What Should Hockey Players Eat? Easy Meals, Snacks & Rink-Day Nutrition for Hockey Families

SPEAKER_03 1:20

This episode is powered by NHL Cents Arena. Hello, hockey friends and families around the world, and welcome back to an exciting edition of Our Kids Play Hockey. I'm Lee Elias joined by Mike Benelli and Christy Cassiano Burns. You know, if you spend enough time around a hockey rink, you're probably going to ask yourself this question. Hey, what are we doing for food? It comes up all the time. I seem to talk to about my teams every single year between practices, games, tournaments, homework, and everything else life throws at us. We need to figure out mealtime. And that can become one of the biggest challenges of the season. Those of you that are stopping at that fast food restaurants, we're looking at you right now. You know who you are. No shame, no guilt. We're just talking to you right now. Today we're doing a few things. We're going to share your submissions because we asked this to our audience kind of what are you eating? And we're going to talk about simple meals, croc pot favorites, make-a-head ideas, healthy options, and all little tricks hockey families use to survive a busy week at the rink. We're going to help each other take this one off the to-do list. Before I even start, I'm going to preface this whole episode. Christy's going to join me in this.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 2:29

It takes a little bit of effort, a little bit, but this is very manageable to do. Sure. And gang, I'm teasing you with this. It's way more affordable than fast food. But let's start with reality. Christy, you're the hockey mom. You're actually you've been through this. You are the veteran.

SPEAKER_04 2:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:46

All right. Your kids went through the entire journey of hockey. What did meals look like at your home during the hockey?

SPEAKER_01 2:53

Let's talk about growing up, first of all. I grew up Italian, and I don't know about you guys, but everything was dinner, right? And I grew up with my dad had a grocery store and everybody cooked. Five sisters, a brother. My father was a great chef, my mom. So dinner was a big deal. Dinner was at six o'clock. TV goes off, everybody at the table. Wow, did times change when I became a hockey mom? You couldn't have dinner at six o'clock. Kids were at the rink, or they had to do their homework, or you might have practice at you know, five. It everything just was flipped upside down for me. And it was a tough adjustment, especially the way that I grew up. I don't know, you guys chime in. Was it similar to you? Yeah, you know, I but you were all hockey players, so yeah, it was a little different for you.

SPEAKER_03 3:45

Again, I didn't start playing until I was 12, right? So what what I'm thankful about that, because that's late, right? Was that we had traditional family mealtime for the first 12 years of my life. Okay. Um, and again, I always say hockey parents go, that's a nice thought, right? To have a family meal time. Uh, I cherish those meals now that I'm older. And and I'll I'll tell you, Christy, we do try and do that at my house whenever humanly possible, right? Like we we make dinner time, assuming we're home, especially like in the summertime, a time that we are together.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Right, but dinner time has changed, right? It's not six o'clock. It's just correct.

SPEAKER_03 4:19

Well, I was gonna say, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. There's no set time anymore. Set time. It's kind of when we're all at the table. And if there's a practice, we might hold off. Sometimes we'll split up. Uh, but I just wanted to reiterate that the idea of that spending time with your family at the dinner table is an important concept. Now, when I started playing, um, I thankfully my mother uh was very proactive about pre-packing snacks and making sure I was always eating healthy. Um, and you know, we just didn't stop to get fast food. Like we just didn't do it. I mean, it was if you don't have something, you're not going there. And that's what I remember. Now, I'll tell you this that uh that, and again, I'm in my 40s now. I'm realizing how big of a habit that created for me as an adult because now I'm doing that with my kids.

SPEAKER_04 5:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:01

Uh, and educating my players about it. But Mike, I I'd like to, by the way, this time you talk about being Italian, I think you've got to do this a little more.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

We have established that dinner time it's still important, even if you're a hockey fan. 100%. I agree with that.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Even if it's that and that's the hardest part, right? And I think, you know, when we go, you know, not it's not this episode, but when we talk about, you know, the the the culture of youth sport, you know, it's bit it it really has blown that apart. It's blown the opportunity to have family dinners apart if you're one of these families that fall into the, you know, got to go to every clinic, every camp, every, you know, every practice, every other practice, everybody else's practices. So it's but you know, and I but I you know I grew up in a little bit of that chaos. I mean, I grew up with five, you know, brothers and sisters, but we also had two other, you know, it it's a long story, but we had two others living here. You know, so my my parents had seven kids in the house, you know, like the pre-teen and teenage years. That's a class room. Yeah, and everybody played and everybody played. Yeah, I didn't start playing hockey until really late myself as well, but we played everything. You know, we played soccer, football, tennis, everything. So we everybody was running around doing everything. I I I frankly don't even understand how my parents did it, honestly. Um, because I can't do it now and I only have two kids. But I think it's um I I think but I think it it is. It belong, you know, it's just uh, you know, I never had that traditional sit-down, six o'clock, the bell rang, you know, you gotta be dinner, although it was ideal, like maybe on the weekend sometimes or on a Sunday or something, but you know, very rarely. But to Lee's point, we also didn't have fast food. I mean, you know, it wasn't easy. You couldn't get, you know, seven kids in the in the back of the station wagon and go to McDonald's. So, you know, whatever was put on the table or whatever was there, you ate as you came in, you know, and as you left. So you grabbed and go, you know, at home. And uh, and again, I think honestly, that's when I look at families now and we talk to people and and and you know, doing things like this episode and try to find out the best ways to you know attack these problems, you know, I find like that's that's kind of where we're at. Like that's where I'm at again. It's grab and go. It's like, okay, when I get home, is there anything in the fridge? Um, and and if and if you don't follow some really uh I think simple steps, but if you don't follow a plan, then you might open up and there won't be anything in the fridge because you're not cooking.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

And then you're gonna order it. And that's where meal planning comes in. So what I found will work for me, Sundays were just the perfect day, right? We as a family would cook a bunch of stuff, freeze it, portion it, and get ready for the week. You don't have to think about all the side dishes, but what's the main meal gonna be? Monday, Tuesday. You do a schedule and it eliminates that daily dinner dilemma because there's the schedule. Okay, Monday we're gonna have chicken in the crock pot, Tuesday we're having tacos, you know, Wednesday we're gonna do some some you know, meat, some beef, and then Thursday, you know, we've got sandwiches, Friday, spaghetti night, you know, have it all mapped out, planned, write it down so everybody's on the same page. And then we when you've got everybody going in different directions, it's right there in your fridge, ready to go. Snacks, I would pre-package as well. The you know, the apples, the grapes, uh, get bananas ready, ready to grab and go snacks, make it a lot easier during the week because it gets chaotic. It does. Cooking wasn't the problem for me, it was time, just managing my time.

