I love “Mommy” blogs, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed many over the years, but one area that many mommy blogs don’t seem to touch upon is Feeding Hungry Teenagers. Last year was my first experience with feeding a starving football team on a meager budget.
If you’re a parent (or a coach) of a Middle School or High School football team student, you know exactly what I’m referring to.
Many times the parents take turns hosting “pasta feeds” the night before (or the night of, the big game). Generally speaking, here are the requirements that I’ve become all too familiar with:
- It Needs to be Fast -they often need to eat fast & most parents don’t have a lot of extra time to spend preparing the dish.
- It needs to be Filling- self-explanatory.
- It needs to be Affordable– nothing says budget drain like feeding 75+ Teenagers with seemingly hollow legs.
What to Feed an Entire Football Team
Here are a few of our Favorite Suggestions for feeding an entire football team on a budget:
Monster Sandwiches- Use french bread or Italian bread & Slice into 6 pieces per loaf, use egg salad (300 different ways!), ham salad, chicken salad as fillers
BBQ Beef, Pork or Chicken– Cook in a crockpot, shred it, add BBQ Sauce serve with rolls (Whatever you can find for meat that is on sale).
Homemade Mac-n-Cheese with Diced ham & Broccoli
Meatballs– can be made ahead of time, dumped in several different crockpots with different sauces, a beef gravy in one, sweet and sour sauce in another, marinara or spaghetti sauce in a third. Serve with rolls, salad.
Meatballs over Rice– once again, a large pot of meatballs, various sauce choice served over rice
Chicken Alfredo or Chicken Tetrazzini
Salad should be kept simple- shredded lettuce with shredded carrots & Ranch Dressing.
Shepards Pie – relatively easy to make, the filling consists of browned grown beef, layered with cream style corn and topped with whipped mashed potatoes.
Pasta Bar– this one is especially easy if several parents are working together. Each parent prepares 1 type of sauce (Tomato Sauce, Cream Sauce, Pesto, etc) and prepare it ahead of time. Then a large pot of Pasta.
Chili-chicken chili, beef chili, all bean chili
Baked Beans, Franks & Coleslaw
Baked potato bar with the works. Get big bakers and wrap each in foil bake till done. Set up an ‘All the fixins’ bar
- Diced ham
- cooked chopped bacon
- Diced onions or scallions
- sour cream
- cooked broccoli
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- Chili
Chicken Pasta Salad– Cook 2 boxes of macaroni, rinse, drain, add 2 bottle Ranch Dressings, 1 lb cooked diced bacon, 2 cups shredded carrots, 1 bag rinsed thawed (frozen) peas, 4 cups diced cooked chicken or turkey.
If you have additional ideas or recipes, please feel free to add them to the comments area below!
these things also work well with feeding the marching band. lasgana is also a favorite. if you can get parents to donate it works wonders.
putting things in a cooler and covering with a towel keeps them warm.
Additions:
In the fall Corn on the cob is often cheap, it can be cooked via the “cooler Method”, Scrub out a large cooler, fill with shucked corn, top with boiling water, close. By the time you get it to the field, the corn is cooked and ready to eat.
these are really good ideas thanks!!! my sons friends are here every weekend all 16 year olds!!!:groceries:
This sounds snarky and I don’t mean for it to. When feeding a football team giving them a dense, heavy meal right before a game will make them sick. My oldest played in middle and high school and there were countless nights where many members of the team, running backs, offensive and defensive line, etc, were on the sidelines throwing up the heavy meal they’d just eaten. Please feed them, and thank you for doing it, but please don’t make the kids sick.
A high carbohydrate meal is perfect. Pasta, especially lasagna, chicken Alfredo, spaghetti, is a perfect meal for night before game. Throw in garlic bread, salad, dessert, and you can’t go wrong.
The dinners are the night before the game so the carbs can be converted into energy for them at the game the next day. If players are throwing up it means they need more conditioning!
This article is a lifesaver for any team parent! Feeding a big group can be so challenging, especially with dietary restrictions. I loved the idea of using a taco bar so everyone can customize their own plates—it’s so flexible! Another great option I’ve tried is baked potato bars, which are super filling and easy to prep. Thank you for making this daunting task seem manageable.
This would be great to help feed the football team for our school!