We absolutely love Australia Day, as it’s a big social day on our calendars. Of course growing up, we always knew this day to be full of backyard cricket, trips to the beach and lots of laughs with friends and family. Like many, as you get a bit older, you discover the addition of alcohol and parties to fuel the fun. With Australia Day upon us, we want to dedicate this podcast to all the ways you can do your best to stay additive and preservative free, on this big day of celebration and other parties you might attend throughout the year.

You can still have fun, enjoy the festivities and be additive-free, without feeling like crap the next day, or even a few hours later. Nobody likes a hangover, especially in the heat of summer! With that in mind, there’s still plenty of ways to let your hair down but still feel human the next day.

Better snack options

Many celebrations and events feature snacks as a cornerstone to bring people together. Unfortunately, these are usually in the form of flavoured chips, soft drinks, flavoured ice creams, party pies and other refined foods. This can be put down to habit, as you might buy these same snacks every Australia Day, year in, year out.

We want to encourage an altered mindset, where you’re able to switch a few things up for the better:

  • Leave the flavoured chips on the supermarket shelf: Instead choose the plainly salted options, as they still bring a lot of satisfaction. Newer varieties of chips are pretty impressive, so try out sweet potato chips or veggie chips as a healthier option. Don’t forget the popcorn ranges as they are great as an additive-free option.You might always notice that many popular brands of heavily flavoured chips, likeTwisties or Burger Rings are always on sale, but once you learn what’s actually inthem, you’ll be happy to pay that little bit more. You’re going to feel so much better

    about your energy and health by choosing the plain option.

  • Go for plain block cheese that you can easily cut yourself: Choose the blocks overshredded bags of cheese (ever noticed that white powder on the grated cheese? That’s the anti-caking agent that we don’t really need in our bodies). We also always avoid the flavoured cheeses, like sweet-chilli or apricot ranges. Grabbing some cream cheese that’s additive-free and pouring over home-made sweet-chilli sauce works wonders!
  • Make your own dips: The majority of store-bought dips are loaded with preservatives, to keep them on the shelf longer. Making your own dip is soo quick and easy, like our roasted pumpkin and garlic dip.
  • Bring a fruit platter: Fruit seems to never get left behind and are hugely popular at events. It’s a little out-of-the-box compared to traditional snacks, and you always have the option to make just a basic one or go all out.
  • Bliss balls: Another non-traditional snack, but a very popular one. There are endlessrecipes available on the internet, but we also have a tonne over at Sistermixin, including our chocolate bliss balls. You’ll see we’ve also dedicated an entire book to bliss balls! – we might be a little addicted!
  • Make your own salad: A pasta salad is a quick, easy and delicious dish to bring along to any event. Tracey makes up a delicious home-made corn relish, mixed with sour cream in a jar and poured over boiled pasta, with added vegetables. Potato salad and Coleslaw are nice and easy to whip up and are always a hit, you can even grab the pre-cut packets and bring your own dressing along.
  • Make your own dessert: Rather than store-bought cheesecakes or chocolate cakes, make your own at home. If you are short on time, then it’s OK to grab some plain vanilla ice cream or plain lemonade icy-poles. They’re still full of sugar, but looking from an additive and preservative-free point, they are some of the better options available.

How to have a healthier BBQ

A classic Australia Day just has to feature a BBQ with a few snags. Sausages are certainly something we would have always grabbed, before going additive-free. However, it’s so important to look at the preservatives that are in them! Marinated sausages are always made from a powdered marinade packed full of nasties.

Grab some chicken tenderloin, add a BBQ spice mix and make some skewers. There are plenty of sauces you can make at home, to create delicious chicken skewers. Bring along some salmon, prawns, fresh fish or even lamb cutlets.

Bottled water over fizzy drinks

This is one difference that you’ll notice straight away, with any kids at your Australia Day gathering. Fizzy drinks always send them into overdrive and have them climbing up the walls with all that sugar. Instead, half fill a bottle of water and place it in the freezer overnight, then in the morning fill the other half with cold water. This acts as a great chiller for the esky also. If you still want that flavoured drink, then try our home-made lemonade or even some ROAR flavoured cordials. doTERRA oils are also great for flavouring mineral water or even sparkling water.

Try a preservative-free beer or pure alcohol

There are plenty preservative-free options available in the bottle shop. When it comes to spirits, Vodka is not a bad option as it’s pure alcohol. Mix this in with mineral water and some freshly squeezed lime, and you’ll have a pretty tasty option. This is a great additive-free version of vodka, lime and soda. If you really want to party then you can make up your own raw-cordial jello shots or slushies!

Alcohol always seems to be a big part of Australia Day! There are preservative-free wines out there, even if they’re a little harder to find. The sulphites in wine can be seen through reddened skin and headaches-not really what you want on Australia Day. We cover sulphites a lot in our signature program Additive Free Made Easy E-Course. We also recommend the proper service and consumption of alcohol.

As you can see, eating additive-free isn’t bland or boring! When you begin to notice how much better you feel from making wiser food and drink choices, you’ll see why we get so excited about living additive-free. There’s no such thing as restrictions, rather, knowing what to look out for in making better choices. And yes this feels incredibly empowering!

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