SPEAKER_03 8:33

Yeah, and I I'll say this too, just kind of routing this portion of the episode out, Christy. I like that you said it before. Dinner time is no longer a time. I think that that's an important thing for hockey families. And I also want to kind of shout out Mike too. What he's saying is like there's just not always gonna be a night where you can sit down. You do have to grab and go. We have those nights too. I think it's like you're saying, Christy, just being a little proactive at the okay, hey, do we have a night where we're all together? All right. And then if you're playing hockey, I think that, and we'll get into this, the snack to meal ratio is also very important. So, like, like I would say, like my son, I'll give you a great example. He's got a practice that kind of runs right now from like 5 30 to 7 30. Well, that's dinner time, right? That's the dinner time. So we'll make a decision on if we want to eat or not. But what's the snack he's eating before? How long will that hold him over?

SPEAKER_01 9:21

All right, and remember sometimes you just have to lower your expectations, everybody. Not every meal has to be Instagram worthy. Just get it on the table and get it in your kids' stomachs. But let's make a list of snacks because that's really important because we're hockey families on the go. Yeah, we want to grab and go and have nutritious snacks. So I made a list of tournament snacks. Let me tell you guys, um, these were big hits with the kids. And it's simple and it's not real expensive. So you don't have to spend a lot of money making sure your kids have good nutrition. Right. You don't have to buy a lot of supplements, it's in the foods. So uh we're not dieticians, but we're just hockey parents who know what works. Uh bananas, apples, grapes, cheese sticks, pretzels, uh, peanut butter, yogurt pouches, and hydration matters too. So make sure you have water. Simple water works for the guests. You don't have to have fancy drinks.

SPEAKER_03 10:22

I want to tell you both a story. I want to tell the whole audience this story. You guys will enjoy that. So I held a training camp for my 10 U team, uh, which is actually not abnormal at my organization. Training camps just it's three days, uh, five ice sessions, and I had meals catered in between the ice sessions on the weekend. And I said, Hey, listen, here's what we're gonna have on the menu. And I got so many messages from parents. Tenu. My kid won't eat that. My kid, my obviously allergies aside. We moved allergies aside, we we got those kids taken care of. They'll never eat that. So I said, Okay, you know what? I'll work with you guys. We're gonna do chicken, grilled chicken, nice, and pasta. My kid may not eat that. They may, I'm gonna have fruit, chicken. All right, my kid, we work the kids out, every kid ate it. Oh, so so if you've got a picky eater at home, I do too. Don't get I want you guys to understand, I'm not coming from from like nowhere. I've got a picky eater at home. One of my kids is very picky, okay? When they were hungry and the food was out, they ate the food. Okay, the other thing I did, Christy, to your point is I gave a 10-minute nutrition talk just about making good choices. Good.

SPEAKER_04 11:29

Right?

SPEAKER_03 11:30

Parents would go, they'll never eat those snacks. I brought the snacks. Guess what, guys? They ate them, they ate them. All right, so I always joke that if you make a big deal about it, they'll make a big deal of it. It's different when it's one-on-one than in a team environment. I really want to make sure I'm respecting everybody here. I also told my parents on the team, in no way am I telling you what you should be feeding your child. I am just making suggestions. Okay, but on the snacks, Christy, the one they loved was uh that fruit leather. So everybody knows like fruit by the foot, right? Like those okay, not very healthy for you. Believe it or not, guys. If you walk down that aisle, they have like 100% real fruit, oh like like kind of fruit by the foot things, right? And there's no really added ingredients in these. Right. Kids love them. All right, is it processed food? Yes. Is it natural though? Pretty much. Okay, so they really enjoyed that. Um, I also wrote down here, I have no problem. Uh, you know, if you have a picky eater, those carnation protein shakes for kids are actually really good. Here's one a lot of people don't think about chocolate milk. All right, or just milk. Is it it's a pretty good snack to have before you play if they're if they're not wanting something solid. Uh, and just fruit, you said it, Christy. The guys, these things are all very available and quick to grab, right? Banana being the easiest of them all, right? Uh, and I always tag on just for the audience to tell my kids, my kids and my players, this will directly affect your performance. You will be a better player if you eat correctly. If you're eating a rice crispies treat before you play, you will hinder your performance. You might have a good first 10 minutes because the sugar is high.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

Anyway, and I can remember too with my daughter's team, everybody was on a big nutrition, uh, stay healthful kick, and you saw the peer pressure there. It really worked in a positive way. And your daughter went, Hey, what are you eating that junk for? You know, look at you know, you should be eating like this, and there that was really good peer pressure.

SPEAKER_03 13:30

It takes a village.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

It takes a village, it takes a village.

SPEAKER_03 13:33

Speaking of the village, I teased this in the open. Uh, I always feel like I'm on family feud when I do this point. We pulled the audience to see what were the top 10. Now, we asked you all for like what are just some of the suggestions you do for quick meals, all right? And uh, much like an episode Mike and I did recently, you didn't disappoint. We've got a lot of feedback here. We're gonna read these, we're gonna go through these, okay? I I I will say at the top, some are better than others, but we appreciate everyone's submissions. Okay, so Mike, Christy, are you ready to play the feud? Uh what do you eat? Yes, okay, all right.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

What's in your refrigerator, cocky parrots?

