Healthy Food For Kids At Farmer Palmers

Healthy Food For Kids At Farmer Palmers is something our team are passionate about. Ensuring adults have energy to keep up with the children is also key! This blog is about some of the things we already do, what we can change and what we can not. If an option does not appear on our menu or specials board please speak to a member of our adult team. Here are some questions our visitors asked.

Healthy Food For Kids At Farmer Palmers Talks About Sugar v Saccharine

Low sugar – happy children, even happier parents

“Hi there … the options of lower sugar foods in kids lunch boxes aren’t there. There is always the “mummy” pressure that we get put under of “I want this or that” but I, much like many of my friends are super sugar conscious when it comes to our tots.

I hear the hot food is great but haven’t indulged to try as even a small yogurt for my tot has as much as a quarter of their daily recommended intake of sugar for one small yogurt. I would love there to be a few more options so we can leave our sandwiches at home! …. Thanks for all the great memories and friendly staff!  (Shortened version)

Here’s What I know about Sugar

We know how passionate parents are to do the right thing. Sugar is a sticky subject! We all know sugar causes spikes in blood sugar levels, which can create imbalances leading to chronic health problems. It can also affect behavior, attention, and learning, but did you know it actually depresses the immune system?

What about all the “natural sweeteners” on the market? We are led to believe they are healthy sweet alternatives for kids.

There are many sweeteners on the market that could be considered natural but to put a fine point on it, it’s still sugar affecting blood sugar levels while adding minimal or no nutrition to your child’s diet.

Moderation is the key. When you give your children sweets, it’s a good idea to provide high quality fats and protein along with it to slow the release of sugar into the bloodstream.

We Try To Supply The Best We Can Find.

Our little star yogurts sugar content is 5.6g per pot = 6% of RDA.

Due to supply issues, we are currently using ‘Little Yeos’ fruity fromage frais which already has a lower sugar content of 3.9g per pot. These have fewer calories, sugar and are organic with no artificial sweeteners.

Having spoken to all of our commercial suppliers, there is no other yogurt available at a lower sugar content than these Yeos. Unless you know differently! We can offer homemade jellies that we could make sugar free, but these will have artificial sweeteners, which I would imagine most parents would not be keen on either. Extra fruit is always an option and as the season progresses we will have grape pots and mixed berries available too. We would just have to re-cost our current lunchbox offer if this was to be offered as an alternative as they are quite expensive per portion.

Healthy Food For Kids At Farmer Palmers Talks About Choices

I’m 2 years old, I don’t eat Chips, What Else Can I Have?

“Any chance of introducing another potato option such as waffles, smiley faces or mash. This would allow me to get value and a full hot meal that my daughter will eat. Keep up the good work”

Our Reply

We always have the option of half a jacket potato each day and mashed potato available some days

We can short order the following, on request:

1. Rice
2. Plain cooked pasta (the same pasta we use for the macaroni cheese every day, without the sauce)

We have been asked for waffles/smiley faces but feel this is not something we would offer due to them being such a highly processed food.

Healthy Food For Kids At Farmer Palmers Talks About Veggie Options

“I wondered if you could consider more free-range meat and chicken. Especially as you are a farm who cares for your animals. Personally I would pay more for it. Also, more meat-free options and there are easy swaps like when you do your sausage in a Yorkie meal why not do a veggie sausage version which wouldn’t be much more work? You have a lot of meat on your menu at a time when people are looking for alternatives and trying to cut down or not have it for ethical and ecological reasons.” (Shortened version)

Our Reply

We have vegetarian options available daily. Apologies for not having all of the information displayed properly. We are going to set about improving this and adding key data to our notice board. Please be aware that we have

• Ted head cheese and tomato pizzas & Veggie nuggets are available to order – only 4 minutes cooking time.
• Children’s Lunchbox with jam or marmite and new vegan cheese sandwich if requested
• Favourite Macaroni Cheese&  1/2 Jacket potato with cheese and beans.
• All with beans/peas or help yourself salad

Please lookout for a veggie special on our specials board in the restaurant.

Healthy Food For Kids At Farmer Palmers Talks About Veganuary

Veganuary has highlighted questions about the food we supply in the restaurant and why we do not shout more about the local, free-range, sustainably sourced items. Sorry for not communicating this properly. We try to cater for all. There will be meat on our menu but rest assured we will always offer alternatives. We understand some of our visitors are looking for more plant-based meals for ethical and ecological reasons

The vegan menu choices

We are working on this!

On short order special request we can supply bean chilli, falafels or chia nuggets – please ask and we will create this for you. We can also create child portions.

 

 

“Thank you for taking the pressure off me to cook, your team are always helpful and I can always find something for my little one to enjoy!” L

We recognise it is really difficult to please everyone, but we feel with our current range we have on offer, we do far more than most businesses this size. Always open to suggestions if they are viable. Please communicate with us via our contact us page

Limiting food waste is a major goal for us and therefore we do not cook food and put on our servery if it can result in increased quantities of waste. We will test a dish and monitor customer response/requirement before adding to our menu.

Check out what the NHS are suggesting: https://www.nhs.uk/change4life

Healthy Food For Kids At Farmer Palmers. Sandra Palmer