Meals for Feeding Football Players and Large Group

Are you tasked with feeding a football breakfast to a hundred hungry players at two a days? Or are you trying to feed a large crowd of people for a school, party or work event? Having a hard time coming up with meals that can feed large crowds of people?

We've got the solution for you today!

A colorful table spread with breakfast food options to feed a large crowd. In the center is a platter piled high with scrambled eggs. Around the platter are bowls of oatmeal, yogurt, and fresh fruit. There are also stacks of pancakes and waffles, with pitchers of syrup and bowls of berries. To the right is a basket of muffins and a carafe of coffee. the words on the photo say football breakfast and other meals for feeding large crowds.

Jump to:

Tips for Getting Started
Breakfast Ideas
What Meals Do You Recommend for Feeding Large Crowds?

Tips for Getting Started

When cooking something like a football breakfast or a meal for large crowds, there are some tips for helping you get started:

Enlist help: Signups make sharing the burden of feeding a large crowd much easier. Allow parents and guardians to sign up for items they can bring.
Cut costs where you can: Feeding large crowds is EXPENSIVE! Try cutting costs by buying some things in bulk. You can also try to avoid unnecessary expenses like buying expensive water bottles and sports drinks. Instead you can serve water with frozen fruit cubes, or even make your own coconut water or hydration water.
Plan on feeding what they will eat and maybe more! I've fed cross country runners, football players, soccer players, dancers, and even the drama and choir department over the years. I've learned to always plan on feeding more than less! Football players often eat 2-3 times more than I thought they would. When feeding football breakfast I find they don't eat as much at breakfast as they do later in the day because they want to eat lighter knowing they have another workout coming. Heat acclimation days too I find players eat less. And depending on the sport, some players want to eat more protein and less dessert like foods.
Increase your baking time: When you are shoving ten casseroles into an oven plan on increased baking time...sometimes two to three times more baking time! I've also found that there are times during baking time I need to switch the placement of the casseroles around in the oven periodically during baking as some casseroles may bake faster than others.

A bowl of bread pudding on a white napkin. The bread pudding is light brown and sits in a white bowl.
A white spoon rests on the edge of the bowl.
To the right of the bowl is a white mug filled with milk.
To the left of the bowl is a lit white candle in a glass holder. This is a breakfast to feed a large crowd

Breakfast Ideas

Casseroles:

Biscuit Egg Casserole: Lil Luna
Cheesy Breakfast Casserole, Damn Delicious HINT: we sub southern hashbrowns for the diced Russett potatoes for ease
Cheesy Sausage Croissant Casserole, Southern Living
Crockpot Breakfast Casserole, BurntApple.com
Creme Brulee Casserole, BurntApple.com
Mexican Breakfast Casserole, Paleo Grubs HINT: we use frozen hashbrowns instead of shredding our own sweet potato
Mexican Lasagna Breakfast Casserole, The Slow Roasted Italian
Sausage and Gravy Casserole, Can't Stay Out of the Kitchen
Spam (or Ham), Eggs and Rice, Eating Richly

CLICK HERE FOR MEALS FOR LUNCH AND DINNER FOR FOOTBALL PLAYERS AND LARGE CROWDS!!!

A rectangular casserole dish sits on a colorful towel.

The casserole dish is made of clear glass and filled with an unidentified light brown casserole.
The casserole dish is placed on a wooden table.

Bars:

Bars are perfect for allowing players and crowds a few choices. They can also be a lot of fun for a banquet as you can dress them up and make them more elegant, or a grab and go player breakfast.

Bagel Bar Brunch, Skinnytaste
Breakfast Burrito Bar, Beauty and Bedlam
Breakfast Cereal Bar, Aloha Dreams HINT: Buy cereal when specials hit! Cereal often goes on sale and you can combine coupons for even more savings. We find cereal goes on sale around back to school time or shortly after.
Parfait Bar, Aloha Dreams
Peanut Butter & Jelly Eggo Waffle Bar, Staying Close to Home
Sparkling Cider Bar, Burnt Apple
Waffle Bar, Design, Eat Repeat

CLICK HERE FOR MEALS FOR LUNCH AND DINNER FOR FOOTBALL PLAYERS AND LARGE CROWDS!!!

A rectangular casserole dish made of clear glass sits on a wooden table with a colorful patterned tablecloth.
Next to the casserole dish is a flaky crescent roll, commonly known as a croissant.

Protein:

Protein helps rebuild and repair tissue. It also is an important building block of bones, muscles, cartilage and skin. When players are pushing their limits in workouts, having a more protein based breakfast is a great option! We have even had some coaches REQUEST higher protein options because they get a lot of parents bring donuts, pastries, and muffins for breakfast and their players crash.

Baked Scrambled Eggs, All Recipes HINT: These eggs are easy to prep and prepare. They are a simple and easy inexpensive protein option.
Chocolate Chip Protein Muffins, Big Man's World
Double Chocolate Protein Muffins, Wholesome Yum
High Protein Sheet Pan Breakfast, The Hungry Elephant HINT: you can substitute less expensive canadian bacon for priscutto.
High Protein Snickerdoodle Muffins: Mason Fit
Oven Baked Bacon or Sausage for a Crowd, Tasty Kitchen HINT: we found cooking times may need to be longer if making larger amounts
Pancakes, King Arthur Flour HINT: we made these King Arthur Flour pancakes and subbed half greek yogurt and butter and added some unflavored collagen protein powder. We served our pancakes with maple syrup and this yummy Magleby's Buttermilk Syrup from Family Cookbook Project.