SPEAKER_03 14:09

All right. Uh, first one comes from Jason. Um, I love this one. Says he wrote it just like this good ol' eggs, toast, and a big glass of chocolate milk. Uh, Jason, I agree. Uh, not only is that kind of a complete breakfast, but that's a pretty good pre-game meal for about two hours before a game. All right, you wouldn't want to eat that 30 minutes before a game. Uh, but I'm gonna be honest with you guys: uh a good breakfast, not five pounds of bacon, but eggs, toast, milk, really literally has almost everything the body needs. Uh, maybe some some even more protein from that, but uh eggs have plenty of that.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

Guys, I'm gonna chime in here too. We have done breakfast for dinner when we're in a real hurry. Yeah, I love it. Scramble up some eggs, get some nice whole wheat toast, some fruit, some juice, and that's a great dinner too. What do you think, Mike?

SPEAKER_02 14:56

I just had that three days ago. Never gets old. Listen, there's only there's only like, you know, again, you get this is all I think when you when you read these submissions, right, from from the families, you know, one of the one of the cool things would be like, okay, during that, you know, that that meal that you're making, like, what were your, you know, what were the things around that why you chose that meal, right? And I think a lot of us is because, like Lee was saying earlier, sometimes you have practice that starts at 5 30. Your kids not gonna eat dinner at three, and then maybe you get home at 9 30. You're not having you're not having a steak dinner at 10 30 at night. So uh all you could, I guess. But a lot of it.

SPEAKER_03 15:32

It would be a long night, but you did.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

Right, but again, and and and we have too. I mean, we've we've eaten in some ungodly times of like, oh my god, like this is like you know, again, again, my 14-year-old can handle it. The the old the the dad probably couldn't, you know, so right, yeah. And then I think, you know, and then knowing all this, it's like sometimes you know, we always have to cater to, you know, other there's actually other people in the family that don't care about what your hockey schedule is. So you know, understanding that, like, you know, when dinner gets done, but these like these submissions are great, and I think they're just gives you another reminder that no matter what your diet is, like when you're reading these and you're listening to these, like you suck you could supplement whatever your family's going to eat. It's it's really the the crux of this whole thing is about planning and timing.

SPEAKER_03 16:18

We've got a lot of submissions, speaking of timing. I want to keep going through them. I will I I I I actually want to say one thing too, guys, that it's important for you at home. And we'll put some of this information in the show notes. There's a two-hour window before you play, there's a 30-minute window before you play, there's the whatever you snack on while you play if you're able to do that, and then there's the post-game meal. I want to make sure people understand like these are the windows to eat. Okay, so like this is this would be a two-hour pre-game meal, right? This would not be a quick snack, but Mike, you make a really good point. Like, the schedule sometimes don't work out that way. All right. Um, gonna keep going here. Kim says basic grilled cheese sandwich, two hours before ice time. It's a solid one. I don't it's a solid one. I like that one. Um, Jeff says, I don't know about this one. Jeff says, this one depends on how old you are. Jeff says, ramen noodles for the wind cooked or dry. I don't know what you mean by dry.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Okay, ramen noodles after college. No, I lived on them. No more ramen noodles and not subject my kids to that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

I lived on them too. It was a go-to for me in college when I had the metabolism and sodium didn't matter. Exactly. So I'd say not the best, best option, but but to be fair, the pasta nature of that is a good option. Two hours before. Yeah, uh, this one from Dave, I love. All right, Costco roasted chickens.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

100%.

SPEAKER_03 17:37

We buy three at a time, shred the meat, portion and freeze. It's ready for a wrap, a salad, a rice bowl in minutes. Dave is a hundred percent correct. All right, if you've never had by some chance a rotisserie chicken, oh you are missing out.

SPEAKER_04 17:52

Live on them. Yeah, they go a long way.

SPEAKER_03 17:54

Yes, I know people eat these every day. Sure. All right. Uh, but I love the idea of shred the meat, portion, and freeze because he's right. You can you can distribute chicken in so many different ways, right? Um, I think that's a good one. He buys them three at a time, start of the week. Yeah, right, right, guys. Rotisserie chicken is just a great option. Quick option.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

It's such a great option. You think about all the things you can do with it. You can do tacos, um, you can just eat it as rotisserie chicken, you can mix it in with uh quesadillas, you can do so many things with a rotisserie chicken. Rotisserie chicken for the win.

SPEAKER_03 18:26

Here's what I'm gonna say, getting for you those of you listening. Christy, Mike, how much does a rotisserie chicken cost? Whole chicken.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Boy, I just bought one for like $4.59.

SPEAKER_03 18:37

Right, right. Well, we'll just say it's under nine dollars, just just to keep it broad. Yeah, all right, guys.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

I'll get one for five bucks. Yeah, we gotta do a lot of work with those.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

There's a lot of work involved.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Uh no, there's nothing. But no, there's see my dad was a butcher, so I know how to carve chicken. It's weird, it's really easy. It's really I'll do a demonstration summit next podcast and I'll show you. I'll show you how to carve a chicken, slice a ham, and man, give me a prime red.

SPEAKER_03 19:09

Have you not done this? Have you not had a rotisserie chicken? I do it all the time. I eat chicken all the time. I was gonna say, right?

SPEAKER_02 19:15

I eat the whole bag right out of the bigger. I'm not, I'm not sure that it doesn't even have time to strike most of the time.

SPEAKER_03 19:20

The point I was making is that let's just say you buy the most expensive rotisserie chicken at nine dollars ever, right? Guys, a fast food meal today for McDonald's Burger King is like $15. Right point, it's more expensive and it's less meals, right? Okay, just I'm just saying, okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

And good for him because he says he buys three at a time.

SPEAKER_03 19:41

Yeah, brilliant from Costco.

SPEAKER_01 19:43

Right. And what I would do too is I would double up when I made a meal. Let's say I made a casserole, I'd make two.

SPEAKER_03 19:49

Correct.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

Eat one, freeze one. Yeah, have one ready in the freezer.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

The toughest part is not eating the second one, right?

