Healthy eating barriers for Essex under-5s revealed
ARU study found children’s food preferences and cost of food are biggest obstacles
A child's meal tray
The first-ever study to examine food and nutrition in preschools in Essex has uncovered significant challenges in providing healthy meals to under-5s.
Led by Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and commissioned by Essex County Council Public Health, the Nourishing Our Future (NOF) preschools report identified food costs and managing food preferences – including an increasing reluctance to try new foods – as the two biggest obstacles to healthy eating in the county.
Essex has extremes of health and wealth within its population of 1.5 million and the 2023-24 National Child Measurement Programme found that 21% of reception-age children (4-5 years old) in Essex are living with obesity or are overweight, underlining the need for targeted local interventions.
Of Essex’s 298 preschools, 67 took part in the Nourishing Our Future study, which set out to understand the current food environment and identify possible improvements.
The study involved workshops, an online survey, menu and photo analysis and parent interviews, and is published on the same day that report authors Dr Kay Aaronricks and the NOF team at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), along with Emily Fallon and Susie Threadgold of Essex County Council, are presenting findings to MPs at an event held by the Food Foundation at the House of Commons.
When it comes to barriers to providing nutritious meals, 59% of preschools in Essex consider the cost of food to be the greatest challenge, with children’s food preferences and allergies the second biggest factor.
The majority of preschools in the county (57%) only have basic food preparation facilities, such as a microwave, and over two thirds (69%) of children in Essex bring their own food to preschool in the form of parent-provided lunchboxes.
The study identified that these lunchboxes often contained high levels of processed food and had greater nutritional variability than meals provided by the preschools. It also found many lunchboxes of two to four-year-olds included pouches of baby food.
In contrast, meals provided by preschools more consistently adhered to nutritional guidelines, featuring higher protein content, more fruits and vegetables, and less processed food.
One preschool said: “We face a significant challenge with promoting healthy eating to families. Our children's lunchboxes consist of a lot of processed, unhealthy foods that are high in sugar and additives.”
Another said: “Children are sometimes not used to being encouraged to try anything new! This is evident in some lunch boxes, where the contents never vary.”
One preschool adopts “family mealtimes” to encourage children to try different food. They said: “A lot of children have never eaten the type of food we serve such as soup or pulses and only consume fruit from pouches... It is an increasing challenge to encourage children to try new foods but our family mealtimes where they can watch other children and staff eating and drinking really helps.”
An analysis of 414 photographs of meals (87% home-packed food and 13% provided by the preschool) studied nutritional content. While starchy carbohydrates were well-aligned with portion size guidelines and fruit and vegetables slightly exceeded the target, dairy provision was slightly below and protein was significantly below guidelines.
When it comes to promoting healthier lunchboxes, 75% of communication with parents is carried out at drop off or pick up times Preschools also said they would appreciate support on how to better advise and engage parents in healthier food choices.
The rising cost of food was the single greatest challenge to healthy eating identified by the study. As a recent report by the Food Foundation set out, healthier foods are more than twice as expensive per calorie than less healthy foods. For preschools that provide lunches, delivering high-quality, nutritious meals is becoming increasingly difficult.
Preschools, along with childminders and day nurseries, are not permitted to charge a compulsory fee for food, meaning the cost is borne by the early years settings themselves or through a voluntary contribution from parents.
Practitioners consistently highlighted the financial strain, with one preschool noting, “Fresh food is increasing in price all the time; food purchasing in general has risen significantly over the last two years.”
Trying to provide food on a budget, while also catering to children’s individual food preferences and allergies, adds to the difficulty. One preschool said: “We really try to accommodate food allergies, but more and more children are showing [as] intolerant and [have an] allergy and it is really increasing our spending on food.”
Policy recommendations set out in the Nourishing Our Future report include a nationally funded early years food scheme to support both preschool and parent-provided meals, ensuring affordability and respecting parental choice, establishing public health support for parents on healthy eating, including nutrition advice, and developing targeted programmes to help children build positive relationships around food preferences.
“Our study involved preschools from across Essex, as well as parents, which is important as parents’ voices are often missing from healthy food policy development.
“The report shows that although there is a great deal of excellent work being done by preschools across Essex, there is a need for action to improve the nutritional landscape for young children, including improving children’s relationship with food.
“We would like to see appropriate national funding for preschools to allow them to provide healthy food for all children. However, simply replacing lunchboxes with setting-provided food for one meal a day won’t solve the wider issues for the child or their family, such as what will they eat at the weekend or during the holidays.
“We must support all families in being able to access affordable, healthy food alongside appropriate nutritional advice, because healthy food should be available to all. Of course, there are much wider societal issues around the prevalence of convenience, ultra processed food and the targeted marketing of foods that are high in fat salt and sugar, and tackling this also needs to be a priority.”
Dr Kay Aaronricks, Head of the School of Education at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU)The full report is available here: https://nourishingourfuture.co.uk/2025/05/14/preschool-briefing/