Meals and special diets
In our daycare centres, we offer tasty, varied, and nutritionally balanced meals that support children’s well-being, development, and nutrition.
Daycare centres provide breakfast, lunch, and a snack, with dinner and an evening meal also offered in shift-based care. Meals are ordered from meal service providers based on children’s booked care times. A shared meal is a social occasion where children converse, learn good table manners, and respecting others.
Varied, high-quality food meets the nutritional needs of a growing child and introduces them to new flavours. Detailed information on ingredients and nutritional content of meals can be found on the meal service provider’s website.
Menus
Meal services for City of Hämeenlinna’s daycare centres are provided by Palmia Oy, and by Compass Group Oy in Iittala and Renko. Here you can view the daycare centre menus:
Special diets
If a child or pre-primary education pupil requires a special diet (due to allergies, or vegetarian/vegan preferences), please notify us using the following form:
The special diet form, with any necessary attachments, must be submitted to the daycare centre or pre-primary education place at least two weeks before the child’s early childhood education or pre-primary education begins, to allow time for planning and preparation of the special diet. Please submit the form and its attachments to the daycare centre, from where the daycare centre manager will forward the information to the meal services.
Special diets must be based on the treatment of an illness or health reasons. In accordance with the National Allergy Programme (2008–2018), mild allergic symptoms should no longer be treated by avoiding the food item causing the symptoms, but rather by exposure and gradual desensitisation. Therefore, no notification is made to food services for food items causing mild allergic symptoms. It is only justified to exclude essential food items from the diet if they have been proven, based on trials, to cause significant harm or life-threatening symptoms.