quick thought i had: what size portions do you do for snacks?

example: your having vanilla wafers...how many does each child get? seems i must feed my kids like cows. i have tried cutting back on the snacks to say like 4 wafers per child but they scream for more.
or when u have apples, does each child get a whole apple cut into wedges (its how i cut them) or would u do 2 kids per apple ?

make sense? please helpo me w/my food bill

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Yeah, I have a bunch of little piggies here! I buy the big apples, and it is 2 kids per apple. And as far as the cookies, I just cut them off after 4 or 5 of the vanilla wafers because they would probably eat 20 a piece if I would let them. I usually see what the serving size is on the box. I have shown the kids who can read how to do this I go by that.

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I used to just lay out the snacks and let the kids help themselves, until it seemed it was getting out of control. I have one daycare girl age 9 that will eat like a horse. So now I portion out the snacks and give it them and if they are still hungry, I have many other cheaper things I give them an option for, and most of the time the 9 year old girl will suddenly be full.

If it's an apple, my school age kids will eat a whole one, but for the younger ones I split an apple.

I only get paid so much for one child, I don't feel I should spend half of what I get paid on their food bill. Groceries are very expensive...I just spent $70 on a very few items for my own family and didn't seem it got me much.

My 9 year old daycare girls is constantly implying that she is hungry, a lot of times right before pick up and after I already fed her snack. I just politely tell her she will be eating dinner soon at home.

I also buy off brands for the daycare kids where I buy name brands for my family...is that bad? I prefer brand names for my family, but I have a hard time buying all that for the daycare kids because as I mentioned above, I can't see spending over half my daycare money on food as I'm doing daycare to pay my bills, not their grocery bill. My school age daycare girls are here 11 hours/day during the summer and I only get $150 for both of them M-F...that's only $75/piece and I'm feeding them breakfast, snack, lunch snack, AND drinks on that...even buying off brands I'm getting very little for my time.

I know I should raise my rates to accomodate food costs, but I'm just too nervous to, afraid I will lose a couple families over it as they are struggling now and I certainly can't live without this income.

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I've learned to limit snacks. My kids would eat until I stopped feeding them!! Also, when they were super hungry, I find that they are not so hungry when given fruit or veggies. Our pm snack is usually at 4pm. They are picked up at 5:15, and I know they go home to have dinner after. They don't NEED to eat an entire bag of animal crackers before dinner! Also, the parents of the 2 year old bring him snacks to eat in the car....so I know they don't need a ton of food at 4pm!

Actually, I'm kind of like that with all meals. I put a little bit of everything on their plate. If they want seconds of anything, they have to eat everything on their plates. I'm not letting them fill up on their faves and not eat anything else. And I'm especially not going to let them gorge on their faves while wasting other food.

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when i got on the food program last year i was SHOCKED at how small portions really are. my kids will eat until its gone....lol
i limit the yummy stuff that i know they would eat tons of, but i offer unlimited amounts of veggies. when they realize thats their choice, suddenly theyre not so hungry anymore

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I don't have big eaters most days so I would do about 4 wafers and 3 wedges of apple per child. If I have a day where they want a little extra I would just do 1 or 2 more wafers.

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That's what I do

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I must be lucky, all my dck right now are very light snack eaters but bigger eaters at lunch, which I prefer that anyways. 1 apple here with peanut butter usually serves 3 kids. I usually serve maybe raisins with it though too, not just the apple and peanut butter.

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i agree with giving them an option for something else (something cheaper or not as tasty) incase they really are hungry. there is always the kid that would just eat until there was no more food in the house (i had one boy who would eat 4 whole sandwiches before i'd say NO MORE!) but usually if they say they're hungry then they are.

one good option is cinnamon bread - just toast with butter & cinnamon sprinkled on it. they love it - and here you can get a generic loaf of bread for $1.

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I dont always do seconds on snacks, for say a graham cracker and grapes, I give them each a bowl with 1 graham cracker, and half full of grapes, and when its gone its gone, to me a snack is just that a snack, otherwise theyd eat as much as they could, since snacks are generally yummier, I always offer two things for snacks, one always being fruit..........And I do spend $200 per week on groceries, ALOT! I used to be a great couponer, but just get to lazy now on my off time to match sales to coupons next month since I'm including sunday the 31st in my grocery days for november, I had to budget in $1000..........WOW. But its fine I spend the most money on my fruit, cause I use so much, i have 7 full time, and 3 part time school agers.

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my kids would eat me out of the house (so would my own children) if I allowed it. its like I can tell when the kids didn't eat at home because some days they eat like they've never seen food and other days they are picky. I also get an update from a mom who has her 18mon. weighed every once in a while and she has gained almost 10pounds since she started with me in feb (she needed to gain weight) it makes me feel good that the kids are gaining wieght and eating healthy

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