PDA

View Full Version : snack time



Jimbob
2009-08-27, 08:08 AM
Afternoon all,

Its a bank holiday weekend and we have finally managed to arrange out first all dayer of the year.
We are starting at 10am and planning to go on till late in the evening so my silly question is, what snacks should I take? And because im nosey what do you take to keep you going?

It's a silly question but a bit of fun.

bon appétit

Human Paragon 3
2009-08-27, 08:12 AM
I'd start the day with hot coffee, freshly brewed at the location you're playing if at all possible, teamed with cookies or some other sugary foodstuff.

As the day progresses, some kind of highly cafinated soda such as jolt or mountain dew is preferable. I'd stay away from greasy snacks as they can make you sluggish and sick. Nuts make a great snack.

And of course you'll want to order pizza or similar for dinner.

oxinabox
2009-08-27, 08:31 AM
eh, last time I took cheese, dip nd crackers.
they were sent to me by family, and i live alone and it's wrong to eat dip by yourself.

Take BBQ chips.
Oh and Tosties! Tosties keep the the Game Running.

Darwin
2009-08-27, 08:34 AM
It's a well known fact that the single greatest package to keep a gamer going is Mountain Dew and Cheetos.

Keshay
2009-08-27, 08:43 AM
Lousy Brits with your "Bank Holidays"... You know what I'd like? I'd like for there to be someone in the Winnerish office to be there to validate the documents I sent over this morning... But NO, you all have to have the whole day off whenever your banks close. You know what we call days when the banks are closed over here? Weekdays. /grumble, grumble

Anywho... What do we eat? You cant go wrong with Chips and salsa. Whenever we paly at out DM's place (Which is just about every time now that they have kids) his wife makes this amazing stew. Beefy, cheesy, noodlely delicious. I think its really simple, just ground beef, tomato soup, and a brick of velveta, but man is it delicious

Myou
2009-08-27, 08:59 AM
I actually don't eat while playing, and stop for lunch/dinner.

Irreverent Fool
2009-08-27, 09:10 AM
Contrary to my fellow playgrounders above, I recommend against a lot of sugary/salty/greasy things for an all-day session. While they certainly have their place at the game table, these snacks do terrible things to you when consumed in the quantities that will occur when you are gaming for an extended period.

Think more 'potluck' or 'barbeque'. The best possible think to chow down on over the course of a day-long session is -- in my humble opinion -- a six-foot sub. Get two. You can cut the sub into half-sandwich size bits and toss them on a paper plate with some of your salty snacks. Drink water or fruit juice. Lemonade is great. Don't dig into the sodas/energy drinks right away or they'll take their toll by the end of the night. Save them for about half-way in.

I speak from years of gamer dietary experience. You may have to learn these things the hard way.

But trust me on the sandwich.

obnoxious
sig

Drider
2009-08-27, 09:10 AM
Vanquished enemies? The bodies just fade away otherwise...

Seriously, some coffee to start off the day is good, like mentioned above, along with a bagel+eggs for strength, also I pack a fruit smoothie, and bring grapes+clementines. The group also takes turns getting the chips for everyone, and cranberry juice/kool aid.
Later in the day(lunch-ish) go out to a restaurant for a burger(I live near some good burger places :D)
Dinner can be pizza and a sandwhich with using the fruit smoothie throughout the day. I prefer having chicken/turkey/fish instead of cow/pig.


It starts out healthy, so I know a lot of people will be, "EWWWW" and make fun of you, but after a few weeks of running to your game and doing pushups, you can sock them in the mouth :smalltongue:

Pharaoh's Fist
2009-08-27, 09:22 AM
I subsist on fresh water and sunlight.

Optimystik
2009-08-27, 09:29 AM
I subsist on fresh water and sunlight.

Sunlight? Clearly you don't play D&D.

