Preschool Food Points of Improvements
Dear Food Committee,
This is a group of parents from preschool grades (EY 3-4).
This communication is meant to open a conversation with you to improve the food preparations for our little ones.
Despite the care put into the menu development, our kids are eating really small with the results of having them really tired and hungry at the end of the school day and many families having to feed them with a second lunch once they reach home.
We see the following points of improvement for next year that we would be happy to discuss with you:
1 – INCLUSIVITY - 3 days a week meals have a beef-based preparation and in our community we have kids that cannot eat cow's meat. We strongly believe that as an International School we should guarantee to these kids the possibility of having an alternative. This could also be easily overcome by offering a wider range of proteins from which all the kids would benefit.
2 – VARIETY - Preschool meals' only source of proteins is currently coming from beef and chicken while it would be more healthier and inclusive to extend it to turkey, fish, cheese, eggs and vegetables proteins (such as beans, lentils, etc..).
3 – VEGETABLES - Vegetables proposed (such as lettuce) are hardly accepted by young kids. Raw vegetables that can be picked by hand such as cucumbers or carrots would get more chances to be eaten.
4 – SIMPLICITY - Food is often mixed with sauces or spices while young kids prefer simple and plain food. If they don't like the sauce they would leave apart the entire portion, while if preparations are presented separately we could have more chances to eat at least one of them.
5 – CARBS – Portions of carbs (rice, pasta, potatoes) are not sufficient for kids' demand, they request more carbs vs protein and extra portions are not available when requested. It would be great if this could be taken into consideration and proportions of nutrients adjusted accordingly.
6– FOOD TRAYS - Food trays are too big and heavy for kids of that age. It happens that they cannot handle them and the food gets on the floor. In such cases it has also been reported by kids that food needs to be thrown away and only bread is offered in replacement.
Thanks in advance for your attention and feedback.
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