How to have the Best Picnic Ever with minimal effort.

[BeatrixPottersAlterEgo]

After years of chucking tinfoil wrapped sandwiches and a packet of jaffa cakes into an old rucksack, I've decided I want to be one of the really well organised mums you see at National Trust properties, who practically have a pop up deli stashed away in their cooler bag.

We live in the countryside, and it looks like going for longer than usual walks with a picnic at the end is about as exciting as this summer is going to get. So I want to do it properly.

So far I've got two IKEA zippy cooler bags, one big and one small, which have languished unused under the stairs for ages. They seem fairly decent and sturdy.

The DC have good water bottles already

We need a flask- I'm looking at a Thermos Mondial which I'm pretty sure is similar to the nuclear warhead resistant thing we had when I was a child. Anybody have this and can testify to its excellence?

I've ordered a picnic blanket with a waterproof back off ebay.

I can't think of anything else - is there any particular piece of kit which I've never heard of but which I absolutely need? What about food? Best things to bring, best ways to store it? I hate food getting smushed into other food, which is partly why I've stuck to prepackaged basics after all this time.

TorysSuckRevokeArticle50 Your mum sounds wonderful and her picnics do too

My era of big 'ol picnics was '94 to 2000 ish. We lived in London back then and would go to one of the big parks or Kew. Yes to the ice pack and the silver lined bag.

MY mum's picnics (70s) were mostly sausage rolls and whole tomatoes and a lot of coffee. And her trying to flap crumbs out of a red check car blanket with a woolly fringe :)

The blanket had the woolly fringe not my mum

I always pack a small cutting board and a paring knife and a small bread knife. Then I have a sturdy Tupperware that I sit it on to raise it up slightly. My knives have their own slide on covers, but before I found them I would store the sharp knives in a kitchen paper tube that was squashed and sellotaped on one end.

Then I take kitchen roll and a small bin bag for clean up as well as a couple of sealable food bags if I have some food that might not get eaten up.

For food I take a baguette, some sandwich fillings, a mini mayonnaise pot and mustard if DH is with me, and everyone can have a sandwich with the exact fillings they want and the size they want. But I have 4 DC and no matter what they said they wanted in their sandwich when I asked them at breakfast, they have always changed their mind by lunch

Then carrot sticks, hummus, baby lettuce leaves and some fun fruit. A fun beverage each and a sweet treat you can eat while zooming around if you are a DC and reclining on the picnic blanket if you are me.

I do yearn for British picnic food though. I am in the US and sausage rolls and scotch eggs are very rare. Also squash, pork pies, M and S anything or cocktail sausages..... Sigh.....

I am outing myself as a picnic aficionado who has spent the best part of 20 years collecting just about every bit of Emma Bridgewater, picnic merchandise (polka dots) in existence .

You need sturdy bread - baguette, hard rolls, wraps - that won't go soggy
Hard boiled eggs
Salads - I usually bring a green one, coleslaw, potato salad and couscous/tabouleh
Meats - ham, chicken
Little sausage rolls, pork pies, cocktail sausages
Cheeses
Nibbles like olives, sundried tomatoes, nuts
Kitchen roll
Flasks of hot water for tea
Tray bake dessert
Fruit
Don't forget salt and pepper, ketchup

Ah if there’s no m n s near you my next best tip is a tesco meal deal each.

This all sounds like a faff and probably a heavy, half uneaten one.

Love all these, thank you

TorysSuck your mum sounds amazing. The frozen Robinson's bottle and the chicken drumsticks are now officially going to be a part of our family picnics

Take a bbq.

This is a great thread. I hate picnics (I’m the NT mum in the cafe queue 🤣), but am fearing they will be all that’s available for some time, so am very grateful for some inspiration from the posters on this thread!

Choose a warm day. Call Édouard Manet, take off your clothes, get 2 men to bring the picnic and have a luncheon on the grass.

I dreamt about picnics last night because of this thread

It was delicious! Love the ice cubes in a pot tip and sausages in a flask! Young DC currently. so not the time in my life for leisurely picnics with cushions, champagne and delicious cheeses in a sunny park but my time will come

I tend to make everyone a sandwich/roll and then take communal bits and pieces to share. I use half frozen water and squash in place of ice blocks too. Little cans of Pimms/G&T (depending on where we are) and lots of tea. My mum bought me a thermos for my birthday and it's fab.