Lycan 01
2009-08-27, 11:10 AM
I usually provide sodas, cool-aid, Hawaian Punch, and other refreshments. The food varies from game to game - small sessions I just open up the snack cabinet and let them have access to a variety of cookies, cakes, and other yummy things. For larger sessions, I cook whatever the popular desire is - usually a few bags of Ramen or a box of Pizza Rolls. We also order Pizza on occassion. Oh, and usually after our all-night Warhammer 40K games, we run to Waffle House at 2 or 3 AM to celebrate a hard-fought conflict with our former enemies. :smallsmile:


Although I may take Drider's advice. Short games will probably be sandwitches and cool-aid, or other various light but not sugary snacks and drinks. Longer games will be fried chicken, pizza, or some other big meal as well as cool-aid and stuff with soda being served after the second half of the game. All nighters will stay the same, though sugary stuff will be banned for the first half.


I should really plan this stuff out ahead more. Many of my games have been ruined by a player loading up on snack cakes during the introduction or somebody chugging a 2 Liter mountain dew they brought with them at the start of the game. The latter has happened on multiple occassions. :smalleek:

PairO'Dice Lost
2009-08-27, 11:52 AM
I'm a seafood aficionado: goldfish crackers and Swedish fish. :smallbiggrin:

Alejandro
2009-08-27, 11:58 AM
Our gaming group is good at food.

At a recent session, we had homemade blueberry bread, a homemade strawberry pie, a bowl of nuts and chips, a bottle of wine, and more.

Hijax
2009-08-27, 12:08 PM
Start out the day with a solid pot of coffee(+10 to con checks for stayin' awake), and bagels.
During the day, sandwiches is definitely the number one ingredient at our games. Getting chips is ok, but dont stuff yourself with them, or you'll be dead by the end of the day. Make a burger, and when i say make, i mean get out into that rarely-traversed kitchen of yours and make it yourself. That tastes and and will keep you going about ten times as good as McDonalds. Of course, if you live near a real burger place, where the burgers are not synthesized and frozen, then you can order there.
The drinks should start out light, stuff like sprite, lemonade, juice, smoothies, etc. save the caffeine-rich stuff for later, and smuggle some spirits into their drinks for a fun session.

edit: ninjaed, i wish i had your group.

Curmudgeon
2009-08-27, 12:10 PM
Start with muffins, fresh fruit, and juices. Then go for the traditional sodas and salty snacks. Get pizza for the main meal. You want to cut down on the sugar intake to avoid "crashing", so sodas with non-caloric sweeteners (chlorinated sugar - brand name Splenda in the U.S.) are better.

Temet Nosce
2009-08-27, 12:13 PM
For all day? Bring something you can stick in the oven, and let cook. Like a ham. Also bring some fruit, and some kind of grain.

... Then spend all your junk food money on liquor, coffee, and smoke. I highly recommend Bailey's + coffee for early on, with some harder stuff for later.

Yeah, I have odd habits.

Flickerdart
2009-08-27, 12:14 PM
Big bag o' Munchies. There's three or four different kinds of thing in them, so the variety will keep you going.

oxybe
2009-08-27, 12:33 PM
screw the cheetos and mountain dew, around here, gaming = thai food. i recommend pad thai noodles, but a good curry can't do you wrong.

or szechuan.

mmmm... /drool

Mongoose87
2009-08-27, 12:39 PM
It's a well known fact that the single greatest package to keep a gamer going is Mountain Dew and Cheetos.

In Canada, Mountain Dew contains no caffeine, making it useless.

Asheram
2009-08-27, 12:46 PM
Starting at 10am...

Alright. First some fingerfood when they arrive, Some sandwiches (just remember to make them easy to eat, no tomatoes or anything greasy inside) perhaps some cocktail snacks just to fill out the plate. In order to be able to eat them at the table while tuning up the characters.

At 14:00-15:00 after 4-5 hours of gaming, you serve lunch. 4 hours usually is a good break, with some luck you've gotten a bit into the game and the DM could use a break to organise his thoughts and notes.
Now, in order to optimise, use things that's easy too cook and prepared in advance. Say... Pies, or a casserole. Something easy enough that you just can pop out into the kitchen for 5 min and prepare while the others play.

