Oh, how I yearn for the days of winter…. those days just a few short months ago when I was so thrilled that we were sitting down to dinner every night. Those wonderful “sports-less” days that actually kept us home and in one another’s company for a few hours each day. Those days, my friend, are over.
And now… I’m stumped.
I just sat down to plan out our meals for this week. Whenever I do that, I print out a weekly meal plan:
http://www.healthymenumailer.com/ebooks/weekly-meal-plan.pdf
and then I check our Family Calendar on cozi.com:
http://www.cozi.com/live-simply?redir=home
I follow our calendar to dictate what we have for dinner each night, and mark off any meals that we’ll be out to lunch, or note when we need to have breakfast on-the-go, etc. Well, this week my calendar looks like this: baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, and YEP… baseball. Every single night. This happened two weeks ago, and my family survived on Concession Stand food. We probably had enough nitrates pumping through our bodies to light a sub station. This week, I can not do it. I personally can not take another week of hot dogs, nachos, and the occasional slice of pizza. But here is what has me stumped: Every game this week starts at 5:45. That means the kids have to be at the field around 5:00 for war-ups, making us be out of the house by 4:45. Sooo…. 4:00 is waaaay too early for dinner, and we fall back into the house around 8:00ish (or 10:00ish if my son has two games that night) and thus, too late for dinner. So… what to do?? I know there are other parents in the same boat, and I am wracking my brain trying to figure out what to do. What does everyone else do? I asked a few people, and ‘a bowl of cereal’, or ‘concession stand’, or ‘drive thru’ were answers I heard repeatedly. This week, I am putting my foot down: We need healthier and fast options, and we need them now.
So, I am on a mission to figure this thing out. Any help or suggestions you might have, feel free to comment. If not, tune in sometime this week to see what solution I figured out. Or… tune in to hear me complain about not finding a solution. You know, just come back.
suzyfreakinghomemaker.wordpress.com 
My suggestion would be to pack a cooler…I have done this. The evening games are hard on us too. I have made individual containers of foods like pastas, sandwiches, fruit, etc. Easy to eat and healthier than the hot dogs/chips. I usually have to pack lots of snacks in my car since my 2 year old is always hungry.
We’re in the same boat during football and basketball seasons. I also do the cooler thing, with sandwiches and thermoses of soup or chili. Since you do a lot of your meal prep on the weekends, you could get the lunchmeat pre-separated so that on game night it’s just slap it on the bread, add mustard or mayo and whatever, and go. If you have time, you can warm chicken wraps in the oven, wrap in foil, and have a hot dinner. Good luck!