Low Salt Meals

There are many reasons why a low-salt diet may be of interest or need, from specific health conditions to just wanting to make a conscious dietary effort to lower consumption.

We have gathered and compared the best low-salt meal delivery options in Australia for you to choose the right food choices for you and your family.

By
Rose Fenasse

Written by

Rose Fenasse
Clinical Nutritionist

Rose is a nutritionist who believes nutritional approaches should be flexible and sustainable for the long-term. Rose’s approach to nutrition is evidence-based and integrative, as she understands her scope of practice and sees value in working alongside other health professionals to compliment her clients most effectively. Rose is passionate about ditching diet cultures and focusing on label-free living, whilst educating clients on how to create healthy and flavour-packed meals. She has a comprehensive understanding of shaping nutritional interventions, meal plans, dietary analysis, whilst coaching clients around ditching diet cultures and embracing all foods without the associated emotional fears often seen with dietary changes. Rose stays up to date with current research looking to science and evidence-based nutritional medicine whilst continually studying to broaden her scope.

Updated June 20, 2021
Fact checked Fully qualified and expert nutritionists have reviewed and checked this content to ensure it is as accurate as possible at the time of writing.

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What is a Low Salt Diet?

There are many reasons why people opt to use salt or simply exceed the recommended limits of salt intake – whether it’s for taste preference, their unaware of the quantities in bought food or they’re uneducated around their health status and the concerns of excess salt implications – the list goes on!

Low salt or a low-sodium diet often is limiting or entirely avoiding foods high in sodium to keep their intakes below the recommended level. Implications for following a low salt diet is usually connected to health conditions such as kidney and heart disease. The suggested daily target for sodium in Australia in adults is 2,000 mg/day or (86 mmol) (NRV, 2017).

Sodium is often demonised unfairly and is a very important mineral needed in many essential bodily functions. Sodium is naturally occurring in many foods such as eggs and vegetables.

Before considering a low-salt or low-sodium diet it is important to consult with a trusted health professional. There are often associated nutritional risks to eliminating foods from diets especially when not done under the supervision or guidance of a health professional.

Is eating low-salt meals healthy?

The goal with healthy eating is often achieving optimal balance, anything done in extremes is often more harmful than helpful.

Eating a low-salt diet can be a necessity when dealing with specific health conditions and should only be considered when under the guidance of a trusted health professional.

Although too much salt can be harmful, so can too little salt. If you are a healthy person looking to optimise your health this dietary change may not be suitable for you. There is little evidence to suggest a healthy person following a low sodium diet will improve health outcomes. 

A lot of the excess salt the general population consume are in foods that are not encouraged in excess such as processed foods.

What are the Pros & Cons of low-salt meals?

low carb meals pros and cons

Low-Salt Pros

Low-Salt Cons

Key factors when comparing low salt meal delivery options

When choosing the right option for you, consider the following factors:

The measurement of Salt/ Sodium

Everyone’s salt requirements on a low-salt diet will differ you will need to refer to the nutritional label to compare products/ meals. Be wary of the per serving and per 100g/ml columns on the label.

If you are needing to keep track of your intakes you can track these on a food diary or a dietary intake app such as My Fitness Pal.

Quality & Taste

Freshness and quality of food is essential when choosing meal delivery service. As your choosing a provider to assist with your health choosing a provider that uses quality and locally sourced ingredients, and food is made fresh is an important step in your health journey to gaining optimal nutrition out of the meals.

Look into the brands details to see if nutritionists, dietitians or accredited health professionals are creating the menus and meal selections for your requirements to ensure proper care is received. 

Financial value per meal

Just because you’re eating lower salt meals doesn’t mean you should pay extra for it! Shop around to find the best deal to meet your budget. The meals we have included above cost less than $14.00 per meal. 

If you wanted to compare pricers in other categories you can look into our 
meals category to draw differences or take our quiz for more personalised choices. 

Availability

At the moment there is not many providers dedicating meal services to low salt diet, there may be a shortage to reaching your address. Ensure you look online at the delivery lists first.

It may be helpful to source a local cook, café/restaurant that may organise home-cooked meals locally if you struggle to find availability in your area.  

Are there any low salt meal delivery kits?

At this stage, there are no dedicated low-salt meal delivery kits.

If you are interested in looking into a meal kit, there is the option to use a meal kit as a guide and adjust the recipes to your individual needs according to you required salt intakes.