16:00-19:00 Snacktime. Small cookies and perhaps brownies served in the middle of the game. Either that or crisps.

20:00-21:00 Easiest is to order some take-out. Chinese works fairly well to eat at the table while playing, or just pizza.

22:00- -> If your guests aren't full? Bring out the candy and more crisps.

Umael
2009-08-27, 12:48 PM
When my father used to game with his friends, we would go over there about once a month and sit down for about six hours.

We had nuts and preztels and chips and soda as snack, but more importantly was breaking for dinner, which was an actual dinner in which everyone contributed a planned dish. I think my favorite was pot roast with onions, garlic mashed potatoes, salad, and whatever for desert.

In our group, one guy works at a convinence store, so he gets a lot of fatty, sugary food cheap (Ho-Hos and Ding-Dongs and the like).

Personally? My favorite, ideal snacks are the healthy ones, because, well, they are HEALTHY (or at least, they are in theory). Oh, who am I kidding - the healthier ones.

(Note: for all of these, have plenty of napkins and a convinent place to place garbage nearby and/or have your food such that you don't need to place the remains in the garbage)

Fruit & veggies. The ideal snack is easy to eat without getting yourself messy. Get some bananas or (if you can afford it, depending on the season) strawberries. Apples are good, although I recommend slicing them before hand. Double for oranges - have them peeled beforehand. Peeled and sliced cucumbers are good, although I would avoid having them dipped in vinegar while at the snack table (too messy). Carrots, especially baby carrots are good. Cherry tomatoes work well too, and for some people, radishes are a nice addition. For the really health-conscious people, a stick of celery is good, since it takes more calories to eat than you get.

Dips. Not just for potato chips, but some of the best dips are for your fruit & veggies. A little more likely to make a mess, of course, but worth it. I have an allergy to eggs, and since a lot of dips are made with eggs (or mayo, which has eggs in it), I have to avoid things like Ranch dressing unless we get it in powdered form and use sour cream as the base. Carrots and potato chips go really well with an onion-soup mix and sour cream dip, although for best results, make it the night before and let it chill in the refrigerator. For your fruit, mix cream cheese and marshmallow cream - very stick and hard to mix, but very, very good (high in fat and sugar though, so be warned). Since I mentioned celery, I should also mention - peanut butter. Simple, effective, great for getting into character when you are playing a barbarian who is a big child at heart.

Nuts. Although a little salty and greasey, most nuts are excellent snacks. I prefer cashews, peanuts, and almonds. I don't think this is a nut, but sunflower seeds are good too (and usually lumped in with nuts).

Trail mix. Lots of kinds of trail mix out there, both what you can buy in the store and what you can make yourself. Raisins, dried banana chips, preztels...

Crackers. Wheat thins, Ritz, saltines, Triscuits are my favorites. Crackers also go really good with cheese slices and cut up sausage.

Keep the really bad stuff to a minimum - M&M's, Cheeto's, and potato chips.

Drinks are difficult to do right. Most of the time, the best complimentary drink seems to be a soda drink. Water is good for cleansing the palette. Milk is good too, although it counts as a solid for filling you up. I'm not a coffee drinker, and I only rarely have tea (Sobes don't count), so I can't say as to how good they are as gaming snack drinks. Fruit juice is okay, although it can be a little much if you are using fruit as a snack as well.

I strongly, strongly, STRONGLY recommend staying away from all alcohol while gaming. Gaming is a social activity, and people who are snack while they are involved in gaming tend not to notice so much how much they indulge. Some games are meant for beer, but I don't think RPGs are one of them. Double for wine, and quintiple for hard liquor.

TheThan
2009-08-27, 12:52 PM
In Canada, Mountain Dew contains no caffeine, making it useless.

in Soviet Russia, mountain dew drinks you!

