Food made with care, every day
Our service has an onsite chef who prepares fresh, nutritious and delicious meals each day to support children's wellbeing and development.
Our cook’s approach is straightforward: seasonal ingredients, made from scratch, nothing from a packet. Every menu is planned around what's fresh, what's in the garden and what growing bodies actually need.
Nutrition
Menus rotate seasonally and change based on what's ready in the garden. Here's a recent week as an example.
A taste of the week
Monday
Morning tea: Yoghurt served with mixed berries
Lunch: Gourmet sandwiches and wraps eg turkey, cranberry and lettuce
Afternoon tea: Fresh seasonal fruit platters served with crackers
Tuesday
Morning tea: Fresh seasonal fruit platters served with crackers
Lunch: Creamy fettucini carbonara
Afternoon tea: Date loaf served with apple slices
Wednesday
Morning tea: Fruit bread served with melon slices
Lunch: Teriyaki chicken served with steamed rice and vegetables
Afternoon tea: Fresh seasonal fruit platters served with crackers
Thursday
Morning tea: Fresh seasonal fruit platters served with crackers
Lunch: Vegetarian pasta bake with mushroom, zucchini, spinach and carrot
Afternoon tea: Rice cakes with chia berry jam and banana
Friday
Morning tea: Fresh seasonal fruit platters served with sultanas
Lunch: Turkish bread pizzas
Afternoon tea: Mixed berry cake served with apple slices
Menus rotate with the seasons. All dietaries are accommodated for.
Children don't just learn about where food comes from, they grow it.
Our on-site vegetable gardens are tended by the children themselves: planting, watering, watching and eventually harvesting produce that makes it straight to the kitchen, and ends up on the menu that week.
Children who grow their own food eat it differently: with curiosity, ownership and, more often than not, a lot of pride.
From garden to plate
Mealtimes are unhurried and communal. Children sit together with their educators (not at a separate adults' table) and eat the same food. Children serve themselves, and wash their dishes after.
Here, conversations happen. The table becomes a place children want to be. We don't rush this. Eating together is one of the oldest ways humans build connection, and we treat it accordingly.
We also use it as a valuable time to discuss nutrition and build positive relationships with food.
Mealtimes that matter
Every child, every need, covered
We cater for a full range of dietary requirements: allergies, intolerances, cultural and religious needs and family preferences.
Nothing is an inconvenience.
If it’s not grown, it’s locally sourced
For anything we can’t grow in our garden, we buy from local and regional suppliers where we can. Fresher for the children, better for the community.
What you'll never find on our menu
No pre-packaged food: Everything is made from scratch on-site. If it comes from a packet, it doesn't come from our kitchen.
No salty, sugary or processed snacks: Morning and afternoon tea are whole food: fruit, dairy, wholegrains.