Check out our comparison guide on meals to find the best option for you.

plant based meals australia

Low Salt Meal Delivery FAQs

Often people think salt and sodium are the same thing. Salt refers to the chemical compound sodium chloride, whereas sodium refers to the dietary mineral sodium. Sodium is found in food naturally or synthetically added to processed foods. Salt on the other hand is table salt, it is the combination of mineral elements of sodium and chloride – sodium can take up to an estimated 40% of table salt (Mutchler, 2021).

Low-salt diets are often indicated in managing specific health conditions are prescribed by health practitioners such as kidney diseases and cardiovascular conditions.

There are plenty of options to eat whilst on a low salt diet. Sodium is naturally found in a lot of foods however this doesn’t mean a strict exclusion is necessary. Choosing foods lower in sodium is key and monitoring intakes to ensure levels don’t exceed your allocated limit.

Whole foods including plants, fruits and poultry contain sodium at lower limits in comparison to animal-based products such as dairy, canned fish or meat.

Some foods that should be limited when trying to follow a low-salt diet include processed and packaged foods such as chips, frozen dinners, fast food, cured meats, salted meats, smoked meats, canned goods with added salt, salted nuts, beverages (i.e. sports drinks, salines, hot chocolates) etc.

There are many ways to consciously make salt lowering adjustments in food choices such as:
– Choosing canned goods with no added salt i.e., chickpeas, beans, lentils, corn etc.
– Reducing or limiting the intake of processed and packaged goods
– Reduce seasoning of foods, or ensuring seasoning is only done at a certain stage of cooking i.e. during only, or at the time of the meal.
– Enhancing food naturally with herbs and spices.
– Opt for home-cooked meals instead of takeaway where possible
– Make sauces and dressings to avoid extra salt
– Choose nuts without salt

Australian Gov (nd). Australian Government, Department of Health – “Limit foods and drinks containing added salt”.

http://healthyweight.health.gov.au/wps/portal/Home/get-informed/have%20less%20unhealthy%20foods%20and%20drinks/limit%20foods%20and%20drinks%20containing%20added%20salt/!ut/p/a1/lZHNbsIwEIRfxZcco_WfEnOkgCCoyQVVEF8qE5vEInEQMSDevga1p4oW9rar3dn5NCBhA9Kps62Vt71T7a2XyeeCzmaEcpLNk-UEZ6koRF4QumIM1iBBVs4ffANlY1Trmyu6GFs3HlW988b5CHfKugjXxsfW7fpjZ3SEG3U2qDXDgE7u527X93pAymmkj9bthwi3trP-1_yuHDStq5HS2mg0BIGbk0NlNZSaM0EoJjFhXMWc6m28ZaEdCZpwTbaKKR3QyoCGH9QYP0UeVibz8YKn7-GGC4qz6dtimo5yjLPke-GPF2XwkD58smSwehFq-Z_rQE2P-SSvg6zyzT0Q2DwTBmxeCmP9BvJUjfOPCxy6TrBrvN8VRSxLUX8BlI4Ygw!!/dl5/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/


Drapkina, Shepel (2015). “LOW SODIUM DIET: PROS AND CONS”.  Rational Pharmacotherapy in Cardiology, Vol 11, No 2.

https://www.rpcardio.com/jour/article/view/149?locale=en_US


Garg et al. (2011). “Low-salt diet increases insulin resistance in healthy subjects”. Science Direct – Metabolism Volume 60, Issue 7, July 2011, Pages 965-968.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S002604951000329X


Gilbey, Fitfield (2004). “Nutritional information about sodium: is it worth its salt?”. The New Zealand Medical Journal (Online); Christchurch Vol. 119, Iss. 1232”.

https://www.proquest.com/openview/e32cdc631f1aba156c2b67d71f376fbc/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1056335


Mutchler (2021). “What is Sodium” – Very well health.

https://www.verywellhealth.com/sodium-sodium-or-salt-sodium-functions-sodium-and-diet-5085108

 

NRV (2017). “Sodium”. Nutritional Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand, Australian Government – National Health and Medical Research Council.

https://www.nrv.gov.au/nutrients/sodium

 

Williams (2007). “Nutritional composition of red meat”. Nutrition & Dietetics, Journal of Dietitians Australia.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1747-0080.2007.00197.x