BACK TO SCHOOL: WHAT DO OUR CHILDREN EAT IN THE CANTEENS? - PARENTHOOD

Back to school and school canteens: how is the nutrition of our children at school?

September arrives and with it the chronic lack of time for anything. The daily routine between work and family is back: in all this bustle it often becomes impossible to have lunch with the children.
The alternative for our school-age children's lunches is the school canteen.
And then it is natural to ask: how are they organized? How are their menus? How do they prepare them? What are the nutritional needs of a child?
We will try to answer all these questions!

The nutritional needs of children

A balanced and varied diet is essential for children of school age: it is in fact a determining age for the psychophysical development of the child, for his motor and intellectual faculties.
For boys between 6 and 10 years, depending on age, a diet between 1900 and 2150 kcal is recommended, for girls between 1700 and 1880.

How does the kitchen work?

Sometimes it is a "food company specialized in supplying food to school canteens, which is in charge of and responsible for the preparation and distribution of food. Other times, however, the kitchen is internal, with the school cooks."

In both cases, certain standards regarding food preparation and hygiene methods must be strictly observed.
These standards are: periodically washing hands with antibacterial soap, cleaning and disinfecting the kitchen after each daily meal, checking the correct food refrigeration system and preparing a varied and balanced menu, which also includes milk or yogurt and fruit every day.

The canteen menu must be prepared by a nutritionist.

Information for parents

It is essential that parents know the school menus in detail: how they are prepared, with which ingredients, with which dietary table at the base, which food company takes care of them or who the school cooks are. Knowing the canteen menu is also useful for parents to prepare something different for dinner in order to guarantee a certain variety in meals.

For parents who request it, the school company or the internal kitchen should also be able to provide a detailed food table of the weekly menu, also and above all in relation to any food allergies or intolerances of the child. Communication about the latter to the school staff it is parental responsibility, it is then the responsibility of the school staff to ensure that the child is offered a menu suited to his needs, replacing the foods he cannot take.

The advantages of the school canteen

In addition to making things much easier for parents who work and have office hours, the school canteen can offer many other benefits, even for children:

It offers a varied weekly menu with the necessary nutritional intake for the child;
Help children eat everything on their plate and start eating new foods they haven't tried before, especially those they would tend to avoid at home, such as vegetables, fish and legumes.
It helps to establish a dietary routine that children must respect, thus also providing an "education in this sense:
It promotes socialization and integration among children, who will increasingly conceive lunch as a convivial moment;
It helps to educate children about hygiene and good behavior at the table, by following a few simple rules: wash your hands before and after eating, brush your teeth, sit upright and do not eat with your mouth open or with your hands.

We hope that with this article you can sleep more peacefully when leaving your child at school for lunch too! Children can eat well not only at home and not only with their mother's menu: therefore, no mistrust!

See also:
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Traveling with a newborn: everything you absolutely need to know!