Hockey moms are often eating and feeding their players on the run. Finding time to eat can get lost hustling back and forth from various practices, games and other events during the hockey season. How do you make sure your young hockey player doesn’t get to the arena hungry or thirsty?  Meal planning is a big part of a hockey mom’s game plan but every once in awhile, the schedule is so crazy that no amount of pre-planning can prevent at least one meal on the road. I know this – I’ve been a hockey mom for sixteen years. I would also like you all to know that I am not a certified nutritionist or a registered dietitian – a fact that will become painfully obvious to readers by the end of this post!

When I fail to plan a nutritious meal or snack for my children to consume while en route to hockey, I can always count on my alternatives, my living-on-the-fringe alternatives. 

Do any of these sound familiar to you?

The Bottom Feeder

It’s that protein bar that’s been at the bottom of your purse since try-outs or sort-outs. Sure it’s now January but that ‘expiry date’ is really a ‘best by date,’ right?  Yum, yum. Chow down.

The Under Roller

You’ve been listening to that bottle slosh about your car for about two weeks. Now your child is complaining how thirsty they are. You know what? If that mystery bottle of water or Gatorade has not been opened, it’s fair game for snack time. If it has been opened, it might be questionable but I am absolutely certain there is a negative correlation between ambivalence to the previous owner of that bottle and your child’s thirst. Glug, glug.

IceCapped

You brought a lovely travel mug of hot coffee to the arena but forgot it in your car. Now you’re thirsting for caffeine but have yet another hockey event. Hey, don’t think of it as a ‘coffee gone cold,’ think of it as a two-fer! First you had your hot double-double, now you have your Iced Capp! Two-fer glug glug.

McSafety First!

I think it’s perfectly mcfine to mcstop once in a mcwhile when you’re so mchungry you can’t mcconcentrate on the mcroad and your kids are getting mchangry. If we happen to catch each other in the mcdrive-thru, I won’t mcjudge you if you don’t mcjudge me.

The Glove Compartmentalized Snack

Not quite a bento box (not even close, in fact), this snack is the poor cousin of the Bottom Feeder. It’s those packets of ketchup lurking among the empty gum wrappers in your car’s glove compartment. If you haven’t resorted to slurping on ketchup, can you really say you’ve lived?

Yesterday’s News

Yesterday. All my troubles seemed so far away. But thank God my child forgot their school backpack in the car because now they can dine on Friday’s packed lunch leftovers. Now who’s happy you didn’t cut of the crusts of their sandwich, eh?

So, next time you’re on the road and without food? Fear not! There are always options! (As long as you’re short on choices and time but high on creativity and desperation!)

Three cheers for hockey moms and their lunch boxes – consider your penalty served!