Healthy Food At The Ballpark: Some Tips

Finding healthy food at the ballpark isn’t easy. The multitudes of food offerings at ballparks, often celebrating local flavor, are wonderful but can be overwhelmingly tempting, especially when one knows they’ll be doing some walking off of the calories.

Despite what I do here, I’m not at as many ballgames as people think. And since I make an effort to eat healthy most of the time, when I’m at the game I usually think it will be okay to have a dog or two and maybe one of the popular sandwiches or fries at the ballpark. I love a good Federal Donut or AJ Bombers Burger, so I’ll park farther away if that helps me walk it off.

Well, someone’s gotta eat it.

But daily sustenance of this kind probably isn’t a wise choice (or an economical one, for that matter) for someone with season tickets, or for someone who is on a baseball tour and needs to stay sharp and not get sick before they point their car at the next ballpark.

So just so you have an idea, I’ve provided some tips to help you keep it healthy when you’re cheering on your heroes at your or another ballpark.

If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

Healthy Food at the Ballpark, Tip #1) Look At The Menu. All teams now feature “concession maps” on their websites; these maps will not only help you find food stands, they’ll also let you know what’s offered at each of these stands. In most cases, you can find veggie dogs or veggie burgers, and you can find out where they’re handing out smaller (and cheaper) portions for the kids. They even list the drinks, and you may find a spot where something like juice is available as opposed to beer or soda.

The underrated star food item.

Healthy Food at the Ballpark, Tip #2) Seek Out The Deli. Most ballparks have something of a delicatessen-style concession stand—there’s the Boar’s Head Deli in Yankee Stadium, the East-West Delicatessen at Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay, or the popular Mama’s of Corona at Citi Field in New York. Most of these places will offer either a vegetarian sandwich of some kind or a wrap version of whatever sandwich they make. Sometimes both.

Two bags of peanuts were sitting on the table, and one was a-salted.

Healthy Food at the Ballpark, Tip #3) Bring Your Own. As you certainly know if you’ve bought a Ballpark E-Guide, most all ballparks will let you bring in a bag of goodies of some kind. It’s a given that you can bring in trail mix (which is the S&M of snack food in my opinion, but some people like it) or fruit or another healthy snack.

There’s usually some eateries near the ballpark, or at least near a train station you might be using, that can sell you a healthier sandwich than what is available inside. Yankee Stadium in New York, Wrigley Field in Chicago, Comerica Park in Detroit, and Progressive Field in Cleveland among several others all have Subway stores within a short walk of the ballpark (a few ballparks have Subways inside as well, but don’t pay those prices if you don’t have to).

Should it be “All you care to eat”?

Healthy Food at the Ballpark, Tip #4) Avoid All You Can Eat Seats. This probably goes without saying. I don’t care that at some ballparks, like PNC Park in Pittsburgh, salad is one of the all you can eat offerings. To have unlimited access to possibly uncooked hot dogs, burgers, heavily buttered popcorn and nachos with that thick mystery liquid they call “cheese sauce” is asking for a stomach that will be very angry with you, and a lot of calories that you aren’t going to walk off heading back to your car unless you parked in a rival city.

It’ll get packed once the vegan burger is added to the menu.

Healthy Food at the Ballpark, Tip #5) Try The Ballpark Restaurant. Instead of buying a hot dog and some nachos and sitting them on your lap or on a counter where they risk bird droppings, try one of the sit-down restaurants that all ballparks have today. Yankee Stadium has a Hard Rock Café and NYY Steak; Miller Park in Milwaukee has a TGI Fridays; Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia and Citi Field in New York both have a McFadden’s. Most of the in-ballpark eateries aren’t likely to be much more expensive than you’d expect at a typical restaurant, and with a full menu of choices in front of you, you can order a chicken sandwich and some vegetarian chili before the game, making that cheesesteak far less tempting later.

That’s five tips that should help you the next time you’re at the game and thinking that maybe you should back off of the two-foot chili and cheese dog or the loaded Old Bay extra salty fries. Those things might be okay as an occasional indulgence, but they won’t help your chances of winning a triathlon.

$219.53.

That’s how much it cost a family of four to see a major league baseball game in 2016, according to the MLB Fan Cost Index.

Are you planning to see one, two, or ten live baseball games this season? Do you want to know ways to slash that ridiculous total, AND find a great seat, parking spot, and a tasty sandwich at the game?

Or would you rather keep paying more than you have to?

Click here to spend less and enjoy more at the ballpark.

Save