The Healthy Food Company specialise in providing children with a great choice of handmade food that would feel familiar and ‘homely’ to them. The dishes have been developed with a paediatric dietitian and contain one third of the daily macro and micronutrients needed for children with no added salt or sugar.
Gareth Williams, head of patient meal services, said: “We are always striving to develop our service further and make it suitable and enjoyable for all our service users.
“We set out to improve our food provision for nursery children and, following extensive research, we found The Healthy Food Company who had the ethos of what we wanted to achieve – delivering a healthy choice of appetising meals that are more sustainable and meet nutritional requirements.”
The new meals include sweet potato and spinach curry, chicken casserole, vegetable moussaka and a roast turkey dinner. The new menu was implemented following positive feedback from parents, service users and colleagues from across the Trust and nursery.
Kay Shearing, founder of the Healthy Food Company, added: “Parents and guardians trust nurseries to keep their children safe, educated and build their independence. It’s also important that their nutritional needs are being met during this important time in their lives. By serving The Healthy Food Company meals, Airedale is making a huge contribution towards meeting the nutritional needs of children in their care.”
Following the success of the Nursery menu rollout, the catering team is hoping to introduce this to inpatients staying on the children’s ward.