HEAS is on the hunt for the best nutritious recipes in Victorian long day care centres

The Healthy Eating Advisory Service (HEAS) is running a competition to find the best recipes in Victoria’s long day care settings with exciting prizes from Bunnings, MTA and the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation on offer. 

 

“Long day care centres do a fantastic job in providing and teaching children about nutrition and healthier food and drink options,” said dietitian and HEAS Program Manager Margaret Rozman.

 

“We know that around 46 per cent of children aged two to five years regularly attend formal care, such as long day care, spending an average of 30.9 hours in care every week. For children attending care for eight hours a day the majority of their daily meals and snacks are provided in care,” she added.

 

HEAS is looking for recipes across several categories in a bid to celebrate the importance of nutritious food provision and education in helping to establish healthy food and drink habits in young children, namely: 

 

1. Fun with fruit and veg – how do you creatively incorporate these ingredients into your recipe?
2. Celebrating culture – how do you celebrate cultural diversity at your centre through food?
3. Connecting kitchen to garden – how do you integrate your garden into your recipes?
4. Cheap and cheerful – what’s your go-to recipe for ensuring you stay on budget?
5. Cooking with kids – share your favourite classroom cooking activity and recipe.
6. Wastage warriors – how do you take care of the planet in your kitchen? Share your sustainable and waste-reducing recipes.

 

Ms Rozman hopes the competition will be seen by the sector as “a fun and creative way to celebrate the importance of this food provision and education, and the hard-working people that deliver it.” 

 

Prizes on offer include: 

 

1. Fun with fruit and veg – $400 Good Guys gift card
2. Celebrating culture – $400 Koori Curriculum gift card
3. Connecting kitchen to garden – Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation (SAKGF) – Early Childhood Kitchen Garden Program Classroom membership and Kitchen Garden Cooking with Kids by Stephanie Alexander valued at $350 (sponsored by SAKGF)
4. Cheap and cheerful – $400 Kitchen Warehouse gift card
5. Cooking in the classroom – $250 Modern Teaching Aids voucher (sponsored by Modern Teaching Aids) + $150 Good Guys gift card
6. Wastage warriors – $400 Bunnings Warehouse gift card.

 

In addition, as a celebration of the wonderful recipes received, HEAS will be compiling a recipe book of the most creative, nutritious and inspiring submissions.