Tis' the Season For Food Safety

Christmas is just a matter of days away! Before we know it, we’ll be tucking into our Christmas Dinners and celebrating the start of the New Year.

But before we truly allow ourselves to get carried away with the festive feasting that the season promises, have you taken into consideration how you’ll manage your health over Christmas time?

On average, each person in the UK will consume around 6,000 calories on Christmas Day alone, and whilst Christmas isn’t Christmas unless you’re unbuttoning an extra trouser button to fit in more delicious food, we’ve come up with a few tips and tricks you can adapt over the holiday period for a happier and slightly healthier Christmas.

Gobble up on more Turkey

Who doesn’t love their Christmas Dinner? All the family gathered around the table ready to eat together is a favourite among our employees and we’d have to agree!

Admittedly, the preparation of the turkey alone can be stressful. It’s not easy to have everything ready to go all at once to feed a family. All the vegetables have to be cooked just right; the gravy has to be piping and rich and the turkey has to be just the right amount of juiciness – and all of this isn’t easy to orchestrate.

The bird is probably the hardest part of a Christmas Dinner. As many of you are aware, poultry can carry harmful bacteria known as food poisoning bacteria. During preparations, these bacteria’s can spread and infect other ingredients. It is vital you have as many precautions in place as possible to avoid the spread. Always wash your hands when handling poultry. This is the first step to halting the spread of bacteria.

Refrain from washing the turkey as this can spread the bacteria through the splashed about water. When defrosting the turkey remember that where you place it will affect thawing times, so in a cool, dry place, or in the fridge would be the best option and allow enough hours per kg for defrosting and never begin the cooking process until it’s fully defrosted.

Clean the Greens

It’s easy to forget to do something when you have the family round and the kids running wild with their new toys on Christmas Day. However, it is imperative you wash the vegetables before cooking them.

The majority of the bacteria on vegetables will be on the soil attached. It is imperative you remove all the soil in order to remove all the bacteria on the produce.

When you wash vegetables, you need to ensure they get a thorough wash. So don’t just hold them in your hand and hold them under the tap, putting them in a bowl of fresh water is a good way to clean the veg effectively.

Washing loose vegetables is highly important as they tend to have more soil attached to them, opposed to the likes of pre-packaged vegetables.

Whether you’re buying loose or packaged veg, ensure it has had a thorough wash before you cook it.

 Great Christmas Bake-Off

It’s hard to say no to the endless cakes which fill the buffet. If you don’t eat them, who will?

Now, whilst every dessert is just as delicious as the last; the mince pies, the Christmas Cake and the trifle all go down a treat after the main course... But rather than buy them, why not make them yourself?

By becoming your very own version of Mary Berry, you’ll be able to control what ingredients go into the final product and also be able to portion control more effectively as the dessert will be the size you wanted it to be.

This will also decrease the amount of sugar and processed additives in your desserts, allowing you to provide healthier and more wholesome versions of your favourite treats.

You’ll not only save yourself the calories but money too!

Leftovers                                               

It’s no surprise that there are leftovers from your Christmas Dinner, but we bet there is enough there to sustain you and your family for the next few days!

Use leftovers within two days of cooling and if they need reheating, do so until they’re piping hot all the way through, but don’t reheat more than once.

If you’re looking to get a bit longer out of the leftovers then you can freeze them. These need to be cooled before being placed in the freezer. If you decide to use one of the frozen leftovers, be sure they are only reheated once!

Merry Christmas

So there you have it. Everything you need to have a healthy and a very happy Christmas this year.

What are your plans for Christmas 2016? Are you the one in charge of hosting the family this year? Are you heading off out for someone else to cook you your Christmas Dinner? Let us know your plans for Christmas this year in the comment section below, or alternatively, why not Tweet us @ImpTraining and let us know your plans.