WAG Snacks...

[Xooscarlettoox]

I am the driver for three team gymnasts. One of them being mine. I am coming to a point where I don't know what to pack for snack on the way to the gym. They eat about 10:30 or so so by the time they get out at 3 o'clock they are hungry. They go straight to the gym. They don't have a lot of time to eat so I need to get some good fuel into them. Anyone have any good ideas?
Right now I cut up a bunch of meat slices, cheese slices and some crackers and they eat those usually with a baggie of fruit.

 

[skschlag]

What you are doing sounds great. My son also does the following in the 15 minutes on th way to gym (and we have no allergies):

Hummus and pretzels
PB&J
pb & crackers
fruit leather and cheese
apples and cheese
Meat and cheese roll ups (tortilla)
veggies and hummus
any kind of sandwich

He almost always has fruit with that too.

How old are they? That seems like a long time for anyone to go without eating, much less athletes. I talk to d's teacher every year to make sure he gets 2 snacks and lunch every day.

 

[Xooscarlettoox]

The girls are all 11. With my DD turning 12 in November, The other two just having turned 11. I may have to look into seeing if her teachers/school will allow for extra snacks. Unfortunately, Where we are from, It seems as if you're not a valuable athlete unless it's a school sanctioned sport. But surely worth asking!!

 

[kittycatcat5]

My mum just gives us apples and like a snack like a donut it gets me through!

 

[mimi]

If they do not have any allergies, nuts or some kind of trail mix would be a good choice. Other ideas: sandwiches, Cliff Kids bars, high protein granola bars, yogurt tubes, celery and peanut butter, hard boiled eggs.

 

[Xooscarlettoox]

Yogurt! I was taking bagels and yogurt a lot last year. I forgot all about that thank you! A lot of good suggestions. I just kind of got myself in a rut... Like a mommy mental block LOL

 

[kitkat]

My dd has a 30 minute drive to gym - so for school we pack her something to eat in the van on the way there. Usually something that has high protein in it.
For snack at the gym - they typically get a 10 minute break. I always pack something light as she has another 2 hours of training after that.
Small salad, cheese, crackers, light meat, rice crackers, hummus, fruit of sometime, yogurt drink, yogurt, smoothie, sushi, salsa/crackers (try for something that is not too high in salt)
I haven't tried - dried fruit and she may like that too.

 

[Luvs2coach]

Tuna or chicken salad. They can scoop it like a dip with a cracker of choice.
Cheese, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, celery or apples and peanut butter, green salad with dried fruit and cubed ham or chicken, smoked salmon, beef jerky (homemade is great), bagel pizza- you can Pre-make it and add diced veggies and any kind of meat & cheese.

Protein is great.

Encourage them to drink water too. In 30 min hopefully they can drink a water bottle & refill when they get to gym. Hydration is important.

 

[my4buffaloes]

I will sometimes just do dinner leftovers. Pasta with sauce, stir fry, black bean burritos - whatever you had for dinner. I drove 3 girls last year too and did that a lot. You could do roll ups of some sort, bagels with PB or hummus, veggies and dip, smoothies, pizza pockets, etc.

 

[OwlGalLiz]

Thanks for posting. My kindy student eats at 1030 am and gets a snack at 230 (I provide) at school. We will go from off the bus at 345 to gym from 415-630 so I need ideas.

He loves the beef jerky/cheese combos that you can find as well as the breakfast trail mix packets. Pretzels with cheese or peanut butter are also a hit with him. Hopefully I am on the right track.

 

[leotardmakermum]

My daughter has a second lunch on the way to gym, though it sounds like yours will be having her first lunch! For her second lunch, I usually do rice paper rolls with basmati rice (low GI), some barbeque chicken, lettuce, soy sauce and Japanese mayonnaise. Sometimes I'll use mint leaves instead of the soy sauce. They end up being a sort of cross between a sushi roll and a Vietnamese rice paper roll.

Please note, these are not fried, and definitely not deep fried! The link below takes you to a recipe of the sort of thing I mean, though I would add rice inside those ones to increase the carbs.

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/17608/vietnamese+rice+paper+rolls

On occasions I put leftovers of the night before's dinner in them. That might be a vegie and meat pasta, or a stir fry with vegies, meat and rice or noodles.

They are filling, have a good balance of protein and carbs, have fats, and are easy to eat because they can be eaten with her hands, rather than needing cutlery.

She usually would have 3 rolls for proper lunch, and two rolls for a second lunch. To stop them sticking together in the lunch box, I put pieces of baking paper between them.

As well as the food, she also has a drink of chocolate milk (made with oat milk due to allergies) with a little coconut cream added for additional fats.

 

[Mom2Brats]

Smoothies!! We used to do smoothies every day with the same schedule and carpool. You can pack them full of all sorts of stuff.

 

[Deleted member 15064]

Thank you for this conversation thread. If anyone else has good protein snacks they can add to the list, please do. I pack a school lunch of left overs that stay warm enough in a thermos, but the "2nd" lunch I pack for the ride to the gym after school needs to be less perishable as it needs to sit in her school cubby all day. She takes a bus directly to practice every afternoon.

 

[skschlag]

D takes stuff in a lunchbox with an ice pack and has it from 7-7. It is always still cool. he will do chocolate milk for after, but fro the 3:45 snack he will do cheese and crackers, hummus, gogurts, nutella, pb&j, and anything from the lists above. He actually takes 2 lunchboxes to school: 1 big one for lunch, and a smaller one for snacks.

 

[Xooscarlettoox]

Such good ideas! And to think I almost didn't ask!! (I tried a search to make sure that it hadn't been covered!... And while it had in certain other threads I didn't see a specific thread!)

 

[MaryA]

Those individually wrapped cheese sticks are good. DD loves the pepper jack kind. Trader Joes has some individual serving packs of nuts that are good. One has almonds, cashews, and chocolate chunks. I'm sure DD would like those if I would stop eating them before she has a chance.

 

[saddlupasb]

You guys are so good!! I have parents who send things like a whole bag of Whoppers, a pack of Oreos, Candy bars, Chips, Cheetos, Coke. I couldn't believe it.

 

[Bajanswife]

When I do the gym run I come straight from work so I can't prepare anything fresh. I just give them cereal bars - not ideal but they seem to do fine. They eat lunch at school between 12.30 and 1, and start gym at 3.30, so they haven't been that long without food. They also take a little extra in their lunch boxes to school and may nibble on it while waiting for pick-up.

 

[skschlag]

I make d pack a second lunch box with his snacks. That way they address fresh and ready and his job. Lol

 

[MaryA]

Last year about this time DD must have been going through a growth spurt because we had to start packing "second lunch" or she just couldn't make it through the day. That lasted a couple of months and then gradually started bringing home more and more of "second lunch" uneaten. I'm holding my breath to see if we go through that again this year. Fingers are crossed that she is done spurting and that it will just be slow and steady from here on out, but that is likely a fantasy.