Healthy Eating

Eating well is essential for children in their early years to ensure healthy growth and development. Good nutrition in early years is more important now than ever. Early years settings provide an ideal opportunity to encourage young children to eat well and learn about food. This not only helps protect their health while young but also sets the foundations for their future health and wellbeing. 

Eating Well for Under 5s training

This course run by the Healthy Under 5s team, will help you to understand the nutritional needs of children and is recommended for all settings including those who provide meals, snacks or drinks to babies and children up to five years.

• Eating Well for Under 5s dates and booking form
• Early Start Nutrition online menu planning training

Menu planning and meal ideas

• Eat Better Start better Voluntary Food and Drink Guidelines for Early Years Settings | The Foundation Years
• Menu planning tool (full menu) | Healthy Under 5s
• Menu planning tool (snack only) | Healthy Under 5s
• Two week example menu | Healthy Under 5s
• Healthy breakfast ideas pdf | Healthy Under 5s
• Healthy snack ideas pdf | Healthy Under 5s
• Healthy lunchbox ideas pdf | Healthy Under 5s
• Portion sizes pdf | Healthy Under 5s
• Detailed portion size guide (9 months - 6 years) | Healthy Under 5s
• Food facts | Change 4 Life
• Meal ideas | Change 4 Life
• Lunchbox ideas | Change 4 Life
• Recipes and meal ideas | NHS Start 4 Life

Recipes

Weaning

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Snacks

Puddings

Allergen and food safety

• Allergen Chart pdf
• Allergen recipe cards

Food safety management procedures and food hygiene regulations for small businesses

• Food hygiene training and other courses | Cornwall Council
• Safer food, better business pack | Cornwall Council

Sugar Smart

SUGAR SMART is a campaign run by Sustain that aims to help organisations reduce the amount of sugar we all consume.

• Join Sugar Smart | Visit the SUGAR SMART website to sign up.

Once you sign up you will receive a ‘Sugar Smart UK: registration confirmation’ email. Your account is now active and you can explore the Sugar Smart website and pledge your SUGAR SMART actions! You can choose from 14 pledges to work towards.  Pick at least 3 pledges to become an official SUGAR SMART setting. Things such as set a SUGAR SMART challenge, replace sugary items with healthier options, install water points and promote drinking water as the number one drink and most importantly promote and spread the word to reduce the amount of sugar in all our diets.

Healthy Start

• Healthy start vouchers | A Government scheme to offer vouchers and vitamins to those families on a low income that can be shared with families

Vitamin D explained

Fussy eating

• Fussy eaters | NHS
• Child feeding guide | Loughborough University 
• Learn, play, eat app
• Fussy eating in children webinars | NHS 

Using seasonal veg

80% of our kids are not eating enough vegetables. Veg Power is on a mission to inspire kids from early years through primary school and into their teens to veggie loving habits they will keep for life and in turn share with their children 

• Veg Power
• What's in season? Check out the seasonal veg calendar

Seasonal recipe for June using courgettes!

Healthy eating resources and useful websites

Excellent resources written by nutrition experts that cover eating well from pre-conception to five years.

• Ready, Steady, Eat! Introducing solid foods to your baby | Cornwall Council
• Eating well resources | First Steps Nutrition
• Essential guide to feeding and caring for your baby | Real Baby Milk
• Activity ideas for 3-5 years | Food a Fact of Life
• Healthy eating factsheets | Little Foodie
• School gardening | Royal Horticultural Society
• Let's get cooking recipes | British Dietetic Association