Car conversations are way better than the family meal. We do those too but the conversations flow a lot better in the car. Also, sports is so essential for my teens that I am most certainly not giving that up so we can eat together. What a joke!!' Probably spoken by someone whose kids don't truly love sports.

I do a lot of driving for sports and I also enjoy the car conversations. I think I hear about things I would not hear about at the dinner table.

And when we carpool- high schoolers forget the parent is there and they just chat and it is sometimes lovely.

Anonymous wrote:Nothing should come before family dinners IMO. It's the only time we have together. No sport or activity is more important.

Good for you.

A story.

When they were 14/15 one of my daughter’s soccer teammates hopped in the back of the mini van after practice and ate the subway sandwich there on the way home. Except the sandwich was about a week old. Gave herself some mild food poisoning and was out for a couple days. Remember to clean out the car.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing should come before family dinners IMO. It's the only time we have together. No sport or activity is more important.

The 1:1 time I have spent in the car with my kids, where they are far more likely to talk about hard things, plus the time I've spent driving them with their friends, where I get to overhear and learn A LOT, is at least as valuable our dinners together. Just fyi.

OP, to answer your question, no gizmos required. One meal after school, another after practice, healthy snacks in the backpack. We rarely resort to eating out, unless it's a tournament weekend.

I agree with this. Now that my oldest is in college, I miss that one-on-one time with him in the car, just the two of us. And the discussions between him and his friends in the car when carpooling was good as well, picking up lots of intel!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing should come before family dinners IMO. It's the only time we have together. No sport or activity is more important.

The 1:1 time I have spent in the car with my kids, where they are far more likely to talk about hard things, plus the time I've spent driving them with their friends, where I get to overhear and learn A LOT, is at least as valuable our dinners together. Just fyi.

OP, to answer your question, no gizmos required. One meal after school, another after practice, healthy snacks in the backpack. We rarely resort to eating out, unless it's a tournament weekend.

Agree 100%!! We try to have family dinners when we can, even if it is late, and that usually happens 3 times per week or so, but both DH and I find that that car time with our tween or teen really meaningful, too. Also agree that the carpools can be great for getting information you would not otherwise!

No one prepared me for how hungry kids are when they get home from school. In the beginning I was focusing on snacks, healthier snacks etc before I realized it was easier to just have dinner planned for them by 5pm on the go or at home before the nightly routine of running to activities. If they are hungry when they get home the choices are yogurt and fruit, apple with peanut butter, banana etc…Sometimes my tween will have a fried egg and toast.

Due to sports, we've done a LOT of car meals. And basically my kids are so hungry they'll eat it as is, I never worried about keeping something warm or cold. Maybe for something like an all-day tournament, I'll put drinks in an insulated carrier and throw in a cold pack.

Something that helped a lot is having a supply of napkins in the car, as well as some plasticware. I keep plastic forks, spoons, knives in a ziplock bag in my glove compartment.

We keep grilled chicken around so it can be used multiple ways. We cut the chicken thinly then marinate so it can be cooked quickly in a pan. We also keep a variety of crudités - baby carrots, grape tomatoes, celery, snap peas, cucumber slices etc.

Some things we pack for a meal on the run:
Salad with grilled chicken
Crackers, crudités, grapes, and some combo of cheese, pre-sliced salami, edamame.
Cold wraps
Sandwich with crudités.

We make edamame and protein peanut butter oatmeal balls for a snack on the go.

We put food in a thermos and DD eats it after practice.

The meals I have found to be the easiest to have ready ahead of time to serve/reheat before practices and also easiest cleanup (we use ALL the paper plates and bowls and utensils):

*soft or hard tacos and chili (ground meat, beans, cut up veggies, shredded cheese, sour cream, salsa, avo)
*soups
*mac n cheese
*deli meat/cheese rollups plus veggies
*microwave burritos
*steamed dumplings
*Ramen bowls (add hot water)
*microwave rice - added beans and hot sauce

Anonymous wrote:Nothing should come before family dinners IMO. It's the only time we have together. No sport or activity is more important.

The 1:1 time I have spent in the car with my kids, where they are far more likely to talk about hard things, plus the time I've spent driving them with their friends, where I get to overhear and learn A LOT, is at least as valuable our dinners together. Just fyi.

OP, to answer your question, no gizmos required. One meal after school, another after practice, healthy snacks in the backpack. We rarely resort to eating out, unless it's a tournament weekend.

Anonymous wrote:Any seasoned sports parents have dinner/meal accessories you can’t live without for traveling and eating? I’m realizing we’re in this for the long haul and seeing some things like electric bowls for soup etc- not sure if worth buying. What have you found best keeps stuff warm/cold?

The Panera app and the Chipotle app. Have favorite orders and teach your kids how to put them through once they are old enough. Also just realize that you will eat more fast food than you want because when you are driving home two hours and it's already 5:00 when the game ends, you aren't going to want to cook

Biggest and healthiest meal of the day is served between 4:00 and 5:30pm: salad/veggies, protein, soup, starch, small dessert.
Practices start by 6:00 and sometimes go until after 8/9pm, and before bed options are cereal, banana/apple with cheese or PB, some milk, yogurt, fruit.
I offer very few car options but do always have something stocked: meat stick, veggie straws, and gummies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing should come before family dinners IMO. It's the only time we have together. No sport or activity is more important.

Kindly exit this thread stage left Gladys. No one asked for you opinion.

Agree - no one asked. We have family dinners a couple of times per week and have breakfasts together. We make it work. Loving their sport this much and having the outlet comes with a huge array of healthy benefits physically and mentally, and teaches discipline like no other. I am ok with some car dinners and enjoy my time in the car with my child.