The Organized Mom Life

Simple solutions to help calm the chaos of motherhood

My new hobby: Food boards

I don’t really know how to describe this new hobby of mine… but here goes:

My new favorite thing to do is serve my family food that I’ve arranged on a big, wooden board.

I know, it sounds so weird! But for some reason- I’m not quite sure why- serving food like this makes dinner way more exciting!

Maybe I’ll just have to show you the pictures so that you’ll understand what I mean.

But fair warning: These aren’t the greatest photos in the world. I wasn’t actually taking these pictures with a blog post in mind. The lighting isn’t great. In fact, I took most of them with my phone, standing on a chair above the table, while simultaneously trying to keep hungry kids from grabbing food!

This is real life, you guys. Enjoy! 😉

Related: 9 amazing snack boards for kids

Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you choose to click through and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Christmas snack board

This was the first board we tried. We saw a picture in a magazine, and it looked fun. So we tried to recreate it.

And the addiction began!

On the Christmas snack board:

  • Cubed cheddar cheese
  • Sliced bologna
  • Pepperoni
  • Green olives
  • Mozzarella balls
  • Rosemary sprigs
  • Various crackers

Pancake board

A few months later, when I couldn’t stop looking at food boards on Instagram, my husband cut a board for me. Then he made me one of my favorite dinners- pancakes!

On the pancake board:

  • Pancakes
  • Butter
  • Syrup
  • Hashbrowns
  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Raspberries
  • Avocado
  • Scrambled eggs

BLT board

I think these summer-y boards are my favorites. This BLT board was as delicious as it looked.

On the BLT board:

  • Rolls
  • Bread
  • Bacon
  • Lettuce
  • Tomatoes
  • Mayonaise
  • Sliced cheddar
  • Sliced fresh mozzarella
  • Basil
  • Sliced avocado
  • Sprouts
  • Fresh fruit

Another breakfast board

Just think of all the serving dishes I avoided washing by putting all of this food directly on a board. Haha!

On the breakfast board:

  • Scrambled eggs
  • Over easy eggs
  • French toast sticks
  • Sausage
  • Potatoes
  • Onions and peppers

Baked potato board

Baked potatoes and all the toppings!

On the baked potato board:

  • Baked potatoes
  • Cornbread
  • Butter
  • Sour cream
  • Shredded cheddar cheese
  • Cottage cheese
  • Bacon

Hamburger board

We made this board for burgers and every possible topping you could imagine. Mmmm!

On the hamburger board:

  • Burgers
  • Rolls
  • Bacon
  • Lettuce
  • Tomatoes
  • Potato chips
  • Pickles
  • Cooked and raw onions
  • Cooked mushrooms

Ballpark board

Even though we couldn’t celebrate Andrew’s first birthday with a big party, we still decided to go big with a fun theme and lots of food!

On the ballpark board:

  • Hotdogs
  • Hamburgers
  • Chili
  • Packets of ketchup and mustard
  • Nachos
  • Soft pretzels
  • Extra nacho cheese
  • Lettuce
  • Tomato
  • Mozzarella sticks
  • Marinara
  • Peanuts
  • Chips

Baguette board

This is the board my kids ask for over and over. We had this for dinner at least once a week during the last half of summer. For this particular board, we included 5 different types of homegrown tomatoes from my dad’s garden. We easily ate this entire thing!

On the baguette board:

Fruit board

My daughter recently turned 6, and requested lots of fruit for her birthday dinner. This was so fun to make. (We also had a chocolate fountain, which you can’t see in the picture.)

On the fruit board:

  • Strawberries
  • In the cut-out pineapple: Pineapple, blackberries, kiwi, raspberries
  • Clementines
  • Grapefruit
  • Fruit dip (marshmallow creme mixed with cream cheese)
  • Raspberries
  • Apples
  • Caramel dip
  • Mango
  • Kiwi
  • Blueberries
  • Grapes
  • In the cut-out watermelon: Watermelon, kiwi, mango
  • In the cut-out cantaloupe: Cantaloupe, strawberries, kiwi, mango
  • We also had a pomegranate that was mostly just for decoration. 😉 We did cut it up and taste it later, which was fun since we had never had one!

Inspiration

I first found out about food boards from The Baker Mama, on Instagram. I asked for her book for my birthday, and loved it!

Since then, I’ve also started following Reluctant Entertainer, and I love the boards she creates, too!

How to make your own board

My husband kindly wrote down the steps that he used to create my giant board:

Materials List:

Where to get the wood for your board:

  • Select a scrap piece from a cut down tree, former project, or piece around the garage.
  • Purchase a piece at a local home improvement store.  Most home improvement stores will also cut the wood for you which will save you from cutting it at home. 
  • Purchase a piece at a lumber yard.

Directions:

  1. Identify the size of the board you are going to make.  I measured our dining room table with plates, cups, and silverware already placed on it.  I then measured the space on the inside and that is what size I made the board.
  2. Select a piece of wood to use.  Based on my research, the best kind of wood to use is a hardwood.  Woods such as American maple, teak, American Cherry, walnut, and olive are considered hardwoods. There is a lot of information on the internet about woods to use.  Take time to do some research on it. 
  3. Sand down the piece of wood using a sander.  I used a Dewalt Random Orbital Sander.  I started with a low grit sandpaper (60 grit) and went to (120 grit).  My piece of wood was actually pretty smooth so I didn’t have to sand a lot. 
  4. Clean off the piece of wood with a cloth. 
  5. Apply the Food Safe Mineral Oil.  It was super easy to apply.  I allowed it several hours to dry. 

Boards to buy

If you’re not interested in making your own board, check out these options:

Thanks for reading!

I hope that you enjoyed reading about my newest little hobby. Happy boarding!

-Laura

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