Nutritional Lunch & Snack

[T.J.]

Hi Gang,

With HS ball starting up I'd like to advise my Daughter (and others) on some nutritional items for lunch, and a snack she can have at the end of school before practices & games.

I'm not a fan of the energy bars & drinks so I was hoping for some nutrional items I can buy and prepare at home; or that she can buy in the lunch line.

Wondering what your DD snacks on.

Any education in this area would be great and appreciative.

Thanks,

T

 

[BaldNBeautiful]

Gee, you hit a sore nerve with me on this one. I don't want to get political, but in our area the new school lunch regulations have really had a negative effect on the students who participate in athletics.
I coach MS, and if we cannot get on the field we have the gym from 5 to 7 pm. Many of my players stay after for study hall in my classroom and need to eat before practice. I recommend that parents send a snack with them to school but usually I provide something as well. My favorites:
prepackaged peanut butter & crackers, cheese & crackers, granola bars, apples, bananas, and occasionally peanut butter & jelly for sandwiches.

 

[chinamigarden]

Our school has an early start time and due to that lunch is at 10:45, factor in a practice that starts at 4:00 or later. My DD will often pack 2 lunches, one for lunch and the other for after school but before practice. Sandwich, fruit, yogurt, and pop chips are among the normal. Sometimes a cottage double (its a pre packed cottage cheese with fruit)

 

[inde53546]

Almonds, walnuts, pecans all very nutritious. Fruit, popcorn, sugar free pudding, yougurt, string cheese, cottage cheese, peanut butter and celery. These are my go to items.

 

[Westwind]

Everything above.

Yoplait makes Greek yogurt with granola to mix in. It tastes great and has twice the protein . the blueberry is awesome.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

We like MIO in our bottled water. It is those little bottles of various flavorings. What about pretzels? Would they be better than chips?

 

[YOCOACH]

DD loves Hummus so she'll take that either with cut pita bread or fresh cut veggies.

 

[Abrasiveboy]

My oldest is a swimmer in HS, my youngest is the softball player, the swimmer swims 8k-10k yds per day, 6 days a week 46 weeks a year. Some of the items that you're recommending are good however they don't have that much protein in them. Try whey protein shakes, protein bars, they are inexpensive and the energy they will get from them will last a long time. if they can have some sort of pasta every night with their meal that actually will provide them a good foundation for practice the following day. The peanut butter and the nuts are fantastic for them, for the yogurt try adding granola to it. Even though every play in softball is usually short burst of speed they still need the energy later in the game and also in training to sustain the high level of play. By the way 10,000 yards may not sound like a lot but that's 400 laps. They need sustainable energy to do the entire practice. JMO

 

[Pitching Dad]

DD and family loves Jerky, GREAT pure protein snack during all weekend tourneys.

 

[T.J.]

Thanks everyone...all great ideas. I will offer these to my Daughter and have her decide what she likes and WILL eat. I love the jerky idea; I haven't made that in a while, thanks for that...will have to break out the kit again.