2023 - 2024 Nutrition in OSHC program is here!

Review your menu

March 2023 subscriber webinar recording

Subscriber spotlight: We'd love to hear from you!

Ways to use native Australian bush foods

Choking risks

Recipes

Training opportunities

Access links

Our April 2023 - March 2024 Nutrition in OSHC program is here! Please keep an eye out for your subscription renewal invoice which will be sent to your email in the coming weeks.

As part of your subscription you will continue to have access to:

• Certificate of membership to display in your service 

• 12 month subscription to the Nutrition in OSHC eNewsletter 

• The 'subscribers only' area of the Nutrition in OSHC website, including access to resources and recipes 

• Free quarterly Zoom professional development sessions run by our Dietitians 

• Phone or email advice from our experienced Dietitians  

• Competitively priced training and learning opportunities 

We look forward to working with you throughout the next subscription year!

How long has it been since your last menu review?

We can review your 4-week OSHC menu against the Australian Dietary Guidelines and Smart Choices Strategy, and provide practical and specific recommendations on how you can improve your current menu.

Our process for reviewing your menu is simple:

• Send us a copy of your 4-week menu and any recipes used within that menu
• We will organise a phone meeting with you to chat and gather some extra details
• We send you a report with recommendations on changes you can make to improve the provision of core food groups and meet the Smart Choices Strategy
• Follow up support is available if needed

If you would like to book in a menu review with us, click on the button below to let us know. We are offering a 15% discount on our 4-week menu reviews for the month of April, so get in quick to secure your discount! Click here for more information on our menu review service.

Topic: Health and wellbeing for educators and staff

Over this subscription year we will continue to offer subscribers free live webinars to aid in professional development. Our Nutrition in OSHC dietitians will present for 15 minutes on a topic, with a further 15 minutes for questions and discussion.

Our most recent webinar was on the topic of health and wellbeing for educators and staff. If you were unable to join us for this session or would like to share this with your colleagues at your service, check out the video recording below!

Do you have a story that you would like to share with us? 

We would love to hear from subscribers and share some of your stories within our Nutrition in OSHC eNewsletter. Feel free to send us an email with your story along with some photos to share! 

For example, this could be a story about:
- Cooking experiences with children across the term or during vacation care
- Harvesting your vegetable or herb garden 
- Favourite recipes at your service 
- New menu items that promote healthy eating
- Upgrading your service's kitchen or dining space
- Your recent NQS assessment and rating score

Do you want to include more native Australian bush foods on your OSHC menu?

The most common flavours we see on menus are wattleseed and lemon myrtle, but there are so many fantastic ingredients out there to explore. Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have been using these ingredients for centuries, but many of us are yet to discover their unique flavours. Here are a selection of the many native ingredients and ways to use them:

Wattleseed - add to damper, cakes, muffins, scones, biscuits
Lemon myrtle powder - add to damper, cakes, muffins, scones, biscuits, add to water for drinks, in chicken or fish dishes, and fruit salad
Finger limes - add to drinks or fruit salad
Quandong - stewed, dried or raw, often used in jams, preserves and sauces
Pepperberry - use like conventional pepper
Saltbush - add to bread or pasta dishes
Davidson plum - a tart, fruity flavour, often used in jams, cakes, sauces and yoghurt
Native basil - use like sweet basil
Native thyme - use like conventional thyme
Akudjura (bush tomato spice) - a caramel like taste that is a great accompaniment to meat in stews and casseroles
Warrigal greens - a native spinach that you can purchase in some fruit and veg shops, or can be easily grown if you have a veggie garden at your centre

If you are looking to add some of these flavours to your menu, consider growing them in your centre garden, or search online for places to buy. Many native herbs and spices can be purchased online, or some bulk food stores stocks them in store (for example, The Source Bulk Foods). They can be costly, however a small amount often goes a long way.

For more ideas on bush tucker gardens, check out this article from Aussie Childcare Network.

Are school-aged children at risk of choking?

Children should always be supervised when they are eating or drinking, and encouraged to chew and swallow properly. Make sure children are sitting upright while they are eating to prevent choking.

Children can choke if their airways become partially or completely blocked. Their small windpipes can make it easy for them to choke on foods, particularly if the pieces are large or hard. 

Read more about choking risk first aid in this article from Raising Children Network. A visual choking first aid guide is available in picture format here.

Here are two recipe ideas that you might like to try at your service. Please feel free to share these with families. 

Online training

We offer a suite of online training programs through our partner In Safe Hands. Click on the following buttons for more information and to register.

Once logged in to the subscriber section of our website, access the following:

Interested in our upcoming events and some more recipe ideas?
Check out our Upcoming Events eNewsletter via the link below and please feel free to forward on to families!

Do you have a question for the Nutrition in OSHC team?

Feel free to give us a call (07 3257 4393) or email through your questions to oshc@naqld.org

Nutrition Australia acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land we work on and pays respect to Elders past, present and emerging.