Young children who attend child care centres spend a major part of their day there while their parents are at work. For these children, child care centres play an important role in shaping their food habits. Preschools that provide food to children must adhere to the Healthy Meals in Preschools Programme (HMPP) guidelines as stipulated in the Early Childhood Development Centres (ECDC) Regulatory Standards (RS) and Code of Practice (COP).
Healthy Meal Plan For Preschoolers
Under this programme, participating schools need to follow the food services guidelines. These include:
Cutting down fat, sugar and sodium
Serving wholegrain, fruit and vegetables
Serving healthy set meals
These meals incorporate food from the four main food groups – brown rice and wholemeal bread, meat and others, vegetable and fruit. These help pre-schoolers receive the appropriate nutrients necessary for their growing needs.
Participating pre-schools are evaluated by assessors commissioned by HPB. Pre-schools are required to meet the
guidelines and can refer to these FAQs for more details. Here is a list of pre-schools who have been accredited.
Party foods in pre-schools tend to be indulgent. Are there healthier party foods? Let’s find out what are some available healthier party food & drinks.
For your reference, we have compiled a list of suppliers that provide healthier food and ingredients.
Our assigned assessors will evaluate participating pre-schools.
Find out more about how some of our participating pre-schools innovatively incorporate healthy eating and nutrition education here.
We have also developed resources to support pre-schools and cooks:
Recipes
These are some recipes developed for preschools' cooks as a guide to prepare healthier, tasty and appealing meals for preschoolers:
1. Tuna Onigri
2. Brown Chicken Rice
3. Asian Wanton Mee
4. Oriental Beehoon
5. Annie's Chicken Briyani
6. Liza's Mee Soto
7. Nana's Roti Jala
8. Ah Teck's Char Kway Teow
9. Surprise Hashbrown
10. Chrysanthemum drink
11. Meatless (Pulled Califlower) BBQ Burger
12. Oriental Tofu Wonton Soup
13. Ah Tan's Chwee Kueh
14. Grandma's Chocolate Cake
15. Old School Cookie Monster
16. Jack's Bean Soup
17. Mama's Yummy Chicken Oat Balls
18. Dips & Sticks
19. Pulut Hitam in a Cup
20. Good Old Chapati and Dhal
21. Shrooms Burger
22. Oat Crusted Chicken
23. The Wolfboy's Pie
24. Super Tuna Pizza
25. Seoul Good Gimbap
26. Daebak Bibimbap
27. Oishi Soba
28. Chow Mien
29. Satay Boy's Crunchy Skewers
30. Popcorn Chicken
31. Kickin Chicken Nuggets
32. Willy's Fries
33. Sardine puff's punch
34. That Dimsum Roll
35. Lemongrass Drink
36. Muffin Surprise
37. Golden Waffles
38. Nonya's Kueh Salat
39. Power Tofu Bites
40. Sunshine Herb Potato
Preschools may also refer to this sample 4-week cycle menu to plan and prepare healthier offerings for the children.
Application and further enquiries
For more information or to participate in this programme, kindly email to schools@hpb.gov.sg with the subject heading “Healthy Meals in Pre-schools”.
Visit Parent Hub, for more useful tips and guides to give your baby a healthy start.
Download the HealthHub app on Google Play or Apple Store to access more health and wellness advice at your fingertips.
Read these next:
- Nutrition for Pre-Schoolers (Months 37-48)
- Nutrition for Pre-Schoolers (Months 61-72)
- 4 Things Parents Should Know About Nutrition Panels
Programmes You May Like
Let’s BEAT Diabetes
Find out more about pre-diabetes, diabetes and how you can prevent them by making some changes to your lifestyle.
In partnership with
