Oh I feel your pain ...because we have to save ALL our grocery receipts to be able to show what we spent on home verses daycare food it can be quiet depressing to see how much you spend on food!

I also share the desire to buy whole foods with a focus on organically grown where possible - and that is how I word my menu philosophy ... anyone who eats organic would know that at certain times of year 'certain foods' are not available organic and that in order to eat a 'variety' of foods sometimes you have to approach organic eating in moderation .... my crew LOVES strawberries and as a result I serve them all year long and buy organic when I can and when I cannot I try to serve them 'less' but my crew helps to PLAN the menu so if they keep requesting strawberries I try to explain they are not in season and point them in other directions however sometimes I say 'ok for a treat' and I do buy non organic ones but than serve them with another 'cheaper seasonal fruit' to fill up on so they are eating 'less of them' than at other times of year!

My crew are also very hearty eaters and often eat MORE than my spouse and I would eat at a meal .... I remember when I worked in centre care if we served chicken you got 2 ounces per kid doled out for your group cause that was a 'child size serving' .... seriously have kids who eat a WHOLE CHICKEN BREAST and because my meals are healthy i do not limit serving sizes of meat / veggies or fruit although I will limit 'carbs' if they have not eaten the balanced meal of their meat / veggies / fruit yet ... sadly my budget for daycare meals is $6.50 a DAY

Last year I spent nearly $20,000 on food between home and business .... and our children are grown it is just my spouse and I whom I have to feed after hours

Today my 4 kids ate THREE packages of raspberries at morning snack and TWO containers of yogurt ... plus 5 kid is a babe who could not have this so he had homemade oatmeal and purred blueberries. So morning snack alone cost me $5.00 in raspberries which were on 'sale' 3 for $5 and I had 'intended' to use some of them for pancakes on the weekend, $8.00 in yogurt plus $2 for the babies oatmeal and blueberries cause one package of blueberries at 2.99 once pureed only makes TWO servings of fruit for him! So $15 just for morning snack plus had to feed them lunch and afternoon snack as well .... lunch was two packages of Gnocchi with a homemade cheese sauce, 3 grilled chicken breasts, French Beans and kiwi so easily another $20 cause the chicken alone was $8.69 plus the cheese is not 'cheap' to grate into the sauce and afternoon snack we had homemade zucchini muffins and watermelon and they ate the WHOLE MELON ... so today was easily a day where I spent MORE than $6.50 a child on FOOD alone!

So when clients look at a $35 a day cost for their childcare and think we are 'rolling in cash' sometimes I think they FORGET that much of that goes to the cost of FEEDING their kids a healthy array of foods each day, program supplies and well not to mention the rising cost of utilities to keep them warm, wash-roomed and clean handed ... my sewage bill since I started doing daycare is INSANE from the hand washing and toilet flushing of all the 'waste' 5 children can produce!