Our Food

Winner of Best Nursery Food - Nursery World 2010

Little Monkey’s prides itself on providing high quality food. Our menu is developed by Janis who makes sure that the children receive maximum nutrition and taste. Janis feels that making sure the children receive a good well balanced, healthy diet, containing lots of essential fatty acids, fruit, vegetables and lean meat/poultry, is vital for the children growth and well being.

Our food is all freshly cooked each day and organic/GM free*. We cater for all dietary requirements and allergies, and no one is expected to eat food they do not like.

We have just recently introduced a breakfast club from 8am to 8:30am which is very popular as it help with your daily working life. We offer a selection of organic cereals, homemade granola, homemade muesli, yogurts and fresh juices.'

We offer a take-away service for Nursery clients. So should you get stuck for dinner you are able to order something for your little one with us and then collect it when you pick up your child.

'The eating areas in the nurseries have been specially designed so that your child feels comfortable at mealtimes. The staff interact with the children during this time helping to encourage them to try new things.

Please have a look at our sample menu attached, which gives you a good idea of the food that is provided at Little Monkey's.

*Wherever possible our food is organic and we rely on our local suppliers to help keep these standards.

Food Testimonials

Overall I love the food!

I’m delighted with the food which Little Monkeys prepares for my daughter. Here are a few reasons why:

Weaning: ****** joined the nursery just as she was beginning the weaning process, and I must say that Little Monkeys made it very easy for us. As she in nursery full time, LM had to do the lion’s share of weaning, but we felt that we had full control of the whole process because we introduced different foods to her over the weekends, and nursery gave her only those foods which she had tried at home with us first, so we had the pleasure of introducing new foods and seeing how she reacted. Nursery made great recommendations about when to add things in to her diet, and at the end of each day give us a full debrief of what she had to eat, and most importantly, how she enjoyed it. We are lucky to have a child who loves her food, and I credit this to LM because they have such a positive attitude to food, and honour parents wishes towards food for their kids.

Quality of food: ****** eats a huge variety of food at nursery and probably has a more diverse diet than her parents! I love that the nursery produces good home-cooked seasonal food rather than a set menu plan which is repetitive and dull for kids. The food is freshly prepared from fresh ingredients, rather than relying on processed foods. I like that the nursery gets the kids involved in making food too – although ****** is a little on the small side to make a meaningful contribution to kids cookery efforts, I regularly smell, see and taste the efforts of the older kids – and they are clearly pleased to have been involved in making things, as well as making tasty treats! I haven’t used the takeaway service but I appreciate the availability of takeaway food. For busy parents who don’t want to spend their days rustling up organic meals from scratch, this must be a godsend. The staff have really taken an interest in what my daughter likes to eat, and I was delighted with their enthusiasm one day when they had given her some little tangerine segments for the first time. I’m not sure who enjoyed it more – ****** or the staff watching her eating the segments!

Learning how to eat: I like that eating is taken seriously as an activity at nursery and used to develop childrens’ social skills. When I first visited LM before we had chosen a nursery, I was extremely impressed to have been in one of the rooms just as a fresh fruit snack was brought in to the room. All of the children got up and headed for the tables and chairs, and they sat expectantly waiting on their fruit. They were smiling and interacting with one another, and happily munching on their snacks – I hope that this will rub off on ****** and that she continues to be a sociable eater too! She is not yet eating by herself independently, but is in the process of learning how to eat and drink by herself. The types of snacks that she is being given has really helped her manual dexterity.

Overall, I love the food that ****** is eating at nursery, and I love the way that she is being introduced to food, with all the social activity that should accompany eating. For us as parents, eating is an important family activity and I’m so glad that LM feel the same way about it. Their sense of pride in how our daughter eats makes us believe that they share our view that food is about more than just fuel! I only wish that LM would make my dinner for me too.

Encouraged Food Tasting

My children have attended Little Monkeys Nursery since June 2007. Janis Crutch has devised a menu for Little Monkeys which has educated my children into tasting and eating a wide range of healthy and well balanced food from various cultures. The children have learnt about the food as well as eaten the food, often knowing the name and how and where the food has originated. I have asked Janis for many a recipe following a request from my children for their favoured meal!

