When organising catering:

• always have water (plain, tap, spring, mineral or sparkling) as the preferred drink choice
• make reduced  fat milk, yoghurt, cheese the default choices
• provide fruit and vegetable platters
• choose unsalted nuts
• request that sauces, dressing and spreads be served on the side.

Sandwiches, wraps and rolls:

Request the caterer to:

• provide wholemeal, multigrain or high fibre breads in preference to plain white
• avoid adding butter or spreads
  – if required choose healthier spreads such as hummus, avocado and reduced fat mayonnaise or a thin scraping of margarine
• include lots of salad and vegetable fillings
• use reduced fat cheese and lean, unprocessed meats and alternatives, such as roast beef, skinless chicken, egg and tuna.

Baked Goods:

Request the caterer to:

• provide small serving s
• not use icing or confectionary e.g. chocolate chips
• minimise the use of sugar, honey or syrups
• base baked goods on mostly on wholemeal flour and use fruit or vegetable ingredients e.g. banana or carrot/zucchini.

Hot finger foods

Request the caterer to provide:

• oven baked products instead of deep-fried e.g. oven  baked potato wedges
• a range of filo pastries instead of puff or shortcrust e.g. spinach and ricotta parcels
• egg based options such as vegetable frittatas or zucchini slice
• savoury pancakes.

Avoid or minimise the use of salt in preparation

Light bites

Request the caterer to provide:

• rice paper rolls with lots of vegetable fillings instead of deep-fried spring rolls
• sushi pieces without battered or crumbed fillings
• legume (e.g. hummus), reduced fat dairy (e.g. tzatziki), vegetable (e.g. carrot/beetroot) or salsa dips with vegetable crudités or wholegrain crackers
• vegetable and ricotta filled wonton cups.

Limit foods and drinks that are high in fat, sugar and salt, including:

• fried or deep-fried foods
• butter or cream
• processed meats such as bacon, salami and devon
• croissants, donuts and sweet pastries
• chips, crisps and other similar products
• chocolate, lollies and confectionary products
• iced or cream-filled biscuits and cream cakes
• soft drinks and other sugary drinks including cordial.

Click here to download this fact sheet as a PDF