Summer offers many opportunities for picnics — at outdoor concerts, in parks, or at the beach or lake. It’s convenient to pick up a tray of attractive, ready-made sandwiches from a local supermarket, but these typically aren’t the healthiest choice. There are better ways to pack a picnic.
Cold Cuts and Cancer
Ready-made sandwiches typically contain processed meats, such as ham and turkey slices, and even though they look appetizing, they’re dangerous. The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) reviewed 7,000 studies for links between food and cancer, and found that typical cold cuts are among the processed meats that increase risk for colorectal cancer.
Processed meats include hot dogs, the pepperoni on pizza, regular bacon, and most sliced, ready-to-eat meats at the deli counter of any supermarket. (The exception is “uncured” versions of these, found in some natural supermarkets but not readily available elsewhere.)
The preservatives and flavoring agents used in making processed meats seem to be the culprit, and the connection is very clear. AICR found that if you regularly eat processed meats, for every 1.7 ounces consumed per day, your risk for colorectal cancer increases by 21 percent.
The same meats are usually very high in sodium, and some are also high in fat. In addition to causing colorectal cancer, they contribute to high blood pressure, arterial plaque, and excess weight. And being overweight increases the odds of cancer of the colon, pancreas, kidney, esophagus, and uterus, and, in postmenopausal women, breast cancer.
Better Picnic Options
Roasted chicken is easy to grab in a supermarket. It may be a little messier than sandwiches, but that’s all part of the fun of eating outdoors. You can get roasted chicken breasts or the whole bird, often with a choice of seasonings.
To accompany the chicken, try a simple salad. Lettuce leaves will wilt, and tomato slices will get mushy, but other vegetables that can be cut into chunks and aren’t juicy will make a salad that travels well. For example, try a combination of these:
• Chop up green, yellow and red sweet peppers into bite-sized pieces.
• Add some garbanzo or black beans (rinsed and dried off on a paper towel).
• Mix in some cherry tomatoes (use bite-sized ones that don’t need to be sliced).
• Add some kernels of sweet summer corn. Cook your own ahead of time — here’s how: Go Here Now.
In your cooler, take the vegetables in a sealed container that’s large enough to allow some room for tossing. Take your favorite salad dressing separately, in a bottle. At the picnic, add a little dressing to the salad, toss, and serve beside the chicken.
Here’s another way to add zing to the salad: Buy a container of feta cheese crumbles, and at the picnic, sprinkle some on the salad. For freshness, always keep the cheese and dressing separate from the vegetables until you’re ready to eat.
To eat your healthy picnic, you’ll need paper plates, a sharp knife to cut apart a whole chicken (easier than pulling it apart with your fingers), knives and forks (plastic or regular), napkins, and paper towels.
To simplify picnic dining one more step, here’s another option: At home, cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces and put it into a separate container in your cooler. At the picnic, mix the salad and chicken pieces and toss with your dressing. The only utensil you will need is a plastic fork.
And don’t forget some delicious fruit for dessert. Small containers of vanilla-flavored yogurt can fill odd spaces in your cooler and if you cut the fruit into pieces (at the picnic, to keep it fresh), the yogurt makes a great dip.
If you’re thinking this is all too much work, give it a try. You might discover that creating your picnic meal is a whole new way to have fun. And when it’s time to eat, everyone will appreciate the feast.
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