As we welcome the new (and hopefully warmer, at some point) season, we are delighted to introduce our 2023 Summer menu! As the menu is thoughtfully curated to align with the spirit of the season while complying with and being approved by Nutrition Australia, you can be sure your children’s health and nutrition is always taken care of at Choklits.
Prioritising Health and Nutrition
At Choklits, we understand the importance of providing meals that not only satisfy the taste buds but also support the healthy growth and development of all our little learners. Our summer menu offers a range of dishes that are as nutritious as they are delicious. Each meal is a careful blend of essential nutrients vital for your child’s health, ensuring they receive a balanced diet every day.
Aligned with Nutrition Australia Guidelines
We are proud to share that our menu adheres strictly to the Nutrition Australia Guidelines for early learning centres as has been approved by them. In addition to submitting our menu for Nutrition Australia to approve we are also required to submit every ingredient and quantity that makes up every meal. This ensures every dish is crafted to meet the dietary needs of young children, providing the right balance of proteins, carbohydrates, fruits, and vegetables. Our menu is designed to provide all the necessary nutrients that aid in the cognitive and physical development of children.
Fresh and Seasonal Ingredients
Embracing the abundance of the season, our dishes feature fresh, seasonal ingredients. Summer brings a bounty of fruits and vegetables, and our menu makes the most of these, ensuring that the meals are not just flavorful but also packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Some of the fruits, vegetables and herbs will come directly from the Choklits gardens the children take great pride in maintaining.
Catering to Every Child
We recognise that each child is unique, and so are their dietary needs. Our menu includes options to cater to various preferences, allergies and requirements, including non-dairy and vegetarian alternatives, ensuring that every child at Choklits feels included and well-cared-for.
Educating Through Food
Our approach goes beyond just feeding. We believe in educating children about healthy eating habits. Through our diverse menu, children are introduced to a variety of foods, textures, and flavours, encouraging them to explore new tastes while understanding the importance of eating healthily.
As the festive season unfolds, we are excited to share these delightful meals with your children. Here’s to a summer of health, happiness, and delicious food at Choklits!
If you have any questions on our new menu please head to our Facebook and Instagram pages or pop in and see us when you’re next at the centre.
Choklits has always been committed to nurturing not just the minds but also the bodies of your little learners. This spring, we’re thrilled to unveil our latest menu — curated to ensure optimum nutrition, taste, and, of course, enjoyment for your children. Here’s why you can rest easy knowing your child is getting the best in food and nutrition at Choklits.
Australia’s spring season offers a choice of fresh produce, and our menu is designed to take full advantage of this. From succulent chicken and fresh fish to farm-fresh vegetables and seasonal fruits, we source high-quality ingredients that are as tasty as they are beneficial. An array of fresh fruit options is available daily, ensuring natural sweetness without the added sugar.
Variety is not just the spice of life; it’s essential for a balanced diet. Our four-week rotating menu ensures that children are exposed to a range of food groups, including lean proteins, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.
Our menu pays special attention to the nutrient needs of growing children. Let’s take the “Lamb and Rice Harvest Bowl” as an example. It features tenderly cooked diced lamb paired with fluffy rice, mixed with roasted spring vegetables. This dish is a wonderful source of protein, fibre, and essential nutrients, making it a fully balanced meal suitable for growing children.
Another standout is our “Springtime Beef Pasta,” a delectable blend of slow-cooked beef with fresh tomatoes, basil, and wholegrain pasta. This dish provides essential proteins and carbohydrates, along with a variety of vitamins from the fresh produce.
Snacks are not an afterthought here; we include a wide range of nutritious options for morning and afternoon tea. Items like wholegrain rice cakes with cheese and sultanas or freshly baked oat and apple bars are not just delicious but also filled with nutrients.
Every dish and snack on our menu is planned to adhere to and even exceed the guidelines set by Nutrition Australia. This ensures that your child is eating balanced, healthy meals that are conducive to their growth and well-being.
Our menu is a gastronomic tour of the world’s kitchens. Sounds fancy right? And, it is! However, what is often overlooked is the reason we do this. Our menu and the meals we serve are another tool for teaching. From the “Jamaican Stew” to the “Sri Lankan Curry,” your child will learn to appreciate different tastes and textures, broadening their culinary horizons. This aligns well with our educational philosophy, which values diversity and multicultural understanding.
