Cold Meal Menu?

[Ajjackson26]

Does anyone here serve an all cold meal menu with the exception of a mircowave? From my understanding we do not have a commercial kitchen. We only have a commerical microwave so that's all we can use. I've been trying to come up with b,l and snack that's all cold unless heated in a microwave and following the requirements but I'm finding it very difficult. Any help/advice other than parents bringing their own food?

[storybookending]

Is a refrigerator available? They make a ton of stuff microwaveable these days but the quality isn’t as great.. although I am not sure on the size of the group you need to feed and if that is doable. Can you bring in a griddle or a toaster or anything? That could really help. A guy I used to date didn’t have a stove in his make shift apartment and had this burner thing that you plugged into an outlet that he could boil water in for pastas and whatever. I am sure that some of these things listed will not be allowed to be used in the same room as children according to some licensing rules if this is a center. At my old center we couldn’t even have the bottle warmers in the rooms by the time that I left and all bottles needed to be prepared in the kitchen.

[rosieteddy]

I am not sure how many you feed but it can be done.Breakfast cereal milk and fruit/muffins milk fruit .Lunch you can pick a couple of sandwiches -turkey,cheeseect offer cut up veggies,fruit and milk.Snacks could be crackers cheese sticks,yogurt and frit or veggies.If you wanted a pasta dish premake it at home and reheat in microwave.I used to make meals more difficult than they needed to be.The kids loved when they knew what lunch was from what day it was.

[hwichlaz]

Crockpot too. My dd’s teacher used to make Irish oats in it for Tuesday snack.

[CalCare]

I agree, if you can have a griddle, that would be great. I use mine everyday, if not every meal

[ellen211]

Crockpot too. My dd’s teacher used to make Irish oats in it for Tuesday snack.

Thanks for giving me the idea! Would definitely try it.

[flossie]

Just a quick note: You could use different breads and fillings to offer a huge variety of sandwiches. I've been using pita pockets, tortillas, dinner rolls (for "sliders" sized sandwiches) and sandwich thins, along with sliced bread. I'd like to use croissants but have yet to find affordable ones for the number of kids I have to feed. Then you have tons of options for filling them, of course, from tuna/egg/ham salad type of fillings to ham/turkey/chicken/cheese and their all-time favorite - pbj.

[LysesKids]

Just a quick note: You could use different breads and fillings to offer a huge variety of sandwiches. I've been using pita pockets, tortillas, dinner rolls (for "sliders" sized sandwiches) and sandwich thins, along with sliced bread. I'd like to use croissants but have yet to find affordable ones for the number of kids I have to feed. Then you have tons of options for filling them, of course, from tuna/egg/ham salad type of fillings to ham/turkey/chicken/cheese and their all-time favorite - pbj.

PB is a no go in a lot of daycares... I do Almond or Sun butter for this exact reason . And thanks to my oven blowing up, I'm stuck doing stove top or crock pot for hot meals

[flossie]

Aw, yes, sun butter. When we first opened I convinced my boss to order that instead of pb due to kids with allergies. But the staff made comments and frowned so much about it that she went to pb. I suggested it again to her last week as one of our toddlers has been recently discovered to be allergic.