Packing a healthy beach picnic for a day at Maroubra

Spring has turned up in Maroubra, the water is warming and the weekend crowds are back on the sand. A day at the beach is better with good food, and the beachfront takeaway is not always what you are after. With a little planning you can pack a picnic that survives a few hours in the heat, keeps everyone fed between swims and does not leave a pile of wrappers behind.

Food that travels well

Beach food needs to cope with heat, sand and sticky hands. The best picnic food is sturdy, easy to eat without cutlery and fine at room temperature for a while.

• Crackers and dips. Seed crackers and brown rice crackers hold up better than bread, which goes soggy or stale. Pack hummus, beetroot dip or a tub of tzatziki in the esky with cucumber, carrot and capsicum sticks.
• Rice paper rolls. Make them in the morning with leftover chicken or tofu, herbs and vermicelli. Wrap each one in a damp tea towel so they stay soft.
• Grain salads. Quinoa, brown rice or lentil salads with a lemon and olive oil dressing keep better than leafy salads, which wilt fast in the sun.
• Fruit. Watermelon cut into wedges, a box of cherries, mandarins and frozen grapes. The grapes double as ice blocks and are perfect two hours later.
• Something to keep the kids going. Protein balls, bliss balls and roasted chickpeas fill small stomachs between swims.

Keeping it cold and safe

Food poisoning cases rise every summer in Australia, and a hot day on the sand is exactly the kind of setting bacteria like. The Food Safety Information Council recommends keeping cold food at 5 degrees or below. A few habits make that easy:

• Pack the esky straight from the fridge, with frozen drink bottles or ice bricks on the bottom and the food on top.
• Keep the esky in the shade under the umbrella, and open it as little as you can.
• Follow the two hour, four hour rule for chilled food that has been sitting out: use it or put it back in the esky within two hours, eat it within four hours, and throw it out after that.
• Meat, chicken, egg and rice dishes need the most care. Dips, crackers and whole fruit are the most forgiving.
• Bring a damp cloth or wipes, because beach showers are not ideal for washing hands before eating.

Drinks

Water comes first. Freeze a couple of bottles the night before and they will melt into cold water through the day. For something more fun, sparkling coconut water, sparkling juice or a bottle of kombucha poured into cups makes a picnic feel like an occasion. Coconut water carries some potassium, but if you are surfing for hours or training in the heat, our electrolytes guide explains when you need more salt than a drink like that offers. Keep kombucha cold, as it is a live, fermented drink.

Sun, shade and the basics

The UV index in Sydney is high enough to burn for most of the year, and it peaks in the middle of the day. Cancer Council's advice is still the best: slip on a shirt, slop on SPF30 or higher sunscreen, slap on a hat, seek shade and slide on sunglasses. Bring a beach umbrella or a tent for babies and toddlers, and reapply sunscreen every two hours and after swimming. Our natural sunscreen guide covers mineral options for sensitive skin. Swim between the red and yellow flags, and keep an eye on the little ones in the shallows.

A few local favourites

Maroubra Beach is long enough to find your own patch, and the grassy reserve behind the sand is a good spot to spread out a picnic rug when the wind picks up. If the surf is too big for the kids, Mahon Pool on the northern headland is a beautiful ocean rock pool to swim in at the right tide. Before you head down, call into the shop at 936 Anzac Parade for snacks, drinks and anything you forgot.

A simple menu for four

If you would rather not think about it, this feeds two adults and two hungry kids for a long morning: two packets of crackers, a big tub of hummus and a container of veggie sticks, four rice paper rolls each, half a watermelon in wedges, a bag of frozen grapes, a protein ball each for the walk home, four frozen water bottles and a few cans of something sparkling. Everything except the crackers goes in the esky, and nothing needs a knife on the sand.

Take it all home

The best picnics leave no trace. Bring a bag for rubbish and recycling, reusable containers instead of cling wrap, and a bottle you can refill. Food scraps and wrappers left on the sand end up in the water at high tide, and the seagulls will find anything left in an open bag.

If anyone in your group has a food allergy, label the containers and keep their food separate. Nut based snacks such as protein balls are easy to share without thinking, so check with other families before handing them around.

What we keep on the shelf

Pat's Organic Whole Seed Crackers, 100g

Ceres Organics Brown Rice Crackers with Chia, 115g

Blue Dinosaur Protein Ball, Peanut Butter 40g

Bonsoy Sparkling Coconut Water, Passionfruit 320ml

Mock Red Hill Bio-Dynamic Sparkling Apple Juice, 330ml

Amphore Ginger Brew Kombucha, 1L

Browse Crackers and Crispbreads, Snacks and Drinks for more, or read our local guide to eating well in Maroubra. See you on the sand.