Both my children love to cook and do so at the nursery regularly, this has developed their motor skills enormously, learning how to pour and measure weights of ingredients. During the spring/summer Little Monkeys have also taught my children to grow their own vegetables and actually cook with the produce and or take this home for our family.

Little Monkeys have encouraged food tasting sessions providing an adventure experiencing alternative tastes and textures. This has taught the children to never be afraid to try anything and given them a maturity in their attitude towards food, we are so lucky !

The menu is always varied and interesting

My daughter has been attending Little Monkey’s Nursery for a year now, and one of the attractions for us was knowing that she was going to be fed a wide range of organic, home cooked meals and typically receive two hot meals a day rather than a snack tea that so many others do.

The reality far outweighs our expectations. The menu for the week is always varied and interesting – for many of the meals we have to ask for a description as they sound so exotic. Frequently my husband complains that his daughter has a wide and varied diet with gorgeous food whilst all he has is a shop bought sandwich. As a result, Isla will eat anything and everything – from beef and chickpea curry (a real winner) to homemade fish pie, Caribbean chicken or lasagne, with snacks of croissant, humus and dip or blueberry muffin. Although I am not a nutritionist, I have a fair understanding and a healthy interest in what my child eats, and the variety of nutrients, balanced fats and food groups that Janice uses to plan her menus ensure the children have a very healthy diet with no salt in sight.

There is one down side to this though. At the weekend, the look on my daughters face when I serve up lunch or tea is one of pure disgust and really shows up my incompetence as a cook – thank goodness for Janice’s takeaways...

I wish I ate at Little Monkeys every day!

As a mother of a child which suffers from EXTREME dairy allergies (soya included) my child is probably every nursery’s worse nightmare in terms of providing regular meals. *****, my child, was diagnosed with a dairy allergy at the age of 12 months, that is so extreme he cannot also eat Soya or any other substitute. (ending up at GOSH) However, Little Monkeys have ALWAYS provided ***** a fantastic array of meals and snacks! LM adapt their menu when ***** attends the nursery (Monday’s, Wednesdays and Thursdays) so that he eats the same meals as the other children in the nursery and doesn’t feel excluded. When the other children have ice – cream, LM have purchased (at their expense) non dairy ice- cream! When the other children have chocolate, LM have purchased (again at their expense) no dairy chocolate! And so I go on. The cost of non dairy food is double if not triple the cost of regular food and at NO point has this been an issue. At no point have LM indicated the allergy is an issue. In fact I would say they cook for ***** an amazing diet that he LOVES and enjoys! You wouldn’t even notice he had an allergy!! LM also bake using his special butter/spread so that he can enjoy cakes, biscuits and other delights!

I wish I ate at LM every day!!! He brings home cakes that are absolutely gorgeous and his daily meal chart looks absolutely yummy!!!

Parents are jealous of the kid's mealtimes

The menus at Little Monkeys are amazingly varied including dishes from all over the world that make us parents very jealous of the kids' mealtimes. My daughter's palate has developed massively as a result and she now has a keen interest in and taste for all types of food. She particularly enjoys the tasting sessions they do (e.g. french cheeses and italian food) and obviously any cooking that creates biscuits and cakes. She eats vegetables without quibbling and even enjoys salad! It's made mealtimes at home much more enjoyable for the whole family. We are all waiting for the Little Monkeys cook book to be published so we can share it with friends and family.

Really happy with the variety and range of foods

Being a working mum it’s important for me to know that my little one is getting healthy, balanced meals and that he’s eating a variety of foods. I want to make sure he’s getting the kind of fresh foods that ideally I’d be able to cook for him. For me it’s also very important that he eats “normal” food, that is not just kids meals. I’m really happy with the variety and range of foods that is available at Little Monkey’s and it means my son has a really great appetite and loves all kinds of foods. He will try most things which makes meal times very easy especially when we’re out and about as I know there will always be something on the menu he’ll like.