At Choklits, we appreciate that some children have special dietary needs. Therefore, we offer gluten-free and dairy-free alternatives and can cater to other requirements upon request. We’re also committed to a nut-free environment for the safety of those with allergies.
We know that too much sugar can have adverse effects on children’s health and behaviour. We don’t even buy sugar at Choklits! Therefore, our recipes look to natural sweet options, eliminating the need for added sugar. We also strive to maintain a nut-free service to accommodate children with allergies, including nuts and eggs.
Parents can take comfort in the fact that our menu adheres to and has been endorsed by Nutrition Australia’s guidelines for child care services. Each meal is crafted to provide the right balance of nutrients necessary for physical and cognitive development.
Our spring menu is not just a meal plan but a carefully designed nutritional program that aligns with our broader ethos of holistic child development. Here’s to a season of growth, health, and happy eating!
If you have any questions on our new menu please head to our Facebook and Instagram pages or pop in and see us when you’re next at the centre.
On behalf of the Choklits Chefs, Saliya, Lai & Lauren, here is the Choklits Spring Menu 2023.
Hello Choklits Community,
As you know, we are committed to nurturing and educating all children. One critical aspect of this is ensuring that the children in our care receive nutritious, balanced, and delicious meals which is why we are proud to present our Winter Menu for 2023, this one is a little bit special!
Firstly, and as always, it has been thoughtfully designed by both our chefs and key members of our leadership teams. But, we wanted to lift our standards a little higher and are excited to announce this menu has also been approved by Nutrition Australia and is in line with the highest nutritional standards. This accreditation from such a prestigious body is a testament to our team’s commitment to your child’s wellbeing.
For parents, this approval provides peace of mind that your child’s dietary needs are being met. You can be assured that each meal is not only enjoyable, but also balanced, varied, and appropriate for your child’s age, cultural background, and any specific dietary requirements. With dairy and gluten-free options available, and a dedication to reducing added sugar in our recipes, our menu caters for every child’s dietary needs.
The benefits of a nutritious diet for children are immeasurable. A healthy diet promotes optimal growth and development, supports immune function, and is fundamental for the development of long-term healthy eating habits.
For example, on Monday of Week 2, we offer a lunch of Sri Lankan Chicken Curry with Rice. This meal is high in protein from the chicken, which is essential for growth and development. The rice provides complex carbohydrates for sustained energy release throughout the day. It’s a balanced meal that also introduces children to diverse flavours.
In the afternoons, we provide Wholegrain Rice Cakes with Cheese and Sultanas for a nutrient-dense snack. Whole grains are a great source of fibre, which supports digestive health, while the cheese offers calcium, important for bone health. The sultanas add a touch of natural sweetness and provide vitamins and minerals.
The Choklits Superfood Bowl, available for lunch on Monday of Week 4, is another fantastic example. With quinoa, chickpea, and rice forming a nutrient-packed base, children benefit from a high-fiber, protein-rich meal. Accompanied by grilled chicken strips, this meal offers lean protein and important vitamins like B12.
With every meal and snack, we are not just feeding your children; we are nourishing them, teaching them about the wide world of food, and helping them establish a healthy relationship with eating. We believe that a well-fed child is a happy, engaged, and successful learner!
If you have any questions on our new menu please head to our Facebook and Instagram pages or pop in and see us when you’re next at the centre.
On behalf of the Choklits Chefs, Saliya, Lai & Lauren, here is the Choklits Winter Menu 2023.
We look forward to our little learners’ feedback on the exciting new flavours coming to Choklits next week!
Hello Choklits Community,
We are thrilled to announce the launch of our new menu for the Autumn season at Choklits! As dedicated early childhood educators, we understand the importance of providing healthy and nutritious meals to support the growth and development of young children. That’s why we’ve based our new menu on the ‘Menu Planning Guideline for Long Day Care’ document from Nutrition Australia, ensuring that every meal is balanced and packed with essential nutrients to help keep our children full and ready to learn all day long.
Part of our role as educators is not only providing wholesome and natural foods for our children, it’s also about teaching and promoting good eating habits from an early age too. That’s one of the reasons we grow some of our own herbs and vegetables and have a program called plant-to-plate which teaches children about the joys of gardening and encourages them to try new foods. Our talented chefs then take the fresh produce straight from the garden and incorporate it into the dishes, making each meal a unique and exciting experience for the children.
