Food delivery and preparation#

KidsCan delivers ingredients in meal packs to participating early learning services. Deliveries are usually weekly. For some rural or isolated services, deliveries may happen once a fortnight. If necessary, KidsCan can consider a different delivery timeframe for your service.

The meals are prepared and served on-site. Early learning service staff are not funded by the programme.

Preparation and cooking times#

Many meal options are designed to require minimal preparation and handling by early learning service staff or volunteers. This makes them suitable for services with limited staff capacity or those in rural locations. The preparation and cooking time varies from 15 minutes to 1 hour depending on the recipe selected.

For example:

• the frozen meal lasagne with vegetables only requires reheating and serving with a side of cooked vegetables
• the egg fried rice with eggs, mixed vegetables, brown rice and soy sauce is ready to serve in minutes.

Your early learning service will need to manage the time required to:

• order
• prepare and cook meals
• clean.

How to order the food#

The KidsCan online portal lets early learning services select recipe choices on an 8-week cycle. Orders will be based on the number of 2 to 5-year-olds attending daily.

Nutrition and portion sizes#

KidsCan are required to provide nutritious, balanced meals to early learning services. Research shows good nutrition is one of the key factors affecting early brain development. Supporting good nutrition helps children reach their potential.

The KidsCan ECE Programme Food Guidelines were developed in collaboration with the Heart Foundation. The meals are designed to be easy to prepare and nutritionally balanced. KidsCan’s 8-week menu cycle makes best use of seasonal produce.

The meal components of the programme focus on delivering substantial and varied lunch options. This includes a balanced mix of:

• proteins
• carbohydrates
• vegetables.

In addition to the main lunch meal, your early learning service will also receive items like fruit and yoghurt, which can be served as morning tea.

KidsCan provide guidance on portion sizes in accordance with nutritional guideline standards.

Types of meals#

The ECE Food Programme provides a diverse selection of nutritious meals tailored to meet the needs of tamariki | young children.

Some examples of meals are:

• shepherd’s pie made with pre-cooked mince, mixed vegetables and mashed kumara and potatoes
• vegetable fritters, made with grated kumara and mixed vegetables
• egg fried rice
• ravioli with vegetables.

Dietary needs#

Early learning services are responsible for delivering speciality meals for medical or religious reasons. You can select options that cater to children’s dietary needs in the online ordering portal. This includes recipes that are:

• culturally appropriate, such as Halal
• vegetarian
• dairy-free.

Surplus and waste food#

Surplus food is food that is ordered and not eaten. Waste is food that is partially eaten.

Surplus and food will not be measured for this programme, as there are processes in place to limit the amount of surplus produced.

We also recognise that some level of food waste is inevitable when feeding very young children as their tastes change and adapt quickly at times.

Minimise surplus food#

Your service can minimise surplus food by tailoring the amount of food prepared for the number of 2 to 5-year-olds who attend each day. You can also use leftovers the next day. Guidance on safe reheating is provided by KidsCan.

When ordering, you can report any unused shelf stable or frozen ingredients left over from your previous order.