Take-along game-day dinners?

[Noreen Claire]

Looks like three nights/week we will be leaving for baseball at 4:45pm and getting home at 8:00pm. My family usually eats dinner at 5pm. I am going to have to feed DS10 a snack before the game, and again when we get home. But, I also will have the three younger boys with me who need to eat dinner during the game time. What things can I make/buy/take with us for dinner to eat in the stands or on a blanket? (My kids are kinda picky and we have multiple food allergies.) Any ideas?

[Dynamite5]

How about quiche, a tray of cheese, pepperoni, crackers, veggies, peanut butter and hummus as dips, rollups that you customize for each kid according to their likes with tortillas, beef jerky and string cheese, drinkable protein shakes or carnation breakfast, yogurt, granola bars, trail mix made with popcorn to go further, egg or chicken salad, nuts, pasta salad, macaroni and cheese, cornbread and cheese muffins, pinwheels or quesadillas made ahead--so many options! 

 

[Guest]

In our family, the solution was late dinners. But I did just discover a cool product that might help you: the hot logic mini. This is like a crockpot/lunchbox that can heat on a wall outlet or a car electrical port. I have plans to get my dh one so he can take leftovers for lunch. 

[lmrich]

This was my life for a long time... (change the sport) I prepared food in a thermos for the kids to eat. If we could wait until after the event, the meal went in the crockpot. I made dinner around 3:30. I tried to limit the cold meal to once a week, but the kids like sandwich night so don't stress about it. 

[sassenach]

This probably won’t help with the allergies issue, but one of my go-to game meals is melted turkey on focaccia. Take a focaccia loaf, slice in half, spread pesto, layer w sliced turkey, Swiss cheese, and tomato. Wrap in tin foil and bake till melty. Slice into sandwich size before you leave. 

We had that so much at games that my family calls it “game day sandwich”. I would serve it with grapes. 

[SereneHome]

I would shift the schedule bc I hate hate HATE thinking of to-go foods.  I think I have PTSD from the years when all three were around toddler age and I had to drag food around ANYWHERE we went.

I would fees the little ones big meal before leaving the house and may be have some granola bars, cheese and fruit with me or whatever you guys eat that doesn't require a lot of thought or preparation.

[mmasc]

Bean burritos travel well. We keep ours simple...tortilla (soft taco sized), refriedi beans, and cheese. Roll up in Saran Wrap, then foil. They stay warm for awhile like that and taste good even when not warm. 

I also like to take a tortilla, smear with peanut butter (or seed butter), place a banana down the middle, and roll up. 

Edited April 29, 2019 by mmasc

[Clemsondana]

We seem to eat on the go about as often as we eat at home right now.  I have a couple of different thermos containers that are good for keeping refried beans warm (if we want to make the burritos on-site), chiili, stir-fries, pasta meals, or 'bowls' with a grain, shredded meat, and veggies.  I also have some divided containers that I use to pack regular dinner meals - BBQ chicken in one compartment, a baked potato in another, and green beans or broccoli  in a third, for instance.  I get the food hot and then pack several divided containers in one of those insulated carriers designed to hold a hot casserole dish and give one ot each person when it's their time to eat.  Sometimes I do hot food in a thermos and cool food in containers in a cooler bag - last week I had pulled pork BBQ hot and then I had slaw in the cooler for me while the kids had cut up fruit and veggies.  Handheld things are also good - sandwiches (cold or hot like BBQ, a burger, salmon burger, or chicken), wraps (breakfast burritos are a hit here), mini-quiches, etc.  I also like pasta salads, although the kids don't.  

[Noreen Claire]

You are all the best! My brain went completely blank when I got the message that we have to be there so early. I'm going to make a list of all these options and post it on my fridge.

[mathnerd]

We did this for several years when my son was playing his sport. I fed my son a snack before we left.

I bought one thermos food jar per member of my family and filled it with our regular dinners.

https://www.thermos.com/eat/genuine-thermos-brand-stainless-king-vacuum-insulated-stainless-steel-food-jar-with-spoon-16oz.html

We ate while we waited for my son's game to end. After the game, my son ate his dinner in the back of the car so that he did not have to wait until we got home.

[HomeAgain]

I hear you.  Ds won't eat many finger foods (we finally got him to eat a corn dog this year).  And we have baseball over dinner time.  So our meals will be something like this:
-grilled chicken, fried plantains, rice, and chopped mango
-cold cheese tortellini with pesto
-mini kabobs
-quesadillas with chicken or beef tamales
-sliced sausage and potatoes.


I keep generous bento boxes in our cupboard that have 3 compartments and a place for utensils.  DS will take one in the dugout with him or eat in the car.  I'll plan for a dessert of pie or smoothies when we get home.

[Carrie12345]

This is the first year that I don’t have to deal with this, and it’s kind of weird, lol.

We never really did on the go meals. It was usually an early (and easy) meal around 4, and then we packed plenty of snacks.  Whole fruits, cut up vegetables, cheeses, yogurts, etc.

Since I was usually trying to clean up while the kids ate, I often wound up throwing my own dinner into a travel container and eating it lukewarm in the bleachers.

[freesia]

I fed dinner at 4 when this type of scheduling happened to us over the past few months.  It was only once a week though.  Maybe you could do that once a week and sandwiches a couple of times a week.

[BarbecueMom]

Our fields don’t allow outside food and drinks, except water for players, so I usually serve a light early dinner/heavy snack and offer something else when we get home.  I don’t eat at all in the evenings, and the kids and DH are usually light eaters, so this seems to hold everyone over.  Half the time, they are too hot or tired to eat a post-game meal.  DS10 played three back-to-back games in a tournament yesterday and pitched four innings, and he almost fell asleep afterward in a bowl of applesauce instead of eating it.

[Clemsondana]

1 hour ago, BarbecueMom said:

Our fields don’t allow outside food and drinks, except water for players, so I usually serve a light early dinner/heavy snack and offer something else when we get home.  I don’t eat at all in the evenings, and the kids and DH are usually light eaters, so this seems to hold everyone over.  Half the time, they are too hot or tired to eat a post-game meal.  DS10 played three back-to-back games in a tournament yesterday and pitched four innings, and he almost fell asleep afterward in a bowl of applesauce instead of eating it.

Hah - yes, this will absolutely depend on the kid!  My older is the opposite - he's always eaten a lot, is finally starting to put on muscle but has always been stick-thin, and at the moment often eats more than my 6'4 husband and I combined.  His ball coach as joked about maybe having the first base coach hand him a cheeseburger to stick in his pocket so that he doesn't get hungry while running the base.  🙂  The dinners that I describe above are 'first dinner' most nights - I usually have something to eat on the way home (babybel cheese, pepperoni, a breakfast bar that has at least 200 calories, sometimes a full second dinner, depending on what we have for leftovers, or a fast food burger if we're desparate) and then after he showers he has another glass of juice and a banana.  During basketball season, we went out to eat after games on Thursdays or Fridays and had to check the menu to make sure that we could find something big enough without having to order 2 separate meals for him.  

[Noreen Claire]

5 hours ago, freesia said:

I fed dinner at 4 when this type of scheduling happened to us over the past few months.  It was only once a week though.  Maybe you could do that once a week and sandwiches a couple of times a week.

I have one boy who will require that what we do be the *exact same* every game day. If I try to eat early one day and then eat at the game another he will fall apart.

I may run to the store for containers/thermoses/bento boxes this afternoon. Having them eating during the game will at least cut down on the time I have to chase them around!