Five Healthy Side-Dish Recipe Ideas For Your Food Truck

As a society, we are trying to live healthier lifestyles than our parent’s generation. There are plenty of reasons for folks to make a conscious effort to improve one’s health, including weight loss, live longer, or simply to feel better. No matter what the reason behind a living a healthy lifestyle, for most folks this means doing more of two things: exercising regularly and improving diet.
While budgeting time to exercise or eat better is simple, it doesn’t mean this will be easy to accomplish. Between work and family obligations it can be difficult to put in the time to grind out a few miles on the treadmill. Likewise, eating nutritional foods aren’t always convenient. If you’re at a street fair, baseball game, or the shopping mall it can be almost impossible to find healthy options. Even if you’re at home and have all the healthy ingredients you could want, doesn’t mean you want to cook meals yourself each night.

Should You Serve Only “Health” Food on a Truck?

From a logical standpoint, one might think that your food truck could be the business that fills in the need for healthy foods in your area. But before you start serving organic Quinoa bowls or vegetable based bacon, you need to consider that what people say isn’t always what they do.
For example, even if you intend you make lifestyle changes, you probably have a cheat meal or two built into your weekly routine. Chicken breast with a side of organic carrots and broccoli for a weekday lunch might be tolerable for a while, but once the weekend hits most folks are looking for a change. For this reason, we do not recommend starting a healthy food only truck. Friends and family may applaud your efforts for trying to improve the well-being of the local community, but the concept is unlikely to take off.
Instead of starting a “healthy” food truck, consider adding better options to your existing menu. To seek inspiration for this approach you won’t need to look far. Take the global restaurant chain McDonald’s as an example. With the kid’s meals you used to only have one side option… a small French fry. Today, you have the option to order sliced apples as a replacement. You also have the option to replace the cheeseburger with all-white meat chicken nugget.
Notice how the burger chain didn’t drop their quarter pounders and other recognizable meals. They simply adapted a bit to provide some healthier options. You can use the same approach with your food truck as well! Don’t get rid of the core menu items customers crave because of media reports that people want to eat better.
Think about it. Are there any successful restaurants that highlight serving health food meals? Probably not because there just simply isn’t enough demand to support this concept in most areas. Instead of completely changing up your menu trying offering simple and health side dish options like the ideas listed below. Each idea below can be tweaked to align with your menu of offerings.

Apples: This is a product that can be purchased affordably year round in the United States. In the fall months, you may even be able to serve locally grown varieties like honey crisp. There are a limitless number of ways you can utilize this fruit, by simply chopping chopping apple slices or amping them up with some sprinkled cinnamon and sugar. Viola, you’ve transformed a boring apple into exciting apple fries!
Smoothies: If you happen to have the right equipment onboard and a blender, smoothies can be a terrific healthy option. This beverage pairs well with coffee or breakfast trucks specifically. Just make sure you’ve got the appropriate electrical capabilities setup on your unit… blenders are electricity hogs on food trucks!
Veggie Snacks: Create a mini veggie tray. Cut some carrots, broccoli, celery in an attractive way. Serve with a side of ranch or premade hummus. This creates a healthier option to fried foods and is extremely easy and affordable to make. Everyone loves a personal veggie tray!
Potato Alternative: All sorts of restaurants use some form of potato as a side. Why? Almost everyone likes potatoes in their various forms (fries, mashed, bakes, waffle) and they are cheap to make. The down side is that is that many reports associate eating potatoes with weight gain. Most people don’t associate the spud with the example of health.
Instead, look to offer foods that are perceived to be healthier on the side. Some recipe ideas include: Califlower rice. Asian green beans. Cranberry almond coleslaw.
French Fry Alternative Recipes: Squash Fries. Roasted Sweet Potatoes. Roasted carrots. All of these items can be chopped just like an old-fashioned French fry and served! Bon apetite!
Do you offer healthier food options on your concession unit? If so, let us know what approaches you’ve used. We’d love to hear from you in the comment section below!