SPEAKER_01 19:55

That's the toughest part.

SPEAKER_03 19:56

All right, let's let's keep on our chicken kick. Brian says, uh, and and we're gonna get into some of these too. Crock pot, yeah, chicken breast tacos, let it cook all day in the crock pot, and it's ready after work or school. So two things on the crock pot. Number one is uh almost everything out of a crock pot, if you know what you're doing, is the tastiest, most juicy, wonderful thing in the world. Two is that you can just let it sit there all day. Um I'll say this if you do not crock pot at home, no worries, no problem. Okay, it's a habit you want to build because it's so easy and so delicious, right? And there's so many recipes. You just throw the stuff in water. So easy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

A crock pot gets the MVP award for hockey, and not just for dinner, too. There were some mornings I had I had to work really early in the morning and I get called in for a breaking news story, and I wanted to make sure the kids had a nice hot breakfast. I would throw oatmeal in there with some nice sliced apples and some cinnamon. They wake up, there's a delicious breakfast ready for them in the morning. Right.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

And who doesn't get called into breaking news stories every morning? Uh no, but yeah, yeah. 3 a.m. I love that you said that. 3 a.m. Wow. No, to your point, Christy. First off, I think that's a pretty awesome story. Um, uh, no pun intended or pun intended. Uh, but yeah, we all have things come up that we have to do this. Having a quick pot rot, Jesus, crock, pot, go to. Apparently, that's a tongue cluster, uh, is a good one. All right. So we'll get into some more of those in a little bit. But if you're not utilizing a crock pot, get someone to get it for you for the holidays this year. I I will say this there is nothing quite like, Mike, you're gonna remember this too. You're coming in from the cold in January or February, and you're just you've been out all day with hockey and you smell the crock pot meal. It's a very comforting feeling. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

And and I want to add too, they're great for tournaments as well. Yeah, you're away, right? You bring the there's nothing worse than you know, a dozen sweaty hockey players showing up at a restaurant with very thirsty, thirsty parents and the hungry siblings unannounced, and there's no place to sit, and you have to wait a long time. If you pre-plan and you've got your crock pot army going in a hotel conference room or up in your hotel room, y'all get together and you've got a whole delightful meal that's ready to go, and you don't have to uh wait around for it. So that's gonna be our and also very helpful at tournaments.

SPEAKER_03 22:25

Yeah, MVP, crockpot gets the MVP, MVP, and that's our new cookbook coming out, crockpot army by Christy Cassiano Burns by Calm. Just kidding. We'll see on that. All right, now I'm gonna keep moving here. Um, uh, I love this one from Aaron Nicole. All right. Um, I always try to keep some kind of homemade hamburger helper. Taco pasta is the family favorite type meal in our fridge for a quick reheat. Another great one. All right, so not actual hamburger helper. Go to your store, get some ground turkey, ground beef, whatever you like. Whatever you like. Ground, yeah. I would say turkey is a great option. Turkey bacon is also a great alternative, too. Um but it's so quick to make. You can keep it in there, and it's kind of like the chicken story from before. You can do a lot of different things with it. My kids love just like rotini pasta with with ground turkey, right? And you can season it as much as you want within reason. Um, but that's that is a fantastic option.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

A great option.

SPEAKER_03 23:17

Yes. Okay, we all agree on that.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

Okay, we've got one. From Kathy, who made breakfast burrito before an early game practice. Excellent idea. Thank you for that, Kathy.

SPEAKER_03 23:27

Yeah. And then keep going if you want to keep going here. I like sure.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

We've got uh Elizabeth with um two meals. She submitted the recipes, so we'll have to share them. They look amazing. She always has a bowl of spaghetti in the fridge. Yep. Uh my teen loves pasta. Yes, good for them. Fair life protein shakes, fabulous. That fair life milk is great. Yep. Also a great snack before and after practice. Both are Costco finds, but I found them at Wegman. Let me if I may.

SPEAKER_03 23:56

So I'm lactose intolerant. Uh Fairlife milk has changed my life. Um, I love it. Again, lactate's your other option, nothing wrong with lactate, but the fair life, not just the regular milk, but the chocolate milk. Um great protein. Unbelievably good. Yeah. Like tastes good. Check them out.

SPEAKER_01 24:13

If you're lactose intolerant, you cannot tell the difference. Right. If you did a taste test, you would not be able to tell. Right.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

You'd probably prefer the fair life. I'm not going to lie to you. Yeah. Especially their chocolate.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Yes, I could. All right. So we've got our new sponsor, Fair Life and Fair Life.

SPEAKER_03 24:27

Fair Life because our kids play hockey.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Yeah, because our kids play hockey. Yeah, these were great suggestions. And she does have some fantastic recipes that she's attached to. So we want to thank Elizabeth for that.

SPEAKER_03 24:38

Yeah, if you're if your mouth's not watering, it's the names of these recipes are Crazy Cuisine Mandarin Orange Chicken. We're recording this at 10:30 in the morning and I'm hungry now.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

God.

SPEAKER_03 24:49

Right. And then the other one is uh uh uh fried chicken and rice. Uh quick quick make one.

SPEAKER_01 24:54

So let's uh yeah transition to rink food.

SPEAKER_03 24:58

Yeah, we really need to talk about this. You read my mind.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

What do you think is the most overrated rink food? Let's go. Round table here.

SPEAKER_03 25:05

Oh man. I I'm I'm gonna go broad, guys. Anything fried is overrated. Anything fried in a in a rink. All right. Like if I'm gonna get fried food, um, I want a place that does it really well.

SPEAKER_04 25:15

Sure. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:16

All right. Um, you know, like I said, if I want fried chicken, I'm gonna go to the place. You know what? I'll I'll shout out one fast food restaurant that's dwindling is Roy Rogers. I used to love their fried chicken. I don't I've never been there. Yeah, they're tough to find nowadays. I think KFC kind of took their spot, but KFC is is fast food too. So yeah, I think anything fried would be my answer to that. That one, I think there's better options, right?

