It’s soccer season again. Time for weekly practices, weekend games and worn out kids! If you’ve ever signed up for snack duties, you know that buying the right treats to recharge the team’s energy at half time while satisfying their exhaustion post game can be a bit overwhelming.
The good news? You don’t have to shy away from being the volunteer snack provider at the next big game. Try out a few of these ideas to keep the snacks budget friendly and the kids happy and full, whether they’ve won or lost!
1. Make your own custom trail mix.
Making homemade trail mix is healthier and less expensive than buying premade trail mix; plus, you get more say in what flavors go in, and what flavors stay out. Once you get started, it’ll be difficult to run out of tasty, wholesome ideas for your own trail mix recipes. It’s as simple as grabbing your favorite healthy ingredients and making your own custom combinations. Grab your preferred type of nuts, whole grains, fresh and dried fruits, seeds and throw them all together in any order you’d like. The best thing about trail mix? It’s hard to go wrong.
2. Bake delicious (and healthy) breads.
Bringing tasty breads to a game is always a hit. You’ll save money by baking it yourself while making sure the kids are getting a healthy and filling snack. Choose from various zucchini bread, banana bread, cranberry bread and carrot bread recipes, to name just a few of the many options available to you. They’ll eat it up till the last crumb without noticing the many nutritious fruits and veggies they’re getting out of it.
3. Keep it simple with granola bars.
Making granola bars at home is not as complicated as you may think. It’s also way cheaper than buying the boxed stuff you find at the store. You can make a ton of variations of these tasty and healthy snacks by using ingredients the kids prefer and looking for what’s on sale at your store. Whether you make no-bake bars or use a recipe that requires the oven, you won’t regret taking a bit of time to put these together.
4. Don’t forget the fruit.
Orange and apple slices are a classic soccer game snack choice for good reason. Kids love them, they’re easy to cut, bring and distribute, and they’re unlikely to go to waste for lack of freshness. Keep things fun by adding frozen grapes to the mix. Simply remove the stems, freeze them in plastic bags and bring them along.
5. Get creative with peanut butter.
Peanut butter is an inexpensive favorite for many reasons. First, it’s full of the protein kids need to keep going. Second, it goes great with just about anything. Third, it’s simply delicious. Start by enhancing the flavors of fruit, letting players garnish their apples, bananas and celery sticks with the nutty goodness. Another easy option is making mini-sandwiches, spreading it between cracker or using it as dip for wheat thins and pretzels. You can also try mixing peanut butter in with Greek yogurt, cookies and dozens of other snacks. And make sure you reach for natural peanut butter to avoid unnecessary sugars, salts and additives.
Once you’ve figured out the right foods to keep their energy up, your little athletes will need lots of fluids to keep them hydrated. Whether they’re drinking plenty of water or sports drinks, make sure team members are equipped with their own reusable drink container to fill up during and after the game.
This post is linked to Frugal Friday at Life as Mom.
