At Rainbow we serve morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and dried fruits before going home.
We take great pride and responsibility in feeding your child because we know that 
good nutrition is the foundation for a healthy happy child who will flourish and develop.
Our food is cooked and prepared fresh, everyday. We have created a diverse range of exciting meals that are wholesome and nutritious. We avoid anything with added sugar or salt, and do not add it to our own meals.
We do not serve any meat in the nursery, nor do we allow meat to be brought onto the premises. This means that any families who wish to keep milk and meat separate can confidently use our provision, knowing that these dietary requirements are maintained. Our menus are carefully planned to ensure that children are able to obtain the right levels of iron and protein from other sources within the menu offering.
Because we do not serve meat, or diary products; Cassie Moore, a nutritionist, has written this article specially for us about sources of protein, iron and how to maintain a balanced and healthy diet for children on our menus! Click here to read it!
Our food contains nothing processed, everything is freshly prepared, and freshly delivered. We use only seasonal vegetables, and raw ingredients to prepare our meal and snacks.
We have a guide menu, which we follow, on a two-week cycle, but this can often changed, based on the fresh vegetables and subject to our suppliers deliveries we sometimes change things around. The catering team also gathers daily feedback from each group and often makes incremental changes based on children’s preferences.
We expect children to eat breakfast at home before the gan day starts, we do not offer a breakfast alternative. Our morning snack is served to colour groups 1 or 2 groups at a time, and the times slightly vary in each group. But generally morning snack is between 8:30 and 9:30. During morning snack we offer the children two types of seasonal vegetables, which we slice. The children are able to eat as many vegetables pieces as they wish, the older children chop and slice the vegetables independently with adult support, and with the younger children we prepare the snack with the children. The vegetables are served with wholemeal bread and tehina.
Our lunches include rice, lentils, beans, patties, fish, polenta, pulses, cooked and baked vegetables, and exciting combinations of food! Click here to view our menu. We also cater for any specified diets, such as gluten free, vegan, no-carb etc! Just ask – and we will make it happen. Lunch is served between 11:15 and 12:30 – times vary slightly in each group, and each colour group. Please check the schedule in your child’s room for the exact times your child eats.
Our afternoon snack is usually when the children wake up. Afternoon snacks are served in each group between 1:45 and 3:15. In most groups, when the children wake up, they head to the snack table before resuming their play and afternoon activities. This means that the snack table/s run over the period of an hour to an hour and half in each classroom, as children tend to wake up at slightly different times, in accordance with their own body clocks! Our afternoon snack always has two seasonal fruits, which we slice and dice with the children, and as with the morning snack, the older children prepare their snack more independently. Along with their snack, the children will often have ‘baked goods’ that they, or their class mates have cooked in the mitbachon during the morning. This may be flapjacks, carrot muffins, fruit strudel or another crazy-healthy recipe that they have created in the kitchenette! When the children have not baked themselves, we supplement their fruit with
The menu is always written on the white board in the lobby, so when you come into the building, you can see the exact lunch for the day.
As stated above, we use a two-weekly rotating menu to ensure children are offered variety. Our menus are also changed and updated on a regular basis.
Our staff sit with children at mealtimes to encourage good eating habits and the appropriate social skills. We want to install a passion for healthy eating that children can carry through the next stages of their life. Health and Safety and Food Hygiene are reflected in all practices while we prepare snacks and meals.
Menus
Here are our current menus, they run on a two-week cycle:
Week 1:
Week 2:
On Erev Chag (half days before Jewish festivals) we always have a festive (early) lunch of falafel (baked), Israeli salad and ‘chips’ (roast potatoes cut into the shape of chips and cooked in the oven)….
Weaning
When babies start weaning, their meals can be pureed or mashed accordingly, although we prefer (with parents’ permission) to provide children with foods that they can ‘hold’ if so that we follow the ‘self-weaning’ method. We will discuss weaning with you in detail, if this relates to your child. Our weaning options can be seen on our menus, and are discussed with parents, so that additional foods can be added according to your weaning preferences.
Drinks
Every child also has their own ‘water bottle’ (or cup!) that is filled up with fresh drinking water. This is constantly available for children throughout the day on the drinks trolleys in the classrooms. We only serve water at the gan, and do not have juices or any other drinks!
Food and snacks before and after gan
Its normal and natural that your children will want to eat shortly after pick up. However, we ask that you do not open food or start to give snacks whilst on the gan premises. We have dedicated eating areas inside each classroom, and we do not allow the children to walk around eating, as we are sure you don’t at home! However, when parents give snacks on the way out of the gan, the children learn that walking around in the gan space with food is acceptable; and in our view it isn’t! In addition, having food crumbs, apple cores, pieces of cake dropped all round the building, on staircases and around the corridors is unhygienic! Therefore, we ask please wait until you have left our premises to provide any food or snacks to your children.
We ask that you also do not enter the gan in morning while your child is still snacking. We ask parents to avoid removing snacks from children just before entering the building in the mornings, as this can make children very upset, and provide for an unsettled start to the day. We therefore advise, that you allow your child to finish snacks well before arriving at the gan gates. There are some very pleasant steps across the road, next to Maze 9, which could provide a lovely seating area for finishing off snacks prior to approaching the building.