, for example, there is a mass or single poisoning in the kindergarten, if there are complaints from parents about poor-quality and tasteless food.

It is strictly forbidden to reheat dishes left over from yesterday. Also, you cannot feed preschool children with dishes that were prepared somewhere else, not in the kitchen of the preschool.

Compliance with safety rules is in the interests of the kindergarten management itself, because huge fines can follow for violations. But most importantly, the management is responsible for the life and health of the child who is in the preschool educational institution. Causing harm to a child with poor-quality food can lead to criminal liability for officials.

The new standard

A new standard for baby food in kindergartens was approved in 2006. The basic requirements remained the same, but the calorie and food requirements were revised. Now it is recommended to make the kindergarten's menu for 20 days, and not a single dish in it should be repeated.

Parents can be calm - everything is in order with the variety on the table in the kindergarten. The menu for every day, according to new standards, is compiled in compliance with the following energy value:

children from 1.5 to 3 years old - 1540 Kcal;
children from 4 to 6 years old - 1900 Kcal.

Four meals a day are now compulsory for all kindergartens. This does not mean that the baby will be fed more. Simply introduced is such a concept as "second breakfast", for which the child can be given an apple or banana in the interval between the first breakfast (main) and lunch.

As for the list of products that must necessarily be in the diet of preschoolers, it has been expanded. Now the following daily ration is documented:

milk, fermented milk products - at least 390 ml for a child aged 1.5 to 3 years and at least 450 ml for a child aged 4 to 6 years;
cottage cheese - for children from 1.5 to 3 years old, at least 30 grams per day, for children older - at least 40 grams;
sour cream - babies should have at least 9 grams per day, children from 4 to 6 years old - 11 grams;
cheese - babies should be given 4.3 grams per day, large children - 6.4 grams;
beef - at least 50 grams for children of nursery and junior groups per day, at least 60 grams for children of middle and senior groups per day;
poultry meat (chicken, turkey) - at least 20 grams per day for babies and at least 24 grams for children from 4 to 6 years old;
fish (fillet) - for babies at least 32 grams, for older children - 37 grams;
eggs - half an egg is laid for children under 3 years old, and a little more than half for children from 4 to 6 years old (1.6);
potatoes - 120 grams for babies and 140 grams for “big ones”, but this is the fall norm, in winter it increases slightly;
vegetables and fruits - for children from 1.5 to 3 years old - 174 grams, for children from 4 to 6 years old - 221 grams.

In addition, the daily diet must necessarily include juices, fruit or vegetable drinks, bread, cereals, pasta, vegetable and butter, tea, cocoa, sugar and salt.

Recommendations for the new standards require kindergartens to cook from first category beef (boneless), veal, lean pork and lamb, chicken and rabbit. Sausages and small sausages are allowed to be given no more than 1-2 times a week after thorough heat treatment.

Eggs can be served boiled or in omelet form. Milk should have a fat content of 2.5 to 3.2%, and cottage cheese - a fat content of no more than 9%. The butter must be real, have a fat content of 82.5%, vegetable oil is allowed only if it is necessary to dress salad or vinaigrette.

Do not think that the principles of nutrition in kindergarten do not take into account the great love of children for sweets. Documents allow giving chocolates to pupils once a week. A little more often, you can give marshmallows, marshmallows or marmalade. Jams and preserves may only be acceptable if they are factory made, and biscuit cakes may only be given when made without cream.

Most of the questions arise regarding fruits, because not all of them are well tolerated by preschool children. All children are allowed pears, bananas, plums, apples, berries (excluding strawberries). There are citrus fruits in the list, but it is recommended to give them only taking into account individual tolerance. There are even kiwi and mango unprecedented for Soviet kindergartens in the new standards. But these tropical fruits are only allowed to be given to children who are not prone to food allergies.

There are also foods on the list recommended for children's nutrition that cause confusion and questions. For example, canned fish, stew, natural coffee. Sane parents try not to feed their child with such foods. However, a complaint to the supervisory authority that the child was fed with soup with canned food in the kindergarten will not be effective, because there is such a permit at the normative level with the organizers of baby food.

Canned vegetables, condensed milk can cause a lot of questions. The rules do not prohibit giving preschoolers ice cream. In practice, as a rule, there is not enough budgetary funds for it, as well as for the last two items - red caviar and lightly salted red fish (chum salmon). These delicacies are not mandatory, but are on the recommended list, subject to the availability of sufficient funding.

Menu examples

You can see an example of a municipal garden menu below.

It is always approved by the head of the kindergarten.

It can usually be seen when entering a group or in toddlers' locker rooms.

Private kindergarten menus are usually more interesting and varied.

Preparing for kindergarten

And now is the time to talk about how to instill in a child a love for kindergarten food, because it is in a preschool institution that he has to get most of all daily calories and it would be great if the child did not refuse food in the group.

It is best to take care of this in preparation for going to kindergarten. Approximately a couple of months before the child is sent to kindergarten, or preferably six months, you need to visit the chosen preschool institution on a friendly visit, talk to the head and ask her for a copy of the ten-day menu.

On the way back, you should look into the kitchen, call the cook for a conversation and ask for recipes for the main dishes.Having learned that this is required for the future pupil or pupil, the employees of the preschool educational institution usually enter the position of a mother and tell how and what to cook.

It is not difficult to guess what to do with the obtained information further. Even if your little one is used to eating pizza and convenience foods from the supermarket at home, it is quite possible to change his eating habits. First, prepare one or two dishes from the kindergarten menu. If the child protests and spits, do not despair - this is temporary. The day will come when the kid will happily eat the offered porridge according to the kindergarten recipe or pasta casserole.

