Summer is almost halfway over! (Once again, too fast.) If you haven’t had a picnic yet, what are you waiting for?
Enjoying a relaxing meal amongst the trees and birds, perhaps next to the water, is a blissful way to enjoy a summer day. (Or evening!) The food even tastes better al fresco, don’t you think?
But typical picnic foods aren’t always the best for your heart. Deli meats, takeout sandwiches, grocery store pasta salad, potato chips… These foods are fine occasionally, but the meal in your basket can be so much more!
What if you could put together a picnic spread bursting with colour and flavourful foods, so that instead of saying “Well that was healthy anyhow,” people said, “That was fantastic! What a great meal.” That’s my goal here.
We’ll look at ideas for sandwiches, salads, snacks, and sips in the picnic “sweet spot” — heart-healthy and delicious, plus portable, pretty, and quick to prepare. We want to prep the food and get outside, right?
Principles for a heart-healthy picnic menu
First, briefly, these are the general nutrition principles to focus on for heart health:
- Plenty and a variety of vegetables and fruit
- Other plant-based foods for fibre and protein: whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds
- Other proteins like fish, milk products, eggs, and/or poultry, if you eat those
- Foods made with more olive oil and other healthy fats, less butter
- Limited processed meat, refined grains, and added sugar, especially in drinks
Additionally, food that’s made with love, eaten with loved ones, or that you love to eat is heart healthy too. Sometimes the love stuff conflicts with the nutrition stuff, and then you get to find the right balance for you.
But ideally you can satisfy both! That’s what I mean by “sweet spot”.
Keep it simple
There are lots of ideas and pretty pictures here for inspiration, but you don’t have to spend all day making seven dishes to be successful with this. If you go to the park with a round of brie, a bunch of grapes, and some good whole grain bread, that’s still a heart healthy picnic!
Add one or two of the items below, if you like, or not. Or organize a potluck. Never let food be a source of (heart-stressing) stress.
Satisfying sandwiches
What makes a heart-healthy sandwich?
First, plan the protein.
Instead of ham, deli turkey, or hot dogs, how about one of these?
- Tuna, salmon, or egg salad – Mix with mayo if you like it (it’s mostly healthy fat), extra virgin olive oil, and/or plain Greek yogurt. Then get creative! Add crunchy diced celery or apple, chunks of creamy avocado, or finely chopped sharp red onion.
- Rotisserie chicken – Did you know that rotisserie chicken usually has less than half the sodium of turkey slices from the deli? Plus about 3 pounds of meat per bird. Sandwiches for everyone!
- Peanut butter – Banana is the classic sidekick, but you can also top this protein-rich, healthy-fat spread with sliced apples, strawberries, or grapes. (Sunflower seed butter has similar nutrition, if you need a nut-free option.)
- Other vegetarian proteins – If you want a vegetarian vegetable sandwich, you can get protein from hummus (just a little), cheese (more), and/or sliced, marinated, pan-fried tofu (the most). Lots of options.
Next load up the veggies.
Lettuce and tomato are fine, but we can make it more fun than that! How about carrot shavings? If you’ve roasted a pile of sliced bell peppers or eggplant you can tuck those in for a gourmet flare. Or sliced cucumber, or a handful of peppery arugula.
Finally, put it on good whole grain bread.
Multigrain, sprouted grain, 27-grain… It’s all good! Just look for the word “whole” in the first ingredient. Use a grocery store loaf or splurge on something special from a bakery.
(Related: my unsponsored Cobs review, if you’re near one of those.)
For a change, use whole grain tortillas (low glycemic index!), buns, or bagels. Whole grain crackers like Triscuits go nicely with tuna or egg salad, if your picnic vibe is more snacky than sandwich.
Picnic-worthy salads
A hearty, vibrant salad with grains or legumes travels well and can satisfy for hours. A few favourites:
- Lentil & Barley Salad (Julie van Rosendaal) – Cholesterol and blood sugar friendly lentil and barley tossed with tomatoes, spinach, red onion, feta, and a zesty vinaigrette.
- Crunchy Peanut Cabbage Salad – I created this after writing about keeping a lid on your fruit and vegetable budget. It has a sweet and salty dressing, mandarin orange slices, and hearty farro, a satisfyingly chewy ancient whole grain.
- Cowboy Caviar is a classic party bean salad that goes well with sturdy tortilla chips. Tomatoes, peppers, corn, avocado – you get the idea. If you can’t find black-eyed peas, look for pinto beans.
(If you want more salad ideas like this, see my 10 Delicious Heart-Healthy Salads Without Lettuce.)
Snacks and Sides
It’s not a picnic without nibbly treats. Bring whatever fresh fruit is in season and looking good – sweet nectarines, watermelon chunks, or juicy cherries never get ignored.
Grocery store veggie trays often get passed over, but something out of the ordinary like cherry tomatoes, colourful sliced bell peppers, or crispy snap peas might be more popular. Most people like ranch dressing, and if it means eating more veggies, we’ll call it a win. Again, mostly healthy fats, although hummus is even better.
In addition to fresh fruits and veggies, consider one of these:
- Chips and salsa – People don’t give salsa enough credit. It’s basically all vegetables! Make it yourself and you can use ripe summer tomatoes and go easy on the salt, building flavour instead with jalapenos, lime juice, and fresh cilantro. Or make…
- Guacamole instead. So good. Did you know that if an avocado had a nutrition label it would say 36% for fibre? That’s a lot! So enjoy your guacamole.
- Roasted Red Pepper Hummus – Hummus makes a great dip for carrots, celery, or fancy crackers. Plain or with roasted red peppers, either way is great. Again, if you can make it yourself, even better.
- An interesting cheese that’s new to you – Although the saturated fat in cheese worries some, the evidence for cheese and heart health leans more in favour of cheese than against.
- Homemade chocolate spread with apple or pear slices – It looks like Nutella but is mostly cashew butter instead of being mostly sugar. If you like dark chocolate, you’ll probably like this.
Heart-healthy sips
Lemonade, iced tea, sparkling juice. I hate to say it, but these summer thirst quenchers are usually brimming with sugar, and regular consumption of sugary beverages has been connected to heart disease risk factors much more than sugary foods.
Other options:
- Water infused with frozen raspberries, sliced cucumber, or one of these 23 creative ideas.
- Cold herbal tea – Peppermint or chamomile are as refreshing when cold as they are soothing when hot.
- Flavoured fizzy waters like Bubly or Perrier.
- Alcohol-free wine or beer – If you like a cold beer or chilled chardonnay on a hot day, but not the effects of alcohol, these are better than you might expect.
I love fresh lemonade on a sweltering day, but if you bust one of these drinks out of the cooler, people would probably be just as happy.
Just make it taste good
One key strategy for making heart-healthy eating changes stick, even during summer, holidays, and vacation, is to experiment until you find foods you really enjoy. I hope this post gives you some fresh ideas in the summer fun department.
And I hope you’re excited to plan a picnic now, before summer is over. And when you do, the food is so appetizing that no one even notices it’s good for them. That’s the sweet spot way!
What are your favourite healthy(ish) picnic foods? Join the conversation in the Facebook group. New members always welcome. 😊❤️
As always, this post is not sponsored! Any mention of specific products are to help you, not for financial gain.
