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Snack

String cheese + whole-grain crackers

The bag snack for the gap between school and a 6pm practice. Eat it in the car, not on the field.

Servings
1
Total
1 min
Skill
Easy

What you need

Ingredients

Making for

1 serving

  • String cheese2 each
  • Whole-grain crackers1 oz

Quantities scale linearly with servings. Round to the nearest practical amount when shopping.

Steps

  1. 1

    Freeze the cheese the night before

    Put 2 string cheeses in the freezer overnight. They thaw in about an hour in a bag and act as their own ice pack on the way. By the time practice starts they are cold and firm instead of greasy and sweating.

  2. 2

    Portion the crackers, do not send the box

    Count out 12 to 15 whole-grain crackers into a hard container. That is roughly a half cup and it is the actual serving. A sleeve in the bag becomes a sleeve eaten, and then dinner does not get touched.

  3. 3

    Pack them so the crackers stay crackers

    Cheese and crackers go in separate compartments or separate bags. Cheese gives off moisture as it warms, and soft crackers are the single most common reason this comes home uneaten.

Coach's notes

  • USDA says perishable food should not sit out more than 2 hours, and only 1 hour above 90F. In a Florida soccer bag treat 1 hour as the limit and pack a cold source.
  • This is a snack, not a lunch. Crackers and cheese alone do not carry a training day, and a cracker plate is not a meal here.
  • Check the cracker label for whole grain as the first ingredient. Most boxes that say multigrain on the front list refined flour first.
  • A string cheese is about 6 to 7 g of protein. Two of them plus the crackers is enough to get through a session without sitting heavy.
  • If he will not eat plain string cheese, cheddar cut into cubes travels the same way and most kids prefer it.