I’m trying to branch out offerings past evol breakfast burritos eaten three times a day.
What easy to grab- fairly healthy - protein containing foods do you have for after school and second dinner (9 PM meal)
protein shakes, peanut butter crackers, pb&j sandwiches.
Charcuterie plate— cheese slices, meat slices, apple slices, cucumber slices, carrot sticks, hummus. Ten minutes of grazing & the kids are good.
Fat-rich ice cream.
Ramen w/ boiled egg, cheese cubes, avocado slices or microwaved shelled edamame.
Bean dip, shredded cheese, tortilla chips. Add diced bell peppERS as tolerated.
Microwave some frozen meatballs & serve w/ 3 dipping sauces: ranch, ketchup, bbq sauce. Serve cukes & carrots & bell peppers & celery for dipping too.
PB&J cut into triangles and piled in a pyramid shape on a platter. Sometimes the kids are fooled by the attractive display.
I keep a bowl of artfully arranged protein energy bars on the counter. I keep chocolate protein milk in the fridge. Noosa yogurt is tasty & pretty fatty & protein-y, I think.
If the kids are hungry enough, they’ll eat anything. So put the protein & veggies out in a somewhat attractive display, and the kids will do the rest.
For long days at the fields, our go-to is
1- jerky, the softer the better but any protein will do
2- Energy bar
3- Cut fruit
4- cheese and crackers, or PB and crackers, or just trail mix (not our go-to anymore, team has some allergic team mates)
Seems like a good mix of protein, carbs, and enough salts to keep them going on hot days.
We definitely stay away from the heavy snack bar food that is common at the fields (nachos, corn dogs, hamburgers, etc) especially on hot days.
snickers.
I’m going to show my age, but my kids would have Fruit Rollups and Capri Sun before track and cross-country. I’m not sure either exist any more, and Fruit Rollups are made from HFS, which is now shamed food ingredient.
We try not to run out of Builders Bars (made by the Clif Bar peeps). Packed with calories and protein and super yummy. We get them on Costco online or they are prohibitively expensive. Still expensive through Costco, but I’ll gladly pay $1.25/bar rather than $2.50/3.00 at the grocery store.
I’m trying to branch out offerings past evol breakfast burritos eaten three times a day.
What easy to grab- fairly healthy - protein containing foods do you have for after school and second dinner (9 PM meal)
My girls (swimmers, 16 and 14yoa) like:
Hummus cups (costco)
Guacamole cups (costco)
Breakfast bars
meal replacement type of protein shakes
smoothies
dried fruits
cheese sticks
jerky or sausage
nuts (salted or candied)
Crackers of various types
Gatorade or sport drink
Limited use of quick sugar but sometimes
I missed the part about “second dinner” so listed above is mainly snacks and swim meet foods. We eat sort of late due to their practice schedules (4:30-7) which sort of eliminates a later meal and replaces it with after school/before practice snacks.
Jerky
Smoked almonds
Apples w/peanut butter
Vegetables with hummus
.
Right now mini is doing basketball after school til 5 comes home for first dinner then has two hours of softball (half is lifting and conditioning) and is ready for second dinner at 9 three days a week. Which is usually a breakfast burrito. Which she also eats for breakfast. There’s only a few months of overlap- but getting enough food in is hard.
- chocolate milk
- instant breakfasts (or just high-calories shakes)
- i’ve been making a tray of these bars almost every week since i discovered them as a teenager. this kids can and will enjoy making them, they’re high-calorie and they fill your belly for a good while. try them!
I’m trying to branch out offerings past evol breakfast burritos eaten three times a day.
What easy to grab- fairly healthy - protein containing foods do you have for after school and second dinner (9 PM meal)
If you’re into baking, savoury muffins can be good. I do a fair bit of uni sport so I’ll usually have a batch in the freezer for days when I’m short on time. Fairly easy to adjust the veggies/meat/cheese/whatever for dietary preferences or a bit of variety. I also like fritters made with whatever odds and ends I have lying around in my fridge, toasted sandwiches, and baked oatmeal done in a muffin tin for individual servings (I usually throw a bit of protein powder into the batter)
Failing that, store bought bars/drinks do the job in a pinch.
