Christmas is a time of year that can be a strain on the budget, even without being on a tight budget the rest of the year. When you are mindful of the health of your family, it can sometimes feel like you need to choose between making healthy choices and making smart financial choices. Here are some of my best tips as a mum and Nutritionist for the holiday season.

Mindful meals
Have breakfast and lunch catch ups instead of dinner – these meals tend to be less heavy, less expensive, and less likely to be alcohol heavy. If you’re hosting, you could ask people to bring a plate or serve dishes grazing style to reduce waste. Include plenty of fresh fruit and vegetable options and flavoured sparkling waters.

Social savvy
If you feel like your social calendar is starting to fill up with too many seated food-focused occasions, you could suggest catching up for coffee or a walk (or swim!) with your loved ones instead, or combine an activity with lunch or plan a friendly sports game in the backyard or one of our many parks here in Yarrabilba. You could even bake with the kids or make a holiday photo collage.

Perfect produce
Buy seasonal produce and take advantage of suppliers who sell “imperfect” produce or “seconds”; perfectly good fruit and vegetables that maybe aren’t as beautiful or consistently sized as the supermarkets would prefer. These are easy ways to make your produce spend go further. Fruit can be a lovely and affordable gift too.

Portion planning
Be selective about when to use premium cuts of meat and take advantage of cheaper cuts and butcher’s specials for other meals. Buy as close to the amount you’d actually need rather than planning for a lot of leftovers as these tend to go to waste. Aim for around 200g of meat per person total, so halve that if you have two meats. Keep in mind you’ll likely have snacks and sides as well.

Snacky Santa
If you’re being mindful of your holiday snacking, you might like to let people know that you’re not doing food and drink gifts this year. You could even request wellbeing services, produce boxes, health food store vouchers, or supermarket vouchers as contributions or as Secret Santa gifts. Making sure that you are eating a light protein and veg meal before heading to functions is a great way to avoid over-indulging.

Regular routines
One of the easiest ways to stay healthy over the holidays is to try and stick to your usual routine as much as possible, especially in the areas of sleep and movement. Try not to drink too much alcohol too close to bedtime, and avoid staying up too much later than your usual bedtime. Getting up in the morning to move is a great way to stay in balance but becomes much harder if you’ve over-indulged the night before.

Beautiful balance
Of course, the holidays are a time to connect, share joy, and celebrate the season, so taking a balanced approach doesn’t mean avoiding your favourite treats but including them in a way that keeps you in the driver’s seat both financially and with your health, and avoids the guilt or compensation behaviours that are often marketed in the New Year.

Here are some of my favourite healthy holiday snacks to inspire you:

• Fresh fruit platter with a cinnamon yoghurt dip; mangoes, pineapple, passionfruit, cherries, citrus, and stone fruits are all in season and look, smell, and taste fantastic
• Air popped popcorn with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Try rosemary salt!
• Vegetable stick platter with carrot, cucumber, capsicum, celery, radish wedges, cherry tomatoes, and some colourful dips like beetroot, avocado, or spiced sweet potato
• Dark chocolate bark with peppermint oil, crushed nuts, dried cranberries and coconut
• Devilled eggs made with pesto and then piped to look like Christmas trees, so fun!