Dinner on the Bleachers | Family Economics

By Cathe Holden

What begins in the spring with youth league baseball continues through the fall into football season: dinner on the bleachers, aka spectator suppers.

With children active in sports practices and games year round and most often during the dinner hour, we do our best to keep our very important family connection: eating together, at least those of us not in the game. Of course, for planning dinner around the bleachers instead of around the table, it helps to plan ahead, in order to save time and money and keep from eating snack shack food that more often than not, unhealthy.

I use a large and sturdy insulated tote to bring my family’s dinner to most outdoor games and practices. Soft coolers or totes are so much less bulky for sitting in the stands than traditional hard coolers and easier to carry up the bleachers.

I will pack a separate bag for items that may need to be kept away from the heated food, such as dessert. I stock up on Ziploc® storage containers and bags for packing individual servings, utensils and napkins, and several travel cups with lids. One or two lunch-box size freezer packs are just enough to keep any cold foods fresh until the game whistle blows.

A permanent marker is great to have on hand as most of our packed dinners have special requests by one or more child, so as I’m packing dinner, their individual bag or container can be marked with either their name for the disposable bags or a star for the reusable containers.

We bring our everyday kitchen utensils along and an extra bag to put them in when we’re done to wash when we return home. I also tuck into our totes(s) mealtime necessities such as dampened folded paper towels tucked into their own storage bag.

Some of the dinners we enjoy at the games are either leftovers from the night before or meals made earlier in the day and reheated just before heading out of the house. Rice and meat dishes or “short pasta” meals are always a hit (“long pasta” such as spaghetti can become quite messy when eating from your lap.) Burritos are one of my family’s favorites. Many slow cooker meals are perfect for scooping up to bring along. Cold dinners, like chicken Caesar salad wraps and hearty deli-style sandwiches are easy early-day fixes.

I fill each travel cup with a drink and desserts often include brownies, cookies, homemade pudding cups and even popcorn divided into personal snack bags. For extra cold nights, thermoses full of cocoa are a must.

With plan-ahead travel meals ready to go, the athlete can often enjoy their home-cooked meal before or on the way to the game.