I know that spring is just about here when I hear the ding of baseball bats in the evenings as I’m driving past the recs and parks — it’s a sound I love! Softball was one of the great loves of my life when I was growing up, and I love watching my boys play baseball. As is often the case with me, the food associated with baseball and softball is also part of my love of the sports — I’m sure I caught the unmistakable smell of French fries and Swedish fish recently! Even though we rarely buy food from the concession stands, I still get a thrill out of the spring-sports-food smells, and I like to have something delicious for us to eat while at the games.
I only have two little guys playing baseball this year, but between their games and practices and my older boys’ track meets, many of our evenings this spring will be spent at the field or the track. I’ve written a couple of articles in the past about foods that are easy to bring on the road for dinner, which I’m going to update below, but I also wanted to share for the younger parents that what started as a necessity for us has become not so necessary: when my kids were all little, they couldn’t wait until we got home at 7:00 or later from games to eat, so I either had to feed them before we left the house, which would mean eating before 5:00 (ridiculously early for our daily schedule), or bring food with us. But now, the kids are all old enough that if I wanted to wait until we got home to feed them dinner, that would be fine! It’s amazing how things change as kids get older!
I still find bringing food to the field to be easier than putting dinner together after getting home, and more fun too — we all love it, seriously! As long as I stick to my simple system, our sports dinners are streamlined and satisfying.
My basic formula is: entrée (protein + carb/grain) + fruit + dessert. I like the entrée to be a cooked item (even though it’s no longer hot when it’s time to eat); the fruit is either fresh fruit or applesauce pouches; dessert is usually a prepackaged baked good. I find this to be an easy formula to work with and it provides a meal that’s easy enough to transport. Favorite entrees include:
Hot dogs, meatballs (frozen), chicken nuggets (frozen), taquitos (frozen), dumplings (frozen), salt potatoes with beef jerky or sausage
All of these things are easily cooked on a baking sheet in a 400 degree oven for twenty minutes while I’m getting everyone ready to go. Hot dogs get put in buns; meatballs are either eaten as they are, or I’ll bring a bag of slider rolls with us; chicken nuggets are well paired with chips/pretzels/popcorn; taquitos don’t need anything else, nor do dumplings. As for salt potatoes, this Syracuse favorite is easy to prepare, and a big hit with my boys! Boil the small potatoes in heavily salted water for twenty minutes or so, and that’s it. My boys eat them like apples! For protein, I will usually either bring a box of beef jerky, or, if I’m feeling energetic, I’ll cook breakfast sausage links in the oven while the potatoes are boiling (can you tell I’m a big fan of cooking things in the oven? Even things that don’t include that information in its preparation instructions! Twenty minutes at 400 degrees is perfect for lots of things).
Go-to fruit options are grapes, strawberries, clementines, applesauce pouches
For fruit, I find bringing a big bowl of washed grapes makes all my boys happy. Less easy and more expensive but still part of our rotation are strawberries. A bag of clementines is easy to bring and particularly perfect on hot days. I also always have applesauce pouches on hand, so they do nicely as well.
Desserts include cookies, donuts, brownies, rice crispy treats.
We are big fans of prepackaged Hannaford cookies, Stewart’s donuts, Cosmic brownies, and rice crispy treats! They’re good incentives for the boys (especially the littlest boys) to eat the rest of the food I bring.
As for drinks, sometimes I’ll bring juice pouches or boxes, but I prefer for them each to bring their own water bottle. I also bring a bag of lollipops to encourage my youngest to keep it together until the sporting event is over. And I only bring napkins, no plates, bowls, or utensils. I try to keep it as easy as possible! Whatever isn’t eaten at the field is brought home and everyone can have more there if they want; if all the food is gone and they’re still hungry, they’re also welcome to have cereal when we get home. (I also leave some of what I make at home for anyone who doesn’t go to the game or meet.)
This is the way we eat two or three times a week from the second half of April through the middle of June. I hope it’s helpful for some of you as you navigate your evening spring activities (and really, all of your evening activities all year long!).
Kate and her husband have seven sons ages 18, 16, 14, 13, 11, 8, and 4. Email her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
