Nursery World - Cost-of-living crisis impacts settings' abilities to provide healthy meals

Nurseries, pre-schools and childminders are struggling to provide healthy and nutritious meals due to rising food costs, warns new research from the Early Years Alliance (EYA) and LEYF.

The research from the EYA and LEYF reveals the struggle many childcare providers are facing to provide nutritious meals due to rising living costs, PHOTO: Adobe Stock

The findings, which are based on a survey that received 500 responses, along with two focus groups, reveal:

Despite these actions, over half of respondents (56 per cent) said they have no option but to pass costs onto parents, with nearly one in three (28 per cent) having to charge families more for meals and snacks, and the same proportion forced to charge families more in fees.

One respondent said, ‘We've recently had to introduce a snack fee to help cover increasing costs, we didn't like doing so but it was unavoidable. It has helped us buy and serve a wider range of snack and breakfast food, review our provision overall and also to provide a healthy lunch once a half term as an example to the children and parents/carers.’

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