The Hawkes Bay renal department have always thought it important at Christmas time to give in-centre dialysis patients a little present. 

For some, it may be the only gift they receive, for others it is a small token of acknowledgement of the year passed. Historically our receptionist spent months collecting donations of small items to share, but after her retirement, we were a bit stuck as to what to do. 

Some felt it an opportunity to stop our yearly tradition, others felt strongly about continuing. The question was, how can we use this as a chance to promote wellbeing and healthy habits, and offer our patients something new?

After inspiration from one of Dr Anna’s non-dialysis chronic kidney disease patients, Ella, renal dietician, and Anna made up a small batch of the Kidney Society’s recipe for “salt-free seasoning” to test in two carefully curated recipes – a chicken, rice and salsa dish and a veggie couscous salad. After positive feedback from the renal mutli-disciplinary team, we set to create 80 jars of seasoning, alongside with bespoke labels, a recipe card and a few other treats to our patients. 

Salt intake is a huge challenge impacting on a patient’s ability to manage their fluid restriction, with downstream impacts on hypertension and cardiovascular health. Cooking without salt is challenging, and food often flavourless. The individual ingredients for the salt-free seasoning may be too expensive for some patients to purchase, but buying in bulk made for a cost-effective gift. Both recipes could be easily included in a festive feast, and make for tasty leftovers.

Since the gifting, positive feedback has been plentiful. Ella has been able to use this idea in education to chronic kidney disease patients in managing their salt intake whilst trying to maintain good flavour. We hope to continue throughout this year with a recipe club, sharing simple, cheap and easy meals utilising the seasoning mix, to help inspire patients and whanau in their health eating journey.

A note: the original seasoning mix recipe including 1 teaspoon of cayenne, but we found that ¼ teaspoon was a better spice balance.

Written by Dr Anna Robinson, Nephrologists at Hawkes Bay Hospital 

Salt free seasoning mix

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon of dry mustard
• 1 tablespoon of paprika
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• 1 teaspoon of basil
• ¼ teaspoon of cayenne
• ½ teaspoon of pepper

Instructions

Combine all ingredients together and mix well Sprinkle over meats or any cooking.