SPEAKER_01 25:37

How about the rink burger that's been sitting under the warmer for a bit? Yeah, I'm gonna do that one.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

The rink burgers and rink slices of pizza.

SPEAKER_00 25:46

Oh, the pizza that goes around in the circle under the heater.

SPEAKER_03 25:49

If it's not being made as I order it, I don't want it. Now, I will give this shout out to and I have to do this being a son of Philadelphia. Um, we're very blessed that we have Wawa in this area. Anybody in my area will know what Wawa is. Anybody outside of the area, I'm sorry that this is not in your life.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

That's not in my life.

SPEAKER_03 26:08

Uh, but wawa is a pretty hardcore go-to for almost everyone I know. Um, the best way to describe Wawa is, and follow me here because it's gonna sound bad at first, but you know, like the gas station convenience stores you would walk into that has stuff, it's that, but on another level where they make fresh hoagies or subs for those of you not from the area, hoagies, all right. I I I can bring that accent back whenever I want. They make it all right there, all right, and it's it's pretty fresh. Is it the greatest hoagie you're ever gonna have? No, but what we say, Christy, is it's a Wawa hoagie, which means you know exactly what you're going to get every time. It's so consistent.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

You make me want to cross the border to Pennsylvania right now.

SPEAKER_03 26:51

Come on down. Listen, listen. I've had people say I don't understand the big deal. Then they come down to like, okay, I understand pretzels, anything you could want. Um, so like we have a very great quick grab and go option, all right. Right. Um, uh, and like I said, I don't I know I don't I gotta find a better analogy than the gas station thing because it's really better than that. Okay. Um, but uh that I I think people would go there over the rink. In fact, the fact we have one next to our rink has forced the rink cafe to make their burgers on the spot. Yeah, like there's nothing sitting out that you can just grab. But um, yes. So I want I had to shout that out. I grew up here. If I'd I I'd people would find me if I didn't say something.

unknown 27:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 27:30

Uh what about you guys though? What what is your thing at the rank?

SPEAKER_01 27:33

You said the uh you know, yeah, once in a while I would buy the pretzels that weren't salted. Okay, they're now horrible. Not horrible, but I'm like desperate. Yeah, you just need to put something big, soft pretzel. Yeah, you need something in your sleep, but no salt, right? Why is there no salt on the coffee?

SPEAKER_03 27:52

Oh, yeah, it's terrible.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

I've never had a good cup of coffee at the at a rink ever. But I'm a coffee.

SPEAKER_03 27:58

I gotta tell you guys this story, Mike and Christy. I was in Argentina, you guys know this world world uh double IHF three on three world championship, Argentina. Their cafe was a European cafe, even though it was in South America. All right, I'm talking in the rink, fresh croissant, fresh sandwiches, right? Like Gore made. I I would have gone there just to eat, and I'm pretty sure people were coming in there just to eat. I'm so jealous. I know, I was like, man, we have to up our game. Like, this is a this is a artisan style restaurant that I'm in right now, overlooking the ice. Uh I'm just saying that could happen here.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

It's the guy that made Starbucks saw it and made it happen here. We need to make this happen.

SPEAKER_03 28:41

Maybe this is another business project for the three of us. Welcome to the Orchids Play Hockey Cafe.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

Oh, wow. Can you imagine that?

SPEAKER_03 28:48

I can. I live there.

SPEAKER_01 28:49

Now, was it expensive though?

SPEAKER_03 28:50

No, no, it was it was it was no, it was not any more expensive. I'm telling you, I'll send you a picture of it because I took pictures of it.

SPEAKER_01 28:58

Definitely Instagram worthy.

SPEAKER_03 28:59

It really I think I'm pretty sure we did. I mean, I was blown away by the menu and the options, um, you know, and I I could speak just enough Spanish to order what I wanted, which was great.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

Oh my gosh, we need this in our lives.

SPEAKER_03 29:11

Mike, do you even do rink food? Is that even a thing for you? Was it? Do you even do rink food?

SPEAKER_02 29:17

No, I mean I'll I'll suck down a cup of coffee if I have to, I guess. I tried I try to pre-plan uh that. I think the kids are um never, I don't you know, we've never really had like I think we've always done a good job of making sure we weren't stuck in the rink to have to eat. Like, and then we've done a good job of packing. I mean, you know, I I think my oldest son would get a lot of heat uh uh uh often like when we were, you know, we we grew up with um, you know, we did a lot of work with uh actually the episodes we've had on with um young elite athletes and and you know then you know just eating right and then pra packing right and being prepared when you're walking the rink to not have to resort to you know a quick rink snack. And I think um, you know, and that goes back to Christy's points. I mean, you know, if you have a uh you know, it's so easy to get these small little coolers now and have it packed with carrots and hummus and chips and you know, whatever you want in there. And it's just it's just really usually it's it's because you're you know, you're in between whatever and you just want something, right? Um I've been pretty good at avoiding uh the the rink food. Um, you know, again, every once in a while you'll see the like you know, we don't you know you know, most drinks don't have like Lee's talking about, you know, the croissants sitting there. You get you get the pastries that came in on Thursday and they have to get sold by Sunday. So it's like, you know, uh look I'm gonna do something I really do. Take your chance on a Sunday.

SPEAKER_03 30:39

I'm gonna do something I really do on the air. I'm gonna text you guys right now, just so you can see this while I'm talking. And they by the way, like I'm not talking about the unbelievable steak dinners that we had in Argentina, which they're known for. I'm just gonna find a picture of this stuff and I'm gonna send it to you. But while we're doing that, um I wanna I wanna say this too. I do want to go back to this idea that there's kind of the two to four hours before the game, there's the 30 to 60 minutes, there's during the game and after the game. Okay. Um, Chris, you made a great point. Like things you want, like what do you want to eat in that two-hour window? Whole grain bread, fruit and nuts, oatmeal, yogurt, small bowl of fruit, pasta, chicken, peanut butter. I mean, there's so many options, turkey wrap, roasted vegetables, uh, roasted vegetables. You can get in the frozen bag, put them in your microwave, and they're done. All right. Uh I do want to say this too, and Mike and Christy, we all got to talk about this. Not only will packing the healthy foods help you, you will start eating parents healthier too.

