Food Diary

[bright sparks]

yeah...a menu ahead of time is tough for me, too Parents always ask me this at the beginning and I tell them that if I tell you the day before...it's good. Usually I can do that because we usually have that nights leftovers the next day. But if we pig out at supper, I have to make something up...or BBQ season is tough, too. Leftover BBQ is dry
I always find something to whip up!

Without offense, but how do you go on having enough leftovers to feed your dck?? How many do you care for and how much food do you cook in the evening to possibly have enough leftovers unless say you only have 2 dck's?? I much more prefer to cook once every 9 weeks, which gives me a 3 week menu plan, 3 times, which yes is a HUGE production over the course of usually a day and a night to make 15 meals x 3, but ensures that the kiddies eat extremely well, and that I dont have to prep and cook everyday. I couldn't fathom being able to find the time to cook a well balanced healthy nutritious meal at the same time as watching the kiddies. Maybe I'm just not that good at multi tasking but I couldn't chop veggies, prepare meat, watch the food cook safely while attending to the kids, unless I plopped them in front of the tv for an hour. It would take forever and I'd probably just end up feeding the daycare kids processed foods as I could open packages and just throw them in the oven. But thats not what I do.

[gcj]

Well, I have to cook dinner for my family, anyways....so, if I make stir-fry, I just make a BIG stir-fry. If it's spaghetti sauce, I make a lot of sauce. I cook for my family every night, so for me there's not much difference if I make enough for one meal, or take advantage of the fact that I'm already in the kitchen, so get more out of it.
I have 5 dcks. And I even make enough for husband to take to work and my son to take in a thermos to school.
Works for me. Reheat and serve the next day

[gcj]

dcks leave by 5...I make dinner after.

[bright sparks]

That must be a big pan of spaghetti sauce lol It makes sense though. My kids have stuff on nearly every night with scouts, guides, dance, computer animation, hockey etc etc so for me I make enough for us and I'm flying out the door. I dont have time to cool it, then pack it up and throw it in the fridge. AHhh, how I do love this time of year when I have no taxiing around to do after work

[Judy Trickett]

I don't do journaling. One, it is rarely read. Two, most of it is asked verbally by parents at the door. And three, it takes too much time from my day.

If you want to do it, go ahead. But most providers who start doing it give it up pretty quickly.

[Crayola kiddies]

Gcj ... I do exactly the same as you ..... Last night I made 8 pork chops instead of 5 and extra rice and veges and the dcks had that for lunch today and tonight is spaghetti soooo guess what's for lunch tomorrow???? My hubby also works eveni fs so I have to have something for him to pack for his dinner. If there is no leftovers then I do something else .... Fish... Sandwiches.... Soup....deli plates.... Whatever....

[ladyjbug]

For the really young ones I take (12-18 months), I usually do a quick phone call/email right at the start of nap. It is just a check in as I have found most anxious parents like to hear my voice right at the start of things and it makes them feel better to hear that they are sleeping. I don't usually mention diaper changes unless they had like a big bowel movement or seemed blocked up. I know they trust me to take care of their littles, but sometimes it is just nice to hear that they are fine. I do this until it seems like I am bugging them at work and then the phone calls/emails taper off. If they asked about it, I would start up again but so far no parent ever has. By about a month-ish, they seem to get the picture about the day and are happy to wait until the end of the day for us to chat.

[Momof4]

I don't have any paper for the parents, but each child has a notebook that I call my log books with all food, naptimes, diaper or potty times with bowel movements noted. It is for me not for the parents. For food I keep track of when they ask for seconds and what they will not eat because it changes over the years. For naptimes I can track the times if I need, especially for newbies. For diaper changes and bm times it helps me know their habits when they start to toilet train.

Also, if I'm ever audited my grocery receipts match the food notations in my log books. I like my system a lot.