A Climate Conscious Christmas: Pre-Care is the New Self-Care (and a Magical Apple Salad)
Good for you and good for the planet
EVERY SINGLE CHRISTMAS I SAY ‘NEXT YEAR I’M GOING TO BE ON A BLOODY BEACH IN THAILAND!’ Every. Single. Sodding. Year. For at least the last decade, if not longer. For me, as for many other people, Christmas is not always a time of joy. It is stressful, triggering and when I worked as a chef, physically exhausting and crippling. Even if you don’t work in hospitality, most people are frantically chasing year-end work targets and deadlines, trying to balance socialising and seasonal colds and generally just feeling frazzled.
I really really want this year to be different. So at my big ‘oul age of forty-four, I’m going to try and figure it out. Will you join me? The Susty Lunchbox ethos means that this isn’t a selfish pursuit, it needs to be good for human health and planetary health. So by all means give conspicuous consumption, waste, plastic packaging and awful family members the middle finger. But as tempting as it may be, we can’t lock ourselves away in our flannel pj’s, snaffling M&S cheese selections and sculling enough Bailey’s to sink a ship. I have tried. We need a bit of a plan to navigate this season, leaving the planet and ourselves better off than when we entered December.
This edition was inspired by a reel from Nedra Glover Tawwab, bestselling author and expert in relationships and boundaries. In this insightful post Nedra talks about pre-care. Simply put, the measures and actions we take to look after ourselves when we know we have a challenging period or event coming up. Like building up credit in your wellbeing and health account, before you need to draw against it. I love this concept: it feels like the next, natural evolution of true self-care.
Since I’ve been managing my spine and head injury, I’ve been practicing what I read is called ‘extreme self-care’. Trying to take meticulous care of the fundamental pillars of good health. I have finally achieved consistent good sleep, lost the pandemic podge and managed to halve the pain meds. It takes a lot of effort, but I would hate to think what a sorry state I’d be in otherwise.
It makes me hopeful that I will one day achieve such a level of good health again that I will be able to ‘bank’ some of it as pre-care. And I truly wish the same or you. That we can go from surviving to thriving, as corny as that sounds. To do that we need to sleep well, eat well, move our bodies and embrace every moment of joy wherever we can find it. This reinforces our armour against stress and some of the ghastly specimens we have to deal with.
The image is the cover of Nedra’s new book, launching February 2023. Two months too late sis. Le sigh.
Spiced Apple Cranberry Salad in Yogurt
Serves 4
This recipe started off as a side dish for Christmas entertaining as it goes so well with turkey and ham. But the response was so good that I decided to make it a regular feature year round. It’s a lovely combination of a spiced fruit salad and a delicious way to enjoy yogurt. I have this for breakfast and as a refreshing pick me up in the afternoon. It is the perfect fresh element when you are sick of heavy food. My students constantly hear me banging on about the ‘fresh element’. I insist upon something fresh and vibrant to liven up cooked dishes, especially in Autumn and Winter. This recipe is from my next booky wooky, which I really need to leave alone now and just press ‘publish’. It’s like silently yelling ‘just press send!’ as you watch an elderly parent typing…. a Whatsapp message.
2 tbsp walnuts, pecans, pistachios or skinned hazelnuts, lightly toasted
5 crisp apples
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 tbsp dried cranberries
Dressing:
150ml Greek yogurt (plain soy and coconut yoghurt also delicious)
Juice of ½ lemon
1 tbsp honey or maple syrup
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Method:
Lightly toast the nuts in a hot dry pan. Tip the nuts out of the pan and leave to cool, then roughly chop.
Mix together all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
Core and dice the apples, then add them to the dressing, mixing well to coat. Stir in the nuts, celery and cranberries.
Cover tightly and keep in the fridge for up to three days.
Make Ahead: Apples are notorious for discolouring soon after chopping, but the lemony yogurt dressing protects the apple salad and keeps it fresh in the fridge for up to three days. Store the apple salad in a dish and press a large piece of compostable cling film or beeswax wrap directly onto the surface, making it as airtight as possible, then cover with a tight-fitting lid.
This is a really fabulous salad, so please trust me and make it. And if tooting my own recipe development horn is considered boastful, kindly do it for me and spread this recipe far and wide.
Stay safe, stay sane and happy cooking!
xoxoxox
Rozanne