SPEAKER_04 31:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:35

All right, because this is this is kind of a practice what you preach type of situation. You guys want to comment on that real quick? Do it as a family.

SPEAKER_01 31:42

That is so and you're gonna feel better too. You know, you're always looking for you know ways to keep your kids energized and focused and you know, having great performances. You need that too in your life. Yeah, so do it as a family. You're gonna start feeling better, you're gonna be more positive. The kids will follow your example.

SPEAKER_02 32:02

Yeah, just like go ahead. No, no, I'm just saying it just makes more common sense. I mean, you can't be making a meal for your hockey player and then making another set of meals for your family. I mean, just figure out like a happy medium. Like, you know, don't I don't know, like you don't have to go extreme on one side, go, you can only eat this, you know, lightly grilled chicken with broccoli and couscous. But ever but we're all gonna get pizza. We're getting well, yeah. And we're gonna get, you know, two pepperoni pizzas. So I think it's like, you know, so it's just it's just a matter of when you're doing these meals, your whole family g benefits from from the fact that you're thinking about what you want to eat. And more importantly, and this is I you know, I'm probably more guilty of it than I like to admit, is is it is it is it eliminates all the craziness of like like me, I'm like, I get up in the morning, I'm like, I wonder what we're gonna have for dinner. Like, that's the first thing I think of. Like, how how have we planned for dinner? Yeah, that's what I want to know. The problem is you can't be that that thought can't be happening at 5 30. And then so I think but to well, if it is, it's too late. But I but I but eve everybody I've been all the hockey families I've been with, the most successful ones that can tackle this this um meal planning piece were to do it you know on a Sunday, um, with a menu, uh, with their kids' input and with their schedule in mind, knowing that, okay, this week's a little different. Chris, you said it earlier, like, okay, this week we're actually leaving on Thursday to go to a tournament. So our like the way we're gonna structure our meals is maybe a little different. Um these are kids, these are little kids, these are the teenagers. You can, you know, it's not even a cheat day. It's like you can have junk food every now and then. You can 100%. You can have you can go out and have you know a pizza night. You can go out and have McDonald's.

SPEAKER_03 33:47

You can celebrate birthdays with cupcakes. Like, I'm not against these things.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

I'm just saying what what but when you're doing it when it's when it's seat up seat of the pants dinners every night, it becomes stressful for the family, it becomes inefficient for the athlete, and it and it becomes financially not great. Well, like I gotta say this too and how you're how you're managing all of that in the scheme of, oh my God, now I gotta be in a car, I gotta plan this. I can't cook while I'm in the car. So, you know, the crock pot meals are great, the pre-made meals are great, to throw them in the oven quickly when you get home, great. Um, I I know we struggled with two, you know, two boys, you know, grow in in the family, and nothing stayed in the fridge. Nothing. Like I can portion everything out in the world, and the three portions were gone. Like, you know, because they come home after school, they eat a portion, they have dinner, as they ate a portion, they come home from hockey, they ate their portion. I go, oh, that was for the week.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

You know, like so it's I've had girls clean up my fridge too, Mike.

SPEAKER_02 34:45

Yeah, so it it's it's a matter of like how can you how can you position yourself so that A, the kids are never hungry. Like, you know, so for your point, Christy, those little snacks, like my kids love you know, peanut butter and and and uh apple slices. Like they could eat, they could eat a whole like they could eat four some raisins on them too. Yeah, you know, cinnamon or whatever, like throw whatever whatever it is to get them to get them to eat something other than a bag of chips or you know, a a uh a freeze-dried microwave burrito. Like, like what can you do to prepare your family? And I think this episode really, and I think Christy, even in your book, right, you talk about you know what the process is to get there. Like that's a like we all think, like, oh, well, of course, power skating, of course, the shooting coach, of course, we got to prepare for that. No, but we have to eat, yeah, you have to eat, and you but and you have to make a plan to do that.

SPEAKER_01 35:38

Right. I'm glad to thank you for mentioning my book. I do just want to let folks know it's a great guide if you're looking for a guide for the new hockey season. And I have a whole chapter that inspired this episode. It's the crockpot army wages war against fast food pit stops. It's got some great recipes, great advice on what you can do to avoid the pit stops at the fast food restaurants and uh and uh going hungry and just grabbing, you know, vendor food on the way out. So yeah, and just remember, you know, it the goal is not gourmet.

SPEAKER_04 36:12

Right.

SPEAKER_01 36:13

It's you know, planning ahead of time, you know, whether those dinner conversations happen at 4:45 or a late night practice, make sure you're keeping your family together when you can, have those special dinner moments. You know, those are some of the best memories that we've had. You know, we're not all sitting down at the dinner table at six o'clock, but we're still making some really good memories and putting some good nutrition in our kids, which will help them fuel them through the day and actually help them have a better performance on the ice, because that's really important.

SPEAKER_03 36:48

A hundred percent. And and for those of you that keep saying all these things you want to do for your kids to make them better hockey players with the skills and the off-ice tools and everything like this, this food part's a big part of it. Huge part. And you got to check it out now, guys. Listen, I sent you the pictures. I'm gonna give you guys a second to look at those pictures because Christy, you just reminded me this is the first time we're doing this with you on the air. Uh, for the audience listening, if you head over to our kidsplayhockey.com forward slash deals uh and check out that website. Not only can you get my kids play hockey, the book that Christy mentioned, you can see all of the books and all of the new clothing and all of the new apparel that we have available for you. Again, it's our kidsplayhockey.com forward slash deals. Also a great place to see our partners Sense Arena, hockey wraparound, uh, all the other things that we've done together. So again, if you have a moment you want to support our show, make sure to go again, our kidsplayhockey.com forward slash deals, or just check out the website. We got a lot of new stuff on the site now that has not been there before this episode has been recorded. Um, and again, get yourself a copy of Christy's book, My Kids Play Hockey, which inspired this six-year epic Star Trek through the hockey universe that were there. Okay, have you guys seen the pictures?

