The ongoing challenges of cost management and child nutrition
Woolworths at Work recently teamed up with Nutrition Australia to deliver another value-packed webinar for professionals in the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector. Over a 60-minute virtual event, we heard from Registered Nutritionist Anneliese Twigg on how to create cost-effective early learning menus without sacrificing taste or nutrition.
Hosted by Brady Dennett, Head of Marketing from Woolworths at Work, we welcomed Anneliese and fellow Nutrition Australia colleague, Karen Strattford, to provide a deep dive into the challenges facing ECEC services in regard to nutrition and food costs. We uncovered some powerful stats around food wastage and food refusal, and learned about several tactics for introducing new foods to children, menu planning and managing food costs in your centre.
If you missed us on the day or want to rewatch the session, check out the recording below. And feel free to share this with a friend or colleague who might find it useful.
Did you know?
30% of the total waste generated by an early learning centre is food waste.
The top causes of food waste in childcare include food refusal, poor storage, menu planning and portion sizes, and food provision.
It can take ten or more exposures of a new food before a child feels comfortable enough to try it.
There are currently no nation-wide guidelines for food provision in ECEC services. However, each state and territory provides menu planning guidelines to help meet the nutritional needs of the children in their care.
Woolworths at Work makes menu planning easy by offering free seasonal meal plans for ECEC services. These plans have been developed alongside Nutrition Australia to meet best-practice health and nutrition guidelines. And, of course, they’re delicious!
