Our working relationship: Creating a recipe for success!

Gemma Morris: ‘We work together on ways we can use the produce we’ve been given; snacks, batch cooking, etc.’

What does your role involve?

I have been working at Marks Gate Nursery and Pre-school for six years now and no two days are the same. I’m with the children as much as possible, which is the highlight of my job, and I’m regularly needed for cover during morning, lunchtime and evening shifts. The children love to help me in my office, especially with a bit of photocopying – their favourite job!

How do you work together?

Conor, our chef, has been with us for one and a half years and he’s a real part of our team, cooking for both our children here and for our Farrance Road nursery. We plan our food orders together to cater for both nurseries and save money by using City Harvest – a food redistribution charity providing organisations with free food. We use the money we save to fund childcare for families who need more support, providing 15 extra nursery hours and a daily hot meal to some of our most vulnerable children.

Me and Conor also spend time looking at our menus, reviewing what children have enjoyed and what they didn’t seem so keen on, then Conor looks at ways to tweak the recipes to make them more appealing to our children while still keeping the nutritional balance, and of course we have lots of special dietary needs to cater for – no tomatoes, no strawberries, no egg, etc., with Conor adjusting ingredients in the recipes so children can still all enjoy the same meal – children are so observant; if their meal looks different to what’s on other children’s plates, they’ll let you know!

We also work together to organise our cookery workshops. Our ‘Cooking on a Budget’ workshops have been really well received. We plan these for when we have a bit of free kitchen time, with only three or four parents attending each session. We provide everything that’s needed plus extra ingredients for parents to take home with the recipe, so they get to take away the meal they made and also get to have another go at it later on.

What challenges have you faced?

Me and Conor work together on ways we can use the produce we’ve been given; snacks, batch cooking, etc. Once we were given this really big consignment of close-to-sell-by-date pickled onions, we thought whatever are we going to do with these, especially when Conor tried them and they were really strong – but Conor soaked them and then dried them all out, then put them in freezer bags and froze them – the kitchen smelt of pickled onions for a week. Now, when a recipe calls for onions, we swap these instead. The City Harvest food is left over from big companies and organisations like Amazon, Morrisons, Costco, and large sporting events, all destined for landfill.

We have the usual hiccups, such as a delivery not turning up, then we have to think about what can we swap around to make sure we’re giving the same meal. We also have to balance our accounts while ordering for two nurseries across two sites, but I can’t think of a time when we’ve ever had a disagreement about anything at all.

Why it works…

We’ve been running a food bank at our nursery since 2018. We were the first LEYF nursery to do so. We have two big bookcases in our reception area which we use to store food and hygiene products – we’re seeing a bigger need for this now than ever. We stock supplies from charity organisations such as City Harvest, Bloody Good Period, and Sal’s Shoes – all gratefully received.

Some of our parents who have benefited from our food bank go on to donate back to us when they get back on their feet. This is why having a really good chef who can provide well-balanced, nutritious meals for children, and who can pass on this knowledge to parents is so important.

Conor organises cooking activities for our children too, which they love. We have some cooking time each week, with everyone putting on their chef’s outfits and getting really stuck in. The recent pasta-making activity Conor put together was so much fun – messy, but fun. Children had a chance to mix, roll, use the big pasta machine, cut out dough and fill the pasta, and also find out how pasta is made. He helps with our staff meetings too, explaining, for example, the importance of portion control in relation to how much protein, carbs, etc. should go into snacks.

Conor Free: ‘I just get on with Gemma really well – we’re both on the same page. I do love this nursery’

What does your role involve?

My days start with all the kitchen checks, such as looking up the numbers of children to be catered for, what’s on the day’s menu, stock levels – do we have enough of everything I need? If we don’t, I’ll see what we do have and make the dish my own by adapting to what we have in. That’s part of the job I really like; looking at ways to improve our meals, keeping them interesting while always keeping in mind you’re cooking for children.

I like to spend a bit of time with the children every day if I can, and our cooking activities are always a highlight. Pizza-making is a real favourite. Our children love playdough, so playing with the pizza dough is not that much different. They get such a lot from these activities, learning how food is made, getting to use professional cooking tools, having a go at mixing, grating, measuring, etc. It’s important to keep children engaged, keeping it fun, not to lose their interest – that’s the secret, really.

I also have the responsibility of completing an audit of the eight nurseries in my group and seeing if any of the chefs need extra support. I’m also part of the process for recruiting new LEYF chefs. This not only includes the interview process, but also the settling-in period, with new chefs spending a week with me in our nursery here to get to know how everything works while getting support – it can be quite daunting at first.

How do you work together?

Gemma helps me sort out our City Harvest deliveries and gets imaginative with what we have on offer.

Gemma fully supports our families and community, organising activities, workshops, etc. One really cool event was last Christmas, when instead of a Secret Santa, we all had a whip-round and put our money together to buy some toys for our families most in need. We also put in lots of tinned food from our City Harvest deliveries. It was just a nice thing to do, especially at Christmas. In Barking and Dagenham, a lot of people don’t have jobs, so it’s good to give back as much as possible.

What challenges have you faced?

I suppose Gemma told you about our pickled onion delivery!

Why it works…

I have a really good working relationship with Gemma; I can go to her with any issues that might crop up. She gives me lots of advice with activity ideas, suggesting how to make them better by tailoring them to our children’s specific likes and interests. Gemma collaborates on the menus, which is a big part of what we do. It’s so important that we provide the very best, nutritious meals we can as we know from some of our families that buying healthy food can be difficult. It’s often the convenience foods, high in sugar, that are the more affordable options – our meals can be relied on to be healthy always.

I just get on with Gemma really well – we’re both on the same page. I do love this nursery. I definitely have no plans to move on.