Introduce additional meals gradually, no more than 1-2 per week. And positive results will be achieved in a few months. When the baby comes to the kindergarten, for him this very event will become shock and stressful. Why aggravate his condition with unfamiliar and unusual food? After preliminary preparation, the son or daughter will eat what they give in kindergarten almost from the first day and the mother will not have too much cause for concern.

Do not forget that it is best to offer dishes from the kindergarten menu to the child in accordance with the diet adopted in the kindergarten:

breakfast - from 8 to 9 am;
second breakfast - at 10.30;
lunch - from 12 to 13 hours;
afternoon tea - 15.30-16.00.

In this case, dinner (which, by the way, you can prepare according to your own menu, as usual) will have to be between 18.30 and 19 o'clock exactly.

Important nuances

Vegetarian child

The question of whether a child should be taught to vegetarianism is a question for a separate article. It is almost impossible to achieve a definite answer to it, since the opinions of supporters and opponents of vegetarian nutrition are different. But if it so happens that your child is a vegetarian, and the parents do not want to change anything in his eating habits, then you will have to sweat a lot before you can find a kindergarten in which the child will be provided with such nutrition.

The problem is so big that sometimes mothers decide not to take the baby to kindergarten at all, but to stay with him at home until school. Nobody will cook separately for a child in the municipal kindergarten, just as they will not be allowed to bring food with them from home. There is a way out, although it is sometimes difficult to find it.

Many parents who have encountered such a problem have come to the conclusion that it is optimal to find a vegetarian kindergarten, but there are just one or two of these in the whole of Russia. If finances allow, you can send the child to a private kindergarten (always with the choice of food prescribed in the contract). There, the baby will be offered only those dishes that mom or dad chooses for him from the existing list.

As a last resort, you can find a home garden run by other vegan parents. However, it should be understood that visiting such a kindergarten can be dangerous, because at home there are no guarantees of compliance with sanitary norms and rules. And the pedagogical component of the home kindergarten raises a lot of quite logical questions.

If you can't afford a private kindergarten, there is no such kindergarten in the city where you live, and it is scary to send your child to a home kindergarten, you can try the following schemes:

Visit to a regular kindergarten, but before lunch. From morning until lunchtime, the child will have time to communicate with peers, and for breakfast, as can be seen from any menu of any kindergarten, meat products are not served. The downside is that the mother will not be able to work fully, because the child will need to be taken home before lunch. If there are no grandmothers free from work, it is almost impossible to solve this problem.
A visit to a regular kindergarten for a full day by agreement with the head. An unlikely option, but why not give it a try? If the headmistress agrees to some indulgences for one or two pupils (usually you cannot get more vegetarians in the kindergarten), then the educators will be given a clear and specific instruction - not to give a certain child meat and fish. The downside is the human factor. The teacher may not “see”, forget, or control. The child will be left without first courses, since they are overwhelmingly cooked in meat or fish broth.

Food allergies

Children with a tendency to food allergies sometimes have a very difficult relationship with the kindergarten, and the parents of such children - with the caregivers. To exclude unpleasant situations, you need to immediately put everything in its place. Take your little allergy sufferer and take him to an appointment with an allergist. The doctor conducts tests and prescribes blood tests, after which he makes a detailed list of all foods to which the baby may develop an inadequate body reaction. With this list, go to your pediatrician and ask them to make recommendations for the nurse and dietitian of kindergarten no.

With the conclusion and recommendations of the pediatrician, you go to the kindergarten, show them to the head, the medical worker. Theoretically, they can refuse to visit the kindergarten, but in practice they will not, because the prosecutor's office will certainly be keenly interested in the reasons for the refusal.

Ideally, the nurse will eliminate allergenic foods from the child's meals every day. Not ideally, parents will do it themselves - for these purposes, when entering the group, they always post the menu for today. The educator will receive clear recommendations on what can and cannot be given to your child from the daily menu in the morning when you bring your child to kindergarten.

Nobody will guarantee anything, and it is possible that the notorious human factor will again manifest itself and in the evening you will take the reddened baby with a terrible rash, allergic rhinitis and cough from the group home.

Conclusions

No matter how parents and children condemn the kindergarten menu, it is in fact more useful for a growing child than a home menu. A large staff of nutritionists, pediatricians, endocrinologists, food technologists are involved in the development of norms and product ratios for preschool institutions. The latest standards have been approved by the Institute of Nutrition and Dietetics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. When preparing dinner, can you ensure that you provide your child with all the necessary nutrients in exactly the amounts that meet his needs? No.

Lunch or breakfast in the kindergarten is not only a meal, but also a great lesson in behavior in society, at the table, which the child will learn only if he goes to kindergarten. Homemade meals are another matter, at the table the child is a real "king of the hill" and his mother is spinning around him with a spoon, and grandmother with a napkin. The ability to eat among peers is an important moment of growing up and becoming your child.

To provide the child with such a variety of dishes that the most ordinary kindergarten offers, the poor mother will have to cook around the clock, and the next day to start cooking again, because yesterday's soup is no longer "quoted". It is clear that this does not happen. Cooked borscht in the family is eaten for 2-3 days, and cutlets are enough for 1-2 dinners, and this is normal. But do not forget that the child's metabolism is very fast, intense, which is why the standards of baby food in the kindergarten imply the maximum variety of the menu. A kindergarten can give it, but a home stay cannot.

With all this, you should not rely only on the decency and obedience of kindergarten workers - all employees are decent and law-abiding. Parents should be interested in what the child is feeding. In each kindergarten there are parents who are included in the commission for monitoring the quality of baby food. Become one of them, or at least get to know them, so that the emerging issues and problems are easier to solve at the legal level all together.