Healthy platters made easy!

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I really enjoy sharing food with others and a platter is common place for this. So, below is a guide for putting together healthier, yet still absolutely delicious, nibbles and platters…

The challenge is that many of the foods you commonly find on a platter aren’t great choices, especially if you have them often. Creamy dips, salty white crackers, white bread, fatty meats and highly-processed snacks. Then there are ‘bar style’ starters with deep-fried chips, crumbed fish bites, chicken wings and so on. People may not realise that some starters they share in a bar before dinner, may contain more energy (kilojoules/calories) than you need for not just one, but possibly two, of your complete meals (often high in salt and saturated fat too)! 

Here is an example:

  • 6 sesame crackers (over 30% fat) each with slices of Brie

  • 4 slices of salami

  • 2 cocktail sausages

  • Handful of chips with Kiwi dip

Total = 4540 kilojoules (1135 calories) and 84 grams fat (that is 21 tsp worth). For context, the average calories per day for an adult that is used on food packaging in New Zealand is 8700kj (2080kcals). While this varies from person to person, you will see this is still a large percentage of the total recommendation for a day.

Ideas of what you can put on a really tasty ‘healthier platter’: 

Veggies

  • Cherry tomatoes

  • Snow peas, edamame beans

  • Carrot, celery, capsicum, courgette sticks

  • Raw or blanched and cooled broccoli and cauliflower

  • Cucumber and radish slices

 Fruit

  • Bunch of grapes

  • Strawberries, blueberries

  • Wedges of orange, kiwifruit, apple, pear, peach, watermelon

  • Dried figs, prunes, raisins

 Healthy protein

  • Cold lean sliced meat

  • Smoked salmon

  • Shredded chicken chunks or chicken kebabs

  • Lean meatballs with tomato chutney

  • Mini frittatas or hard-boiled eggs

  • Dips made with pulses or yoghurt (hummus, tzatziki)

  • Chickpeas

 Healthy fats

  • Raw nuts and seeds

  • Olives

 Extras

  • Gherkins or sundried tomatoes

  • Kimchi or sauerkraut

  • Rice paper rolls or sushi

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