Early Childcare Menu Support
Practical resources, menu reviews, training and a supportive community to help early childcare services supply nourishing menus to children in their care.
![Young children at a table in an early childcare service with plastic cups and plates of fruit.](https://www.healthpromotion.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Main-page-image-1.jpg)
Helping you to plan nourishing menus for the children in your care
Infancy and early childhood is an important time for focusing on nutrition and obesity prevention strategies, as food preferences and eating habits are established during this time and are often retained into adulthood. The early childhood education and care setting provides a wonderful opportunity to introduce children to a wide range of nourishing foods and to limit their intake of discretionary foods.
Central Coast Local Health District’s Nutrition Service works with Central Coast Health Promotion Service to support our local early childhood services to ensure their menus meet the nutritional needs of the children in their care. We offer menu planning resources, menu review services, and training opportunities. We also provide regular, ongoing support through our Cooks Network meetings, Cooks Corner e-newsletter, Ask the Dietitian service and local childcare recipe bank.
Healthy menu support
Early Childcare Healthy Menu Planning Essentials course
Are you new to menu planning in the early childcare setting? Do you want a refresher on how to plan nourishing menus for early childcare? Are you wanting to meet Munch & Move practices in relation to cook training?
Then register for our Early Childcare Healthy Menu Planning Essentials course.
![A screenshot of the Healthy Menu Planning Essentials course start screen.](https://www.healthpromotion.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Menu-planning-essentials-course.png)
What is it?
The course is a self-paced online course for cooks and other interested early childcare service staff. The interactive modules can be done on smartphones, tablets or computer and range in length from 10 to 30 mins.
What do participants say?
“Loved how interactive it was and better than sitting in a workshop.”
“Easy, informative, enjoyable.”
You can also access additional healthy menu planning training courses on subjects such as identifying picky eaters and managing food allergies in the kitchen.
Menu planning FAQs
Got a childcare menu-related question? Check out our Early Childcare Menu Planning Frequently Asked Questions page. It has answers to frequent and important questions we receive and gives you the opportunity to submit your own question.
Healthy early childhood recipes
Cook of the Year Award
Our popular Central Coast Early Childhood Education and Care Service Cook of the Year Award is back in 2024.
The Cook of the Year will win a $300 voucher for kitchen supplies and their service will win a children’s cooking pack and set of food-related storybooks. The winner will be announced at our final Cooks Network meeting for 2024 on Monday 11 November.
Who is eligible?
Any cook whose childcare menu has been awarded a Central Coast Local Health District Healthy Menu Award since November 2023 is eligible to enter. If your menu hasn’t been awarded a Healthy Menu Award since 1 November 2023, send it in for a review by the Central Coast Public Health Nutrition team so you don’t miss out!
![A smiling woman in a chef's outfit with healthy ingredients up in the air around her.](https://www.healthpromotion.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Cook-of-the-Year.jpg)
Other pages you might be interested in
Latest News
![Nigel Tebb on his bicycle outside the Central Coast Clinical School and Research Institute building.](https://www.healthpromotion.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Nigel-Tebb-on-his-bicycle-outside-the-Central-Coast-Clinical-School-and-Research-Institute-building-1024x768.jpg)
![](https://www.healthpromotion.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Dylan-Peraic-Cullen-with-child-from-The-Kindiclub-Preschool-1024x772.jpg)
Preschool children to get moving like our champion Mariners
![One of the No smoking means no vaping campaign materials.](https://www.healthpromotion.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/No-smoking-means-no-vaping-1024x576.jpg)