We believe that healthy eating habits start young and are essential for a happy and healthy future. If you’d like to get involved with your children at home, set up your own veggie patch and start growing your own crops, these 7 steps from our maintenance manager Ryan will help:
We hope that our new menu will further inspire our children to explore new flavours and appreciate the goodness that comes from fresh, whole foods. We’re also looking forward to sharing more about gardening adventures on our Facebook and Instagram pages.
If you have any questions or feedback on our new menu, please feel free to reach out to any of the Choklits Chefs.
On behalf of the Choklits Chefs, Saliya, Lai & Lauren, here is the Choklits Autumn Menu 2023.
Enjoy Autumn and happy eating,
Hello Choklits Community,
This is my very first Choklits Menu reveal! I’m Lauren and I’m the Chef at Choklits in Croydon. Choklits Croydon joined our family in late September this year, so this is not only my first menu reveal, it’s the first one at our new location too. Prior to starting here at Croydon, I was lucky enough to work at both Choklits Ringwood with Saliya and at Choklits Surrey Hills with Lai to begin to learn everything about the Choklits Menus and how we best take care of all of our early learners.
We’ve continued to add variety to our menus with the goal of introducing our children to new tastes and textures again this season. We really do understand the important role food plays in our lives and the opportunity we have to teach our children healthy habits that last a lifetime. As more and more research is revealing, the early years are (by far) the most significant development time in our lives because the learnings are carried into the subsequent years and form the foundation for everything else we do.
As every parent knows, children are very curious about new things and I have loved sharing more about food with them when they come to visit me in the kitchen. I often keep different foods and herbs for the children to smell, touch and try to identify. Rubbing herbs like mint together in your fingers helps to bring out the smell which is a key identifying method. I must say, we have some very fast learners here at Choklits! Along with more herbs you’ll find more grains in our summer menu, which is posted below.
As we are fast approaching the end of the year, there’s lots happening here at Choklits. It’s a particularly busy time for our kindergarten children as they are all getting ready for their next adventures at school. Part of our role is to help them all get ready for school which is quite different from the early learning environment. One of the key differences is that they need to start to become more responsible for themselves and that includes their food.
At Choklits we serve them healthy meals and snacks every day, but at school they need to take their food in their own lunch box. To help the children get familiar with packing and taking care of their food we have had many lunch box days recently. We ask the children to bring their empty lunch boxes from home to Choklits, I prepare typical lunchbox-style food for them and then the educators then help them pack their own lunch boxes. The idea is to represent the routine they often go through at home to help build familiarity and confidence.
Once packed, the children eat from their lunch boxes just like they will next year at school. It’s a wonderful time to observe the children as they turn their attention to school because they are often so excited and ask many questions about the coming year!
As we’ve welcomed many new families to Choklits in the past few months I wanted to mention our no packet, no added sugar policy which are foundational in our approach to serving healthy food. Nutrition is a complex topic but with a few basic guidelines it can become a lot simpler. That’s where our no packet, no added sugar policy comes in. If you don’t buy things in packets and you don’t add sugar to anything you prepare you’re almost guaranteed to have a much healthier meal. To read more about our approach to food, download a copy of our cookbook here.
If you have any questions about this summer season or would like to talk about food, please feel free to pop in and see any of us in our kitchens. Or, get in touch via the Choklits Facebook and Instagram accounts.
On behalf of Saliya, Lai and myself, here is the Choklits Summer Menu 2022. Enjoy!
Lauren McHale
Choklits Child Care Chef at Choklits Croydon
Hello Choklits Community,
It’s always a wonderful time of the year and I’m starting to feel it again, spring is in the air! We have almost finished our Wacky Winter menus which turned out to be a great success. Both Saliya and I have noticed there’s quite a few Choklits Educators who are regularly ‘forgetting’ to bring their lunches which we take as a huge compliment and are always happy to help with.
Our spring menus are below for you. Each dish has come as a result of trying, testing and getting feedback from our children and educators. There are two main changes to the menu for this season.
Firstly, we are putting much more of an emphasis on lunch as it’s the main meal of the day and going for lighter and fresher options at morning and afternoon tea times. We’re removing most of the baked goods which is a result of consultation with the Victorian Healthy Eating Advisory Service website, the guide we use to ensure our menus contain everything our early learners need for their days and nothing they can do without. The Choklits no packet, no added sugar policy takes this to an even higher level.
