A healthy picnic

A healthy picnic should include
exercise and a wholesome menu

Let the picnic be part of a walk or hike. Or take off on bicycles – you’ll be able to go further than on foot.

The only consideration in these cases is the weight of the food and equipment you have to carry – so bear this in mind. Take food that needs minimal packaging and equipment that you can carry on your back.

Of course you can drive to your picnic destination and then take some exercise when you get there. Get the blood circulating around your body by playing some games.

Match the food to the weather.

A long winter walk is much more acceptable when you know there is a flask of hot soup in your back-pack. While, on a hot summer’s day, a bottle of iced water or iced tea is what you’ll be looking for.

Water or herb teas are the choice of those who want a healthy picnic. Avoid fizzy, canned drinks and of course alcohol!

Freeze a plastic bottle of water before you leave (don’t fill the bottle to the top, to allow for expansion when freezing) so that it melts on the journey. Add a squeeze of lemon or lime juice if you need flavouring.

Avoid processed food as much as possible. Cut down on fat, sugar and salt.

A healthy picnic, as any healthy meal, will include lots of fresh fruit and vegetables. Best will be seasonal ones - not having to fly them in from abroad promotes a healthier environment as well as being cheaper for you.

For starters, take a pot of healthy dip but no crisps or chips with it. Instead slice carrots, celery, peppers, and fennel, and add radishes, raw broccoli and cauliflower florets, baby tomatoes, mangetout or sugarsnap peas. What a colourful, as well as healthy, collection!

If you’re planning a hot meal, use your barbecue to grill some healthy oily fish.

Or choose grilled turkey or chicken breast to get your protein intake, if fish is unavailable.

Serve with grilled vegetables such as aubergine, peppers, tomatoes and courgettes or a leafy green salad sprinkled with sesame or pumpkin seeds.

The ultimate picnic salad with its fennel (good for menopausal women! and lovely with fish) would be a great easy-to-carry alternative, as would any fresh tomato salad recipe.

For a cold picnic menu, go for sandwiches made with wholemeal bread - or, if people complain, try making them with one slice of white and one slice of wholemeal.

Fill them with smoked salmon, smoked mackerel or kipper pate. This is oily fish again, with all the healthy benefits of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which help prevent heart disease, stroke and some cancers.

Tuscan salad is a good picnic salad to choose, with its tuna fish and beans.

Or make up a healthy salad with chunks of smoked trout and papaya (paw paw) on a bed of peppery rocket and/or watercress. Throw in a few sliced, sugar snap peas for crunch and some nuts (broken up walnuts or shelled pistachios). Dress (carry separately) with a little extra virgin olive oil mixed with lemon, or lime, juice to taste.

If you have the barbecue going, then choose barbecued fruit on this picnic. Otherwise go for a pot of home-prepared fruit salad, such as berries and melon, or a simple bunch of grapes or an apple are both easy to eat on a picnic. Add a small slice of cheese too for calcium, or a little pot of yoghurt if you can keep it cool.

No fresh fruit available? Chop dried fruit, such as soft apricots, prunes, figs or dates and mix with seeds such as pumpkin and sesame and/or chopped nuts such as walnuts or brazils. Do not use salted nuts.

You’ll find lots of healthy recipes on this site so do take some time to browse around. You might also like to "think organic", not just for a healthy picnic but for your overall lifestyle, and check out this openly organic site.

Take a look at my own list of Superfoods too and try and include as many as possible in your weekly menus and healthy picnics.

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