Full fat ice cream
Bean dip, shredded cheese, tortilla chips. Add diced bell peppERS as tolerated.
Tortilla chips have damaged oils, most ice cream is trash too, putting junk oil cause milk is expensive (keto and rebel brand good though)
snickers.
Hydrogenated oils healthy?
fritters
Deep fried, not healthy.
#######gir ol
Quest, Kirkland, no cow protein bars, rx bars, nuts, jerky. All salt and filling
,
Full fat ice cream
Bean dip, shredded cheese, tortilla chips. Add diced bell peppERS as tolerated.
Tortilla chips have damaged oils, most ice cream is trash too, putting junk oil cause milk is expensive (keto and rebel brand good though)
snickers.
Hydrogenated oils healthy?
fritters
Deep fried, not healthy.
#######gir ol
Quest, Kirkland, no cow protein bars, rx bars, nuts, jerky. All salt and filling
,
Oh good, the perfection police have arrived to cast the holier than thou shade over everything. It’s always so helpful!
snickers.
And beer. The heavier, the better. Kids need those calories.
I’m trying to branch out offerings past evol breakfast burritos eaten three times a day.
What easy to grab- fairly healthy - protein containing foods do you have for after school and second dinner (9 PM meal)
I have this conversation daily with adolescent athletes that I work with. The only way to appropriately answer this is to know what the rest of the daily consumption is.
The trend I see growing is far too many youth athletes underfueling in general. So I’m not so much worried about “healthy†snacks as I am about just getting enough fucking calories in.
What’s the rest of the daily caloric intake look like?
Breakfast usually evol green chile breakfast burrito and a kiwi maybe juice or tea sometimes cereal and milk or toast with butter and jam.
Walking break 10:30 am snack (kids walk a mile and eat a snack at school) usually goldfish crackers.
Lunch turkey and cheese sandwich or grilled chicken salad. Plus cookies and pretzels or other snack and juice and a kiwi.
Basketball
Home for dinner - could be chicken, potatoes and veggies, chile and bread, pasta, tacos etc.
Softball
Another burrito or cup of noodles and ice cream (I usually let her eat whatever appeals just to get calories in). Sometimes a smoothie is made.
Her BMI is at the bottom of the normal range if that is of concern. Hence trying to make sure she’s fueling her efforts enough.
I know I ate a ton of crap plus a healthy lunch and dinner when I was swimming club and doing track at high school - just to get the calories I needed.
You can add some olive oil to many foods to get extra calories without really affecting the taste. It’s a trick we use in backcountry hunting applications where getting enough calories per ounce of food weight is of concern.
Drinking calories is also good when available. Chocolate milk is a favorite for my girls recovery drinks.
My swimmer eats nonstop. Some quick things I make are:
Smoothies
Bean burrito (not frozen)
Ramen with egg
Hearty bread/olive oil and hummus
PB&J
Protein bars, granola bars, fig bars (add a cheese stick/beef stick if there no protein)
Chobani yogurt flips
Steakum sandwich (they’re quick)
Chocolate milk
I make no claim that all of these are healthy, we’re just usually going for a lot of quick calories.
I forget how old she is. But at that activity level and her age, she definitely just needs more calories. I’m not sure why but it’s like pulling teeth to get kids to eat more nowadays.
Sounds like you’re doing all the right things now, especially getting her some breakfast. But she still just needs more calories and more protein. Protein is going to be crucial for her as a youth athlete as well. An extra sandwich that she can eat before end of the school day will help.
Something easy to digest after school before practices is important. Granola bars can be great for that. With some fruit.
Dinner: add more protein.
I’d say double up on her breakfast intake if possible as that’s where time is on your side and she can get good calories in for the rest of the day and still have time to digest. Latter half of the school day tends to prove difficult for athletes to time their caloric intake.