Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why eat there? Why not eat at home?

For us on week days it was timing. We would get home from work and be ready to go to the pool by 5.15 or 5.30. We used to eat dinner around 6.30 so unless we ate at the pool we would only get to stay for 45 minutes or so. We don’t eat at the pool on week days so much now the kids got to bed later, as we can just have a later dinner when we get home.

On the weekends we often eat at the pool with our groups of friends, maybe have a beer or a wine and grill while the kids play and swim.

Same for us. This summer, my elementary kids will have swim team from 5:30 - 6:30pm. My preschooler isn't doing swim team yet, so he and I and DH will swim and hang out while the older ones have practice. It's easier for me to pack a picnic during the day (which I can do during work breaks, since I'm still WFH full-time) than to either have them eat dinner at home at either 4:45pm (and still be hungry after practice) or 7pm. This way, they can eat as soon as practice is over, swim for a little more if they want, and be home and in bed by 8pm. Win-win.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flatbreads, shrimp, cold noodles, kebabs, rested steak

What is a rested steak?

One that’s gotten a good 8 hours without having to get up to pee even once.

Anonymous wrote:Why eat there? Why not eat at home?

For us on week days it was timing. We would get home from work and be ready to go to the pool by 5.15 or 5.30. We used to eat dinner around 6.30 so unless we ate at the pool we would only get to stay for 45 minutes or so. We don’t eat at the pool on week days so much now the kids got to bed later, as we can just have a later dinner when we get home.

On the weekends we often eat at the pool with our groups of friends, maybe have a beer or a wine and grill while the kids play and swim.

Anonymous wrote:Flatbreads, shrimp, cold noodles, kebabs, rested steak

What is a rested steak?

Why eat there? Why not eat at home?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y’all are so lucky. We have zero pool access.

where do you live? MoCo and DC have public pools. Many areas have a ymca.

We live in VA. No hoa. We will try public pool, but none are close and they cap visitors. So likely kid will get jazzed up for pool day, but we won’t get in.

Anonymous wrote:I'm impressed by all your kids eating shrimp and pesto and fresh mozzarella type stuff. I have two picky eaters and it's a drag cooking/feeding them. I can deconstruct most stuff so they just eat the parts of the meal they like and the rest of us can combine, but I am just here to say, it sucks!

If it makes you feel better, in my experience many of the families eating this way atill have a picky eater in the bunch - sometimes parents freely admit it and do what you describe (deconstruct meals), often they gloss over the picky kid claiming she “eats everything” but the kid actually just nibbles on crackers and fruit.

Anonymous wrote:Y’all are so lucky. We have zero pool access.

where do you live? MoCo and DC have public pools. Many areas have a ymca.

Anonymous wrote:I'm impressed by all your kids eating shrimp and pesto and fresh mozzarella type stuff. I have two picky eaters and it's a drag cooking/feeding them. I can deconstruct most stuff so they just eat the parts of the meal they like and the rest of us can combine, but I am just here to say, it sucks!

I see you.

Part of the problem is that I'm usually racing home from work to grab the kids and head straight over to the pool to get there before it's too cold to swim, so no time to actually cook anything - it really needs to be in the fridge ready to grab and run.

I do a lot of pasta salads. Rotini with mozzarella, basil and cherry tomatoes. Orzo with artichoke hearts and leftover shredded chicken in a lemon vinaigrette (kids usually pick out the artichoke hearts, or I pack them separately and add to mine).

Deconstructed sandwiches to be built at the pool. Or a baguette and charcuterie platter with fresh fruit.

Cold fried chicken also rocks.

I'm impressed by all your kids eating shrimp and pesto and fresh mozzarella type stuff. I have two picky eaters and it's a drag cooking/feeding them. I can deconstruct most stuff so they just eat the parts of the meal they like and the rest of us can combine, but I am just here to say, it sucks!

Anonymous wrote:Grapes, pretzels, cold BBQ chicken. End of list.

This sounds ideal. What is your recipe for the chicken? TIA