Getting started with the Menu planning guidelines for long day care
What are they?
The Menu planning guidelines for long day care assist your long day care centre to plan a nutritious menu for 1–5 year old children. The guidelines are based on the Australian Dietary Guidelines.
Recommended serves
- Calculated on foods and drinks provided during morning tea, lunch, or afternoon tea only.
- Foods served during breakfast and late snack are additional to this requirement.
- See table 1 for guidance.
Children’s serves
- A ‘children’s serve’ refers to the amount of food from each food group that is appropriate for 1–5 year-old children.
- To be practical in the childcare setting, the children’s serve sizes have been adapted from the standard serve sizes in the Australian Dietary Guidelines.
- See table 2 for guidance.
If you provide food and drink to babies aged 6-12 months, use the Menu planning for babies resource alongside the Menu planning guidelines for long day care.
What you should know
Five food groups
All food and drinks provided should be based on the five ‘core’ food groups:
- Fruit
- Vegetables and legumes
- Grain (cereal foods)
- Dairy foods and alternatives
- Meat and meat alternatives
Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea
Should provide around 50% of daily intake.
Breakfast and/or late snack
Need to provide additional serves from the core food groups.
Drinks
- Water should be the main drink provided.
- Milk and milk alternatives are the only other suitable drinks.
What to avoid
- Added fat, sugar and salt should be limited.
- Discretionary food should not be provided.
Table 1: Recommended minimum serves
| Core food groups | Recommended minimum serves per child, per day | Variety of food per fortnight |
|---|---|---|
| Fruit | 1 | - At least 2–3 different types per day and 5 different types per week - Limit dried fruit to once per week |
| Vegetables and/or legumes | 1-1.5 | - At least 2–3 different types per day and 5 different types per week |
| Grain (cereal) foods | 2 | - Include high fibre (wholemeal and wholegrain) varieties at least 3 times per week, preferably every day |
| Milk, cheese, yoghurt and/or alternatives | 2 | - Regular full fat milk, yoghurts and cheese varieties should be used between the ages of 1–2 years - After 2 years of age, reduced fat varieties of milk and alternatives are suitable |
| Lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds and legumes/beans | 1 | - Lean red meat 4 times per fortnight - Lean pork or poultry 2 times per fortnight - Fish 1-2 times per fortnight - Lean ham or shortcut bacon are limited to being offered once or twice per week |
* Some hard, raw fruit and vegetables such as carrot, celery and apple may need to be cooked, mashed, grated or very finely sliced to reduce risk of choking .
Table 2: What is a children's serve?
| Core food groups | One children's serve is |
|---|---|
| Fruit | - 75g fresh fruit (1 small piece, ½ medium piece or equivalent amount of 2–3 types) - 75g (½ cup) diced, cooked or canned in natural juice (drained), frozen fruit - 15g dried fruit (once per week) |
| Vegetables and/or legumes | - 75g fresh, frozen, canned (drained) or ½ cup cooked vegetables - 1 cup salad - ½ medium potato - 30g dry weight beans or legumes or - 75g (½ cup) cooked or canned beans or legumes |
| Grain (cereal) foods | - 40g bread (1 slice, ½ medium roll or flatbread) - 1 crumpet or ½ English muffin - 30g breakfast cereal (⅔ cup), 2 Weetbix™ or similar, ⅓ cup oats - 30g dry/uncooked (½ cup if cooked) rice, pasta, noodles, couscous, barley, buckwheat, semolina, cornmeal, quinoa, polenta - 30g flour (¼ cup) - 35g crispbread (3–4 cracker biscuits or crispbread, 3 thick rice cakes, 6 thin rice cakes or corn thins, 12 plain rice crackers) - 75g (½ medium) potato - can be counted as grain food if the menu already meets minimum vegetable requirements |
| Milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or alternatives | - 100mL milk/calcium fortified soy or rice drink - 50mL evaporated milk - 15g milk powder - 100mL custard - 80g yoghurt/calcium fortified soy yoghurt - 15g hard cheese (1 slice) - 50g ricotta cheese |
| Lean meat, poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts, seeds and legumes/beans | - 50g raw lean red meat (e.g. beef, lamb, kangaroo, lean pork or poultry) without the bone - 30g lean cooked red meat - 40g cooked chicken (skin off) - 60g raw fish - 50g canned or cooked fish - 1 egg - 35g dry weight beans or legumes or - 85g (½ cup) cooked or canned (drained) beans or legumes - 15g peanut butter or nuts (if centre policy allows) - 20g dry weight Textured Vegetable Protein - 85g tofu - 60g hummus |
* Some hard, raw fruit and vegetables such as carrot, celery and apple may need to be cooked, mashed, grated or very finely sliced to reduce risk of choking .
For more information please phone 1300 22 52 88 or email heas@nnf.org.au
Except where otherwise indicated, the images in this document show models and illustrative settings only, and do not necessarily depict actual services, facilities or recipients of services. This document may contain images of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In this document, ‘Aboriginal’ refers to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. ‘Indigenous’ or ‘Koori/Koorie’ is retained when part of the title of a report, program or quotation. Copyright © State of Victoria 2016
Written and reviewed by dietitians and nutritionists at National Nutrition Foundation, with support from the Victorian Government.
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