Beach picnic party WWYD

[herecomesthsun]

I am after advice re the best food for a picnic that will have to survive 6 hours or so in a beach hut at the weekend. We have plenty of coolbags which I am planning to fill with frozen litre packs of orange juice. We don't have electricity on-site. I would have liked to lay on stuff with meat, e.g. chicken, cocktail sausages and ham, but am worried that it would be difficult to keep it cool enough. Also, it is for pre-schoolers so I want things they would like without going off. I would like it to

I was wondering whether this would do as a birthday cake - I can do a themed decoraration and I would not have to worry about icing melting or going off.

Any advice?

[Xiaoxiong]

I don't see why you couldn't have cooked food if it was going to be in a cool bag with frozen packs, in a beach hut. My family used to drive all day with lunch packed in the back and often had chicken pieces and potato salad - 6 hours in the boot of a car on a US summer road trip has to be at least as warm as 6 hours in a beach hut in the English summer! As long as you leave it in the cool bags until you're ready to eat, I don't see an issue.

[Xiaoxiong]

I see Shropshire Council feels this is a serious enough subject to devote an entire page on its website to picnic food refrigeration!

www.shropshire.gov.uk/environmentalhealth.nsf/open/E7F1C7B60DB7198C80257562003FF626

[4merlyknownasSHD]

Homemade Scotch Eggs are good finger food. If they are kept in the fridge overnight in an old ice-cream container and left unopened when you go to the beach, they should be OK as they are large lumps of cold to start with. In fact, cold Orange Juice should help keep most things cold.