I open at 7:30 and serve breakfast to the children who arrive by 8. Then we are out the door for our busy morning by 9am so I don't serve any more food until 11:30ish when we get home for lunch. It works great for me and I am in the same shoes as you with free play time inside. The 2 year old is the worst one for acting badly and I have two more little ones about to hit that age.

However, I serve the same amount of food to the children having breakfast as I would if I were serving a morning snack - fruit & pancakes OR eggs & toast OR cheerios & fruit OR sausages & croissants, you get the picture. I bet you serve more than that at your morning snack, right?

Plus, I'm only feeding the few children who arrive by 8 and don't have to feed the others who come after that time because they have instructions to be fed and their first meal of the day is lunch, so in fact I'm SAVING money! Will that work for you?