SPEAKER_01 37:57

I'm stunned.

SPEAKER_03 37:58

Right.

SPEAKER_01 37:59

I am amazed. I cannot believe this is a rink. That's a rink.

SPEAKER_03 38:03

It's great when you walk in.

SPEAKER_01 38:05

I talked about being a coffee snob. You probably can't see that, but oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 38:10

Yes, that's what the coffee looked like. All right, for those of you listening and somehow not watching this show, I want you to think about every commercial cup of coffee that you've ever seen. That's what it was like. All right, freshly ground there. That was the rink in Argentina. Okay. We can do better. Are you kidding me? Yeah, and so Christy, that steak you just held up, that was the that was the the the quick, fast food steak. I'm not kidding. That was the one I had for lunch one day, the one with the roasted peppers there. That was like the big dinner. Um, I'm gonna keep going before the audience.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

Did any of the parents go in and watch the hockey?

SPEAKER_03 38:42

They went up, they went to their meal. There's like a cafeteria upstairs, you can watch the rink. Yes. Yeah, um forget about the game. Yeah, I'm having a door base. It's just 700 seat arena. All right, so it's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 38:54

Amazing. I've never seen anything like this. All right, you need to send this to every rink in America.

SPEAKER_03 39:00

We can do better.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Yeah, step it up, people.

SPEAKER_03 39:03

All right, I want to give the audience again some just quick action items. Uh, again, everything I'm about to read is options. They're not sure. They're not you must. I talked about the before with the whole grain bread, the yogurt, the pasta, the turkey stuff. Okay, what about the 30 to 60 minutes before? Uh, you want high carb snacks? So check this out again, 30 minutes before, 60 minutes before graham crackers, banana, applesauce pouches, bagels, animal crackers, pretzels, a few handfuls. These are actually pretty good things for right before the game because your kid's going to burn them off in the game. That's why we're saying them before. Now, during the game, again, a lot of this depends on age. Obviously, the most important thing to put in your body is liquids. Okay. So, water, sports drinks, even some juice, right? Like those are good things to have in the water bottle. Um, if you're in a position, we see this more with high-level athletes to put actual food. Those applesauce pouches are good. Um, quick dry cereal, fig bars. These are actually things that like a good quick energy, uh, you know, but usually between the second and the third. And there's a lot of, I'm not gonna shout anyone out, but there's a lot of companies that actually make like gels you can kind of quickly kind of drink um that will give you some energy back. All right. Um, after the game, I'm gonna say this again real quick. Liquids, very important to replace what you've lost. But fruit, apples, nut butter, uh, granola bars, grapes, stream cheese, pitas, edamame, hummus, Mike mentioned. These are these are good, easy things to grab as well. Um, and then after the game, like, you know, well, if there is a dinner time, uh, you know, we're talking kind of that one to two hour time. That's when you get that big meal, a big hoagie or sub pasta. Um, you know, this is where you have a meal, all right? Because now you're replenishing the stuff that's gonna grow your stuff. But that these are all options that are quick. All right. I know they sound like they're not quick, but they are quick. They're quick, all right. If you go, my kid will never eat any of that stuff. Maybe not. Like, look, I there's picky eaters out there, but you won't know until you try. And I'll tell you right now, Christy mentioned it, I mentioned it, Mike knows it. If you have a coach do this for your team and peer pressure him a little bit, I'm I'm using that term very loosely. Right. Okay, it can create some success. I'm gonna say it again. We did this training camp. Every kid outside the one with the gluten allergy, whose mom made a similar option for her, knowing what we had, by the way. And I really appreciated that. She didn't come with something that was like, you know, a delicacy versus what we were doing, um, really paid off. All right. So that's just a little quick nutritional talk. We're not nutritionists. You can look this up. Another quick tip we're in the age of AI. I made a nice little guide for my 10 U team, says 10U suggestions, and it put together, I said, make this in a way a 10-year-old can understand it. Well, it put together an infographic for me that had all the information I wanted. I didn't have to even give it that much, hand it to the kids. And I said, just with respect, you guys do what you want with this. I just want you to have it. As your coach, it's my responsibility, make sure you're aware of this. Oh, that's helpful. It wasn't hard to do. It took me five minutes, not gonna lie.

SPEAKER_01 41:57

Now, you had also asked a question during our show prep if we could list what our favorite meals were to make, and the favorite kid's hockey meals, right?

SPEAKER_04 42:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:08

So I I have two meals that the kids never got tired of. Number one was spaghetti. I I like beef meatballs, but a lot of people like to make turkey meatballs. It goes a long way, it's inexpensive, it's got a lot of protein, and you need those carbs too for your hockey player. But there's always leftovers, so you have lunch tomorrow. So it goes a long way. And the second was taco night. Kids never got tired of taco night. You build your own, and again, you've got leftover, you can have it for lunch the next day. Yeah. So those were my topics. Those are winners. Those were two winners. Those were the hockey hall of fame dinners.

SPEAKER_03 42:47

That that's that's going to the rafters in your house, Mike. What about you?

SPEAKER_02 42:51

It was that probably would be uh my wife's uh uh turkey chili. The kid that was that was always a great meal. It felt like you were eating a you know, beef chili, but it uh had a lot of you know, could you could uh the cool thing about that is you could throw whatever, like Christy was saying, it's kind of like a taco where the the toppings you could throw whatever you want on there. And some kids, some kids like the jalapeno, some didn't, you know, it all depends on the day. And then like anything, I don't know, any kind of like like a like any kind of chicken and pasta, like any any pesto, lemon chicken, you know, any anything like that where uh where it was like a not a really heavy meal, but um, but you felt full. And uh I don't know. They all those are always easy and they're and again back to the idea that you know if you make them and you make it and you buy them in enough quantity, uh you have them for you know, maybe uh the next night's meal when you know you're not home to cook.