The first change has allowed us to make the second change, lunch is becoming a much more comprehensive meal. While many children tend to stick to meals they know they’ll like, there is an important balance with trying new things too. Adding spices, more flavour and different combinations help introduce children to a wider variety of flavours and in some cases a higher level nutritional value too. For example, there’s incredible long term value for our children if we can find a way to serve vegetables not so they’ll eat them, but so they actually love eating them!
Our no packet, no sugar policy will obviously remain foundational in our approach. The main meal of the day will become more comprehensive over time to help give the children a bigger variety of flavours and textures to try. We will also be incorporating more vegetables, fruits and herbs from our Choklits gardens
If you have any questions about this spring season or would like to talk about food, please feel free to pop in and see either of us in the Kitchen. Or, get in touch via the Choklits Facebook and Instagram accounts.
On behalf of Saliya and myself, here is the Choklits Spring Menu 2022!
Choklits Child Care Chef at Surrey Hills
Hello Choklits Community,
This has been by far and away the biggest season ever at Choklits and a particularly exciting one for me. The opening of Choklits Child Care in Surrey Hills has changed my role, I have a new kitchen to work in and I’ve returned to the old days when my kitchen was a lot quieter.
Well, a bit quieter in terms of how many children I’m cooking for, but there’s still a whole lot to do settling into our new centre in Surrey Hills and getting the food program setup for the children and families who’ve just joined our Choklits Community.
Revisiting some of our fundamentals has served as a great reminder of all the good things we do with nutrition at Choklits. Our no added sugar and no packet policies have been very well received at Surrey Hills. Ironing out those sugar highs has, in just a few days, changed our meal times here. The children are engaging much more and seem to have a lot more concentration too. They are also finding it much easier to stick to their meal times which allows the curriculum to run a lot smoother.
Our autumn menus are now available and posted below. As the temperatures begin to lower we are returning to some of our more hearty style meals, a bit of a blend between summer and winter for the transition season.
Our children’s choice day remains as it continues to be a great success. The children made pizza last week at Ringwood as their choice and I must say I did miss seeing their creations. Once Surrey Hills is setup and systemised, I’ll be back at Ringwood with all my favourite children.
If you have any questions about our menu or would like to talk about food, please let me know via either the Choklits Facebook and Instagram accounts. I’ll respond to any questions and comments there.
Please enjoy our 2022 autumn menu…
Helen Rooney
Choklits Child Care Centre Chef
Hello Choklits Community,
I’ve just returned to the kitchen from our Kindergarten Graduation Celebrations. What a wonderful morning with the Choklits Community sending our kindergarten class off to school. I loved learning about the children’s plans for their future, in particular their dream jobs.
And, can you believe it, one of our graduating children wants to be a chef when they grow up! Looks like the Choklits kitchen succession plan is now sorted. Haha!!
Our summer menus are now available and I’m really excited to be sharing more new dishes, in particular those ones with that uniquely Choklits flair. Any dish that either comes directly from the Choklits gardens or has input from the children always makes me smile.
Our philosophy here at Choklits stands true; the more you involve the children in the growing and preparing of our food, the more enthusiastic they are to try new things. I know I write that for almost every season, but it’s just so important to ask for their input and include them wherever possible because it helps so much with their development and learning.
To help extend our cooking experiences for our early learners we have purchased some new kitchen equipment. it’s designed to be safe for children and we plan on using it a lot during the summer season! After the children help me pick the herbs from the Choklits gardens, we will hang them to dry. Then, after a few safety lessons, we will use our new equipment together to grind the herbs and then include them in our cooking.
Our herbs will go very nicely with the change in texture for our summer meals too. I will be grating more vegetables this season which will give the children new and smoother textures to try. It’s often overlooked, but the way food feels in our mouths is just as important as the way it tastes because it adds to each experience when eating food.
Speaking of textures, the Pre-Toddler children have just bought me a mango smoothie to try which they’ve made themselves! It tastes delicious, so look out parents and carers, you might need to stock up your fridges and make some time to try smoothie over the summer holidays!
If you have any questions about our menu or would like to talk about food, please let me know via either the Choklits Facebook and Instagram accounts. I’ll respond to any questions and comments there. Hopefully we can welcome you all back into the centre in 2022 and we can talk in person again!
Please enjoy our 2021 summer menu…
Helen Rooney
Choklits Chef, Choklits Child Care Centre