For the all day RPG session I recommend:

Chips and dip/salsa
Colas/soda of various sorts (we buy the super cheep stuff)
If you have a diabetic gaming, better bring some diet drinks as well
Trail mix for when you get tired of the chips and dip or it expires
Fresh fruit is a boon at any gaming table
Cookies are also a huge boon
Hot pockets or some other hot mircowaveable meal for lunch or a late night snack.
Pizza for dinner, you-bake is nice cause its usually a bit cheaper than take out
One or two bags of ice for the drinks
Something cold, like otter pops or ice-cream
An alternative to hot pockets are those sandwich rolls you can get at Costco, Sam’s club, and other big box stores.
Grilling is another great idea for gaming. You simply take a break and fire up the grill; burgers and hotdogs are always appreciated at any gaming event.
Light drinks for early morning (like sprite, lemonade etc).
Fast food joints are good, I’ve failed to meet a gamer yet who didn’t jump at the chance to order something from Wendy’s.

Totally Guy
2009-08-27, 01:19 PM
No-greasy food is a plus.

I've tried bringing things to game sessions such as...

Pretzels
Popcorn
Japanese rice based flavour coated things
Oreos
Apple Juice

Apple juice is the best, I try to bring 2 cartons to every session but it just isn't enough for everybody. I'd step up to 3 but I'm pretty sure I already do my part.

TheCountAlucard
2009-08-27, 01:42 PM
I feed my players with experience points. :smalltongue:

My D&D crew seems to be rather fond of Sour Cream & Onion potato chips. We've also had a couple of sessions with pizza, one with cookie sticks, and a couple with ice cream. We even had fish sticks with one session.

Mushroom Ninja
2009-08-27, 01:57 PM
One of my gaming groups always orders Mexican or Chinese food. While I like both of these, the best gaming snack I've ever had was a bLT sandwich on freshly baked bread served at 2 AM.

Drider
2009-08-27, 04:01 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBRL7D0wcXM
/\ NSFW, but it shows how to stock for drinks and treats.

Admiral Squish
2009-08-27, 04:35 PM
Back in the barracks, our saturday night game sessions usually had one of us going out to get food for the group. Usually, a couple pizzas, or sometimes McDonalds. Not healthy, or particularly palatable, but it often was enough to keep us going for 6-8 hours until I ran out of story for that session, or the roomies of whoever's room we were in got pissy and kicked us out.

Good times, good times.

Deth Muncher
2009-08-27, 04:48 PM
It's a well known fact that the single greatest package to keep a gamer going is Mountain Dew and Funyuns.

Fixed it for ya.

Katana_Geldar
2009-08-27, 06:51 PM
Can I just point out that Mountain Dew is only highly caffinated in the US? I actually wondered why gamers use this drink, and then I discovered the lack of caffine everywhere else except there.

Dixieboy
2009-08-27, 07:02 PM
Sandwiches.

Srsly.

penbed400
2009-08-27, 07:19 PM
I strongly, strongly, STRONGLY recommend staying away from all alcohol while gaming. Gaming is a social activity, and people who are snack while they are involved in gaming tend not to notice so much how much they indulge. Some games are meant for beer, but I don't think RPGs are one of them. Double for wine, and quintiple for hard liquor.


Whoa whoa whoa whoa, from what I see at my dad's games alcohol is there for fun. Everybody drinks except for me and if anything their roleplaying gets better throughout the night. Sometimes it's just better to have yourself a Newcastle or maybe a Fat Tire. I think most of their beers are homebrewed now though. But yea, personal opinion.

sofawall
2009-08-27, 10:25 PM
Start with muffins, fresh fruit, and juices. Then go for the traditional sodas and salty snacks. Get pizza for the main meal. You want to cut down on the sugar intake to avoid "crashing", so sodas with non-caloric sweeteners (chlorinated sugar - brand name Splenda in the U.S.) are better.

SPlenda is horrible. Gives me mad headaches and makes me feel horrible for hours afterwards

Elfin
2009-08-27, 10:49 PM
I subsist on fresh water and sunlight.

Agreed. I would never resort to the savage barbarism that is snacking whilst at the gaming table!
In all seriousness, though, I can't stand eating while playing D&D. Just one of my things.