SPEAKER_03 43:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 43:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:49

Those are what raise it to the banner.

SPEAKER_01 43:51

Folks, we have solved all of your hockey jobs. Well, wait, I didn't go yet because you gotta list your two favorites.

SPEAKER_03 43:57

Well, you guys are gonna enjoy this, all right. Okay. Um, now you guys know I come from a mixed household, all right, where my my wife is Puerto Rican, and so we have that side of the family. Um, and then I grew up Jewish, so I have the you know, that side of the family. So I'm gonna actually do three things, okay? Because one of our one of our just quick go-tos, I have we've already talked about it, is just breakfast for dinner. And that consists for us typically of eggs, turkey, bacon, and sometimes pancakes. Okay. Um, so that's like that's an every time win in my house, okay. The other thing my kids love are rice and beans and tostones, all right? Uh, which is a plantain for those you don't know, a plantain type, uh, we'll say kind of like banana chip type thing. Okay, very, very good. Kids will always eat rice and beans, all right, which is very nutritious for you, too. That's my wife's side of the family. And then for me, um, some people call it matza bray, some people call it fried matza. It's not actually fried, uh, but I'm gonna tell you all real quick. You basically scramble some eggs, put a little milk in the eggs, you dip matza in the eggs, crumble it up, you put it in a pan, and it is one of the uh most horrendous looking things and most delicious things you'll ever eat. Um, but it's really good. You can season it however you want. But when you think about it, it's got protein from the eggs, it's got the the you can actually get whole wheat matza. You can you can you can actually make a pretty solid meal, and it's one of those meals. That takes 10 minutes really fills you up. Right? Like this is a great morning meal if you have the time.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

I'm gonna make that tomorrow.

SPEAKER_03 45:29

Yeah, I mean, uh, it you guys want to so thankful my mother had given me that recipe.

unknown 45:36

Right.

SPEAKER_03 45:38

So uh those are the three very, very different things. All right. Uh uh, Christy, I'll give you the full recipe later after the show.

SPEAKER_01 45:44

I want it. All right. I bet my kids will love it too.

SPEAKER_03 45:48

Fried matza or matza bray B-R-E-I. You make it your own. You do not have to follow that. If you want to put more stuff on it, you can put more stuff on it. Um, uh, but and by the way, if I make that with turkey bacon, kids uh roll up the uh stuff in the turkey bacon, call that an egg roll, but um bump. Uh they they that joke lost favor in my house when they became teenagers. Okay. Um, guys, this has been a fantastic episode. I mean, uh just so many hacks here. Um, I'm just gonna reiterate this. We'll go around the horn here, but I'm gonna say this and we'll go Mike to Christy, then we'll close it. I want to reiterate if you are really into that FOMO mindset of you want your kid to do really great in hockey, uh, and you want your kid to have an advantage, this is an advantage. Your kid eating really good food is a major advantage to their performance. Okay. I I the amount of kids I see their energy dies in the third period just because they're not eating correctly, it hinders your kid in the game. So if you're serious, if your kid's serious, this is something you've got to jump onto. Okay, I'll get off my pedestal and I'll sauce the pike, the pike, sauce the puck apropos to Mike.

SPEAKER_02 46:55

Yeah, and I think if you want to teach your kids how to prepare to be on their own and and pick the foods they want and cook the foods they want and figure out what flavors they like, you know, there's no better time to start this, you know, with them on a Sunday, you know, at the end of uh, you know, the long hockey day and you go shopping on the way home. And I mean, right now you get Instacart, whatever, have it all delivered there.

SPEAKER_04 47:17

It's so easy.

SPEAKER_02 47:18

I mean, you know, you can literally pick your meals and say, here, here's my menu. Let's cook it up, let's, let's, let's portion it out. And I think, you know, once they determine they like the food and they want that food, uh, it's so much easier to get them to, you know, buy into you know eating a little healthier and and even more healthier. Like they'll start looking up. I know my youngest son, he tells me, he's like, Oh, you can't eat that. That has so much sodium in it. Do you know this that compared to this? And like so that those are great. Those are great things that the kids can have that are that are like we talk about hockey being a lifelong learning tool. Like, this is this is part of that process.

SPEAKER_01 47:55

It is part of the process, yeah. And I'll just close it out by saying hockey season is stressful enough. Dinner should not add to that stress. Get yourself a crock pot. Like $30 or something.

SPEAKER_03 48:08

It's crazy. You deserve it. That's who it is, right? You earned it. You earned it, you deserve it.

SPEAKER_01 48:13

You get yourself that crock pot.

SPEAKER_03 48:15

But if you've got other questions, comments, meals, things you want to share, remember email us at team at our kidsplayhockey.com. Also, as I said earlier, check out our kidsplayhockey.com forward slash deals. We we really redid our website in a way that's gonna allow you gets access to everything that we're doing pretty easily. Uh, this was a fun one, guys. And I want to thank the audience, by the way, for submitting. Anytime we put these submitting too. Yeah, we're gonna keep putting the questions out. You guys help us make a lot of great episodes.

SPEAKER_02 48:40

Uh that's some good recipes.

SPEAKER_03 48:42

Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm gonna go eat now because I'm hungry. All right, gang. That's gonna do it for this edition of Our Kids Play Hockey for Mike Venelli, for Christy Cassiano Burns. I'm Lee Elias. We will see you on the next episode. You have a fun, wonderful meal. Good luck not eating after this one. Take care, everybody. We hope you enjoyed this edition of Our Kids Play Hockey. Make sure to like and subscribe right now if you found value wherever you're listening, whether it's a podcast network, a social media network, or our website, our kidsplayhockey.com. Also, make sure to check out our children's book, When Hockey Stops, at When Hockey Stops.com. It's a book that helps children deal with adversity in the game and in life. We're very proud of it. But thanks so much for listening to this edition of Our Kids Play Hockey, and we'll see you on the next episode.