Creating nutritious meals for children that are both tasty and appealing is a challenge many caterers face. This month our panel of experts are full of advice and guidance to help you develop healthy options for your menus. From using fresh, seasonal ingredients to presenting meals in fun, engaging ways, we share practical examples and strategies to inspire your menu planning and excite young diners.
Karen Green
Marketing Manager, Aimia Foods for Professionals
Chocolate mousse is a sweet dessert for hungry children. Its decadent appeal makes it popular amongst the fussiest of eaters. For a simple way to encourage children to eat more fruit and get one of their five a day, we recommend garnishing with fresh berries before serving. It is easy to whip up as caterers only need to add water and mix for a light and airy dessert.
Beyond a basic mousse, children also enjoy ice creams, cheesecakes or trifles, especially if these are impressively decorated with whipped cream, chocolate flakes and sprinkles. Moosebreak is a versatile ingredient for any recipe, providing choice on children’s menus, especially as it is both vegetarian and gluten free.
Dean Harper, Chef
Harper Fine Dining
One of the easiest ways to get kids interested in healthier dishes is to make them fun and familiar. A personal recommendation of mine would be to serve a “hidden veg” mac and cheese. The sauce is blended with carrots and butternut squash, so it’s packed with nutrients but still creamy and comforting. Kids love the colour, and parents love that it’s balanced. You can also build dishes around ingredients children already recognise, like using sweetcorn and mild spices in a chicken and rice bake. Keeping the menu short with three or four solid options helps avoid overwhelm while still giving a sense of choice.
Julianne Ponan MBE, CEO
Creative Nature
With more children being diagnosed with food allergies (currently 1 in 12), it’s crucial that to provide safe, inclusive options that don’t compromise on taste. Younger diners are increasingly interested in health-conscious, plant-based, and global flavours, but schools must ensure these trends align with allergy safety. Dish inspiration includes plant-based comfort food such as allergy-safe versions of mac & cheese, burgers, and pizza using dairy-free cheeses and gluten-free bases, fusion dishes like mild curries, sushi-style rolls, or poke-style bowls, and snackable, protein-packed foods like seed-based snack bars and gluten free oat-based energy bites.
Agnelo Louis
Catering Manager at St Albans School
At St Albans school, we try to make simple changes to recipes that remove allergens without compromising on flavour or taste. Using ingredients like vegan mayonnaise or plant-based milk, cream and butter in our dishes as standard, opens up more dishes to those pupils with allergies or intolerances who otherwise couldn’t have enjoyed them.
We find that our pupils have a much broader and diverse food knowledge at a younger age today. They are also very brand-savvy and familiar with high street food concepts. We find that Asian, Caribbean and Mexican cuisines are very popular with the pupils and as a trend, chicken is by far the most popular protein choice.
Breakfast baguettes are very popular at break time, but also our waffles and pretzels are firm favourites. We always make sure we have a range of healthy options available too such as overnight oats with fresh fruit compote.
Chris Whittaker & Calum Scott
Olive Dining
To make kids’ meals more appealing, it’s all about combining familiar favourites with a vibrant, eye-catching twist. Our BBQ chicken gyros kebab – served in toasted pitta with tzatziki and crunchy rainbow slaw – is packed with flavour and colour, making it both exciting to look at and healthy in disguise. Chicken remains the most popular protein among kids and when paired with colourful veg and fun presentation, it encourages healthier eating without compromise.
We offer at least four options on our menus to give children real choice and bring high street inspiration into schools through playful concepts like Mezze Madness. By making dishes visually fun, fresh and full of colour, we turn nutritious meals into something kids genuinely want to eat.
Louise Wagstaffe
Senior Culinary Advisor, Premier Foods
Helping children build a positive connection with food starts by giving them an element of creative freedom and control. It can be hugely rewarding and impactful if done right. Our Build Your Own Pasta dish is a great example – it allows children to pair their favourite vegetables, proteins and toppings with pasta and our ready-to-use Homepride Everything Tomato Sauce, which is fortified with Vitamin D and approved by the Vegan Society. My favourite topping combination is broccoli and red pepper!
The ‘Build Your Own’ concept also works brilliantly with our wider range of versatile, global-inspired sauces including Sharwood’s Thai Sweet Chilli and Sharwood’s Japanese Katsu.
Tilda is doing more than just feeding hungry tummies, it’s inspiring school kitchens across the UK through its proud support of the Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign. To keep the momentum going, Tilda has created a free recipe guide packed with playful ideas and previous winners’ dishes to help catering teams plan for success. From Curried Veg Fried Rice to a hearty Giant Yorkshire Pudding with Roast Chicken and Rice, the guide proves that nutritious doesn’t have to mean boring—and that a little creativity can go a long way in getting children to try (and love) their veg. Get your guide at: www.marketing.tilda.com/ettdt-submit-details