We also have a thermos food flask so DS can take hot lunches in winter to school. I sometimes did littlest DS a warm lunch like spag bol so he would sleep better after lunch in his pushchair on a day out

I have a cool bag that looks like a picnic basket from home bargains that was about £6 when walking not required. It's brilliant and folds down flat so we take on UK holidays etc with us. Good for taking bring along dishes to friends houses too.

For occasions when we need to carry lunch all morning I bought a shopping trolley! So much easier, can take plenty of drinks, all the lunch plus sun cream, discarded hoodies, rain macs etc. I love it for days out.

I did a you bought all the gear sharp when back to throwing food into a reusable carrier then off we go, it’s shit having to carry round unnecessary paraphernalia all day for the 45m if feeling smug on a patch of grass

Don’t forget the celery salt for the hard boiled eggs!

I've ordered the big Thermos for tea, told DH about the sausages idea and he's now on board and looking for a food flask 😁

Bank account is down a bit but I'm excited for all our professional picnics now 😁

@StarlightLady

Choose a warm day. Call Édouard Manet, take off your clothes, get 2 men to bring the picnic and have a luncheon on the grass.

Mmmm, sounds right up my street

You need this book if you really want to up your game.

I've done hot picnics for days when were out all day.

So far I've managed to do hotdogs,proper sausages cooked and kept warm in a flask,(I've never used a food flask I just bought flasks that had wider necks on them and it always works really well)fried onions in another one,some rolls,ketchup and mustard followed by tray bakes so flapjacks and brownies.

I've done curry and rice before as well and took a selection of warm naans and followed that with strawberries and melon.

I've also managed to take a whole roast dinner,that worked out really well(we have merlin passes and none of us are keen on most of the food at the theme parks)I had tons of people stopping and asking me about it and it all tasted gorgeous and the lot was eaten.

For a cold picnic it changes depending on what we all fancy,where were going and how long we'll be out for.

Things I've done before
Roasted chicken drumsticks,usually some plain and some tandori or chinese,some wraps,a sweet chilli sauce,a mint raita,a feta salad.
I also took some pakoras and samosas and then we had ice cream and sorbet that we got whilst we were out.

A french stick or crusty rolls and I stick some butter into a little tupperwear dish with a lid.
Some nice ham,salami,roast beef,cheese,some pickles,mayonaise,a horseradish mayo and some mustard.
Mustard glazed/marmalade glazed chipolatas
A couple of simple salads.
Mini cheesecakes in little glass jars.

Other times I've packed up a Ploughmans or a Cheese board.

I love this thread. Love the hot dog idea.

Someone bought us a picnic basket as a wedding present. It has plates, cutlery and cups in it. We have used it loads.

We're very lazy when it comes to picnics. I just go to the local deli counter and buy crusty rolls, ham, salad and such. Then we have strawberries and cream. Some lemonade and crisps. Delish

Laiste is living the same life as me (another jaded mum of four).

I’ve gone handheld with our picnics. Last one was homemade warm sausage rolls, feta salad wraps, falafel (for the veggie) orange juice and kitkats. All easily scoffed on the beach, wrappers in carrier bag, job’s a good ‘un.

Meal Deal is also a good shout, and we always get one in Boots for the plane. My challenge to the DC is to max out the value with the fanciest triple sandwich, posh snacks and a smoothie but there is one that always gets an egg and cress sandwich, packet of walkers and a bottle of water

Also love a picnic comprising:
A whole hot roast chicken from the deli counter
Fresh crusty rolls
Jar of mayonaise
Screw top wine
Kitchen roll.

I'm unashamed to say I have a VERY nice picnic hamper from F&M, which has played, cutlery and wine glasses inside fixed in place. The picnic basics I stick to are baguettes instead of sandwiches, one large bag or crisps instead of individual ones, sausage rolls/crackers in a hard tub, soft cheese/olives/pate in a cool bag with frozen juice boxes as ice blocks. I make tray bakes of tiffin/brownies/blondies which are wrapped in grease proof paper. Champagne/wine has its own cool bag

Mum used to do cold ham, chicken, and sausages, potato salad, green lettuce salad, tomato and cucumber salad, a rice salad, beetroot, bread and butter, beer, wine and soft drinks. Oh, and curried hard boiled eggs.

With strawberries and dipping chocolate, and cake for later.

I miss those picnics.

ChippyMinton we do the same as you, warm rotisserie chicken with baguette, garlic mayo, some little gem lettuce (uncrushable) and cherry toms. And the most important thing: wet wipes!!