March Madness: Complete couch-potato viewing checklist

Avoid Being A Hangry Fan

Undoubtedly, the couch potato will order-in food for main meals. The fare can range from pizza, to chinese. all the way to using an all-restaurant delivery service to bring fully plated meals to the front door.

The key is, you want food which doesn’t distract you from watching the games. Foods which can be handheld, and don’t require the attention of a fork and knife are best.

Here are a few musts:

Pizza – This is the most obvious choice. It’s a standard food item for just about any sport (according to California Pizza Kitchen survey, 54 percent of Americans choose pizza when watching sports) and easy to acquire. Toppings are very much a personal choice. although it’s always best to have a plain cheese pie in the mix to appease the picky eaters who might be joining you.

Hot Dogs – While mostly considered a baseball food, hot dogs are always an easy fix for a meal. Fried in a pan or boiled, all you need to do is slap it in a bun, slather on some mustard and relish, and you’re ready to go.

Wings – While normally traditional bone-in wings are the way to go, for watching March Madness I recommend boneless wings (or just chicken fingers) to avoid diverting your eyes from the television too much. You can order boneless chicken from most pizza delivery chains now, or use a service such as GrubHub or UberEats to bring some right to you.

You also want to minimize trips to the kitchen sink for washing sauce from your hands, so go with dry breaded chicken, with your choice of sauce on the side to dip. This method also makes sharing much easier.

For sauces or seasonings, the varieties offered by Rufus Teague tickle my palate just right.

Chinese – This can actually be a great food to eat for watching games if you are careful. Only a few dishes qualify and are easy to eat (General Tso’s chicken, orange chicken, sweet-n-sour, etc). Fried wontons and eggrolls also make great game-watching choices.

But what about between the meals and for any guests who may wander in and out? (Because letting a buddy dig into your General Tso’s just isn’t happening, no matter how close you may be).

Keep it simple is the cardinal rule. Chips and salsa, pretzels, M&Ms, potato chips, and various dips are your best friends during the tournament. If a snack needs to be “cooked” (ie; mozzarella sticks, pizza bagels, etc) you’re probably better off without it.