In this day and age simple, fresh and healthy corporate catering is becoming the norm rather than the exception. But finding delicious, healthy catering options can sometimes be hard to come by. All too often the options aren’t as healthy as they should be or if it is healthy, it can lack flavour and the interest of the guests and colleagues you are catering for.
For corporate catering and other food services the Victorian Government has developed the Healthy Eating Advisory Service to aid organisations in making healthier food choices. Healthy office catering has never been easier!
The Healthy Eating Advisory Service has implemented a traffic light system; Green for best choices, Amber for choose carefully and Red for limit to guide users through this process. The traffic light system is now used widely across Victorian government departments and other large-scale organisations to assist them in making healthy food choices for their office and corporate catering.
Elizabeth Andrews has worked closely with the Victorian Government’s Healthy Eating Advisory Service to analyse each and every one of the recipes on our menu. We then applied the traffic light system recommended by the Healthy Eating Advisory Service so clients can easily identify what is a healthy option so they can make an informed decision and choose accordingly. As a result, beside each menu item we now provide a Health Eating Rating:
- Green (Best Choices) – food and drinks in the green category are the healthiest choices. They are usually a good source of important nutrients, low in saturated fats, added sugars and/or salt, low in kilojoules and high in fibre
- Amber (Choose Carefully) – amber food and drinks should be selected carefully and consumed in moderation. Amber food items provide some good nutrients however they can lead you to take in too much energy and contain saturated fats, added sugars and/or salt. Amber options should be offered in conjunction with green choices, with a greater number of green choices over amber choices
- Red (Limit) – food and drinks in the red category are not essential. If they are consumed too often, or in large amounts, they can lead to weight gain and chronic diseases. In general, red choices are high in kilojoules, high in saturated fats, added sugars and/or salt and low in important nutrients such as fibre. Red food items should be consumed rarely and in small amounts
In addition to rating each menu item, we have also worked with our website developers to apply these filters to our shopping cart so our clients can easily review which healthy food catering items fall under the Green Category and the Amber Category categories when organising their corporate catering. Our approach really takes the guess work out of choosing healthy corporate catering options and means that if your company has a policy of only eating healthy choices you don’t have to spend hours trawling through menus and guessing which are the healthiest food options.
So, do you need to get out of the ‘red’ zone and incorporate more healthy catering options? To assist you in designing a healthy corporate catering menu for your next meeting or event, let us guide you with some of our recommendations: - Healthy Breakfast Catering: kick start your day the right way! Breakfast is often described as the most important meal of the day, providing sustenance and energy for whatever activities lay ahead. Our corporate catering menu has variety of delicious and healthy breakfast options from the Green and Amber categories including savoury muffins, granola cups, chia cups, bircher muesli cups and of course fruit!
- Healthy Morning Tea – this can be a tricky one, traditionally morning consists of cakes and pastries which are always a crowd pleaser but as we move towards a healthy office and healthier corporate catering options, we need to redefine morning tea. So, yes you can create a scrumptious and healthy morning tea but what can you offer instead? Your breakfast options such as savoury muffins, granola cups, chia cups and bircher muesli cups will work for morning tea too. Then for a sweet element and more traditional morning tea options consider items such as protein balls, raw / vegan slices, carrot cake and trusty fruit!
- Healthy Lunch Catering – whoever said you can’t make friends with salad is wrong, the days of boring, leafy salads are long gone! At Elizabeth Andrews, our salad list has never been as extensive or interesting as it currently is with everything from gorgeous Thai beef salads, grain salads to traditional Greek and garden salads. All of our salad options fall into either the Green or Amber category but if salads aren’t your thing, there’s lots of other healthy lunch catering options that are sure to hit the spot. Think outside the box and select options like bao buns, rice paper rolls and nori rolls. And don’t forget healthy sandwiches! Stick to wholemeal, wholegrain or multigrain breads with healthy spreads like hummus, smashed avo or margarine and then select lots of veggie fillings, lean meats, egg, tuna or salmon. Want to learn how to make a healthy sandwich? Click here!
- Healthy Afternoon Tea and Grazing Options – like morning tea, there are plenty of delicious, healthy catering options for afternoon tea to replace those cakes and pastries! Think of healthy grazing options such as crudités with dips like hummus, cheese and fruit platters, fruit skewers and Asian style platters. If you still want to incorporate a sweet element then include some of the healthier, raw sweet options we previously discussed for morning tea.
In recent years, our range of healthy office catering options has significantly grown, and the quality of these options is exceptional. That’s right, as more businesses demand healthy catering options, healthy catering is no longer the boring option! The flavours pack a punch and have real ‘wow’ factor!
By implementing the Healthy Eating Advisory Service traffic light system, we hope we make the ordering process as seamless as possible for our clients when organising their corporate catering. So, make sure to use our Green and Amber guide to create a healthy food catering menu that will leave your guests pleasantly surprised and that they will be talking about long after your meeting or event has finished! If you require further assistance designing a healthy corporate catering menu for your upcoming function just get in touch with our friendly Customer Service team on 03 9670 4361 or order online here.