Packed lunch/picnic ideas for days out?

[Familyfoods]

Looking through my bank statements for this year it seems that I spend an absolute FORTUNE on buying food whilst on days out.

My packed lunch attempts are pathetic so I’m after some tips from you wonderful lot. ‘Recipes’ for amazing wraps/sandwiches are also very much welcomed, plus any container and thermos recommendations.

Please help me save some money!

We picnic a lot and for us has to be quick to many kids lol...so sandwiches,sausage rolls ,savoury eggs,crisps,cherry tomatoes,carrot sticks,various wee cakes, carton of apple and orange juice and off we go

I'm gluten free, so tend to pack food due to necessity. My ds likes sushi rolls, and as we have a rice cooker its super fast to make what you could possibly advertise as hand rolls, but are a square of nori rolled into a cone around rice plus avocado/ cucumber/tuna mayo/ cold chicken or whatever else. Really easy and tasty.
I like a prebought spanish omelette with some olives and naice crisps or making a rice salad as well

Definitely going to be trying some of these next half term! Thanks everyone.

My packed lunch/picnics when I bother to make them are usually a plain ham sandwich, cheese ham and crackers or peanut butter banana pinwheels for DS and a pasta salad for the grownups. Chopped apple with peanut butter in those sistema tubs that are shaped like dairylea dunkers or a pot of plain yogurt with berries and honey, boiled eggs, chicken drumsticks and some crisps.

I’m going to learn how to make a decent sandwich, start taking hot food and also start taking cake or chocolate so that it’s more of a treat.

My mum was great at picnics, we used to have the following, all cold stuff.

• roast chicken drumsticks
• hard boiled eggs
• potato salad and coleslaw
• cherry tomatoes and cucumber rounds
• packs of crisps
• penguin or kitkat bars
• French baguette sliced into rounds and buttered

She kept one of the big Robinsons squash bottles, would half fill it with squash and freeze it, then take it out the day of the picnic and top it up so it was half frozen and half fresh squash. Kept it lovely and cold till lunch time.

Some really good ideas here.

My lazy picnic i sometimes do is to leave early, take the children into Lidl, let them choose two items from the bakery each (ideally one savoury or croissant and one sweet) a multipack of crisps and a bag of fruit. They are happy because they have chosen something different and it's far cheaper than eating out.

We could creative on cold lockdown walks and took a Thermos flask each with lasagne in. You ladle big spoons of lasagne into the Thermos. We call it lasagne smash. 🤗 We've done it with cannelloni too but lasagne is the favourite. We use these flasks. They're great as they even have a metal folding spoon tucked away in the lid and are under £20. I'm actually taking one tomorrow for lunch filled with risotto.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thermos-Stainless-King-Food-Flask/dp/B00DGPPY20/ref=sr_1_7?crid=LUOK9H7P9Z78&keywords=thermos%2Bflask&qid=1682629869&sprefix=therm%2Caps%2C119&sr=8-7&th=1

The Victorians used to hollow out a loaf, butter the inside and pack it with salads then put the lid back on to transport it. At picnic time they'd spoon out the salads onto plates and eat it with the bread. A great way to transport food before Tupperware and tinfoil, and would be quite interesting too.

Great thanks

Sistema do much cheaper versions of the bento boxes mentioned upthread.

Another vote for Bento style, I have a box that is not traditional but has 5 'spaces' and one put with a lid. Similar to this no idea why it is partly in Italian https://it.aliexpress.com/item/32375217183.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2ita

I tend to do
1 carb
1 protein
1 fruit
1 veg
1 treat / other

Carb - bread, bread sticks, crackers, rice, pasta, new potatoes
Protein - hard boiled eggs, shelled and cut up, cheese(s) ham, sausages, sausage rolls, chicken, salmon, meatballs
fruit - fairly obvious but peel and chop before you put in the box
veg - salad, to be honest most of the time it is salad, vegi sticks, bean salad
the other might be olives, hummus, yoghurt - sweeet or savory, chocolate.

I also have small pots that will fit in the salad so I put salad dressing in there.

All this is fascinating, but does anyone else go ultra light?

As long as the weather isn’t too hot and we are going fairly local, I often take two cheese sandwiches, two apples and two packets of crisps in a fabric shopping bag. Bottle of water in my cross body handbag.

We find a nice bench, food gets eaten, rubbish thrown away and the shopping bag folded up and back into my handbag. We then supplement it with a nice drink/snack later once any lunchtime queues have dissipated.

Cheese and crackers, cold pasta salad, cut up carrot/celery, some cherry toms, cereal or protein bar.

@NewNovember we have this one :- https://mycitron.co.uk/products/stainless-steel-food-jar-400ml-navy-blue?variant=42926416822486&currency=GBP&utmmedium=producttsync&utmsource=google&utmmcontent=sagorganic&utmmcampaign=sagorganic&gad=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIorDKwtTMMgIVlsDVCh2xgwZ1EAQYDCABEgLfTfD_BwE

We've also done pasta salad before (hot or cold) and that went down well. Thermos of hot soup and some nice bread rolls is another cheap option. Flask of Baileys hot chocolate became a staple when we had NT membership on lockdown walks

Brill thanks

I made a veggie version of this and served it with a salad yesterday, it was a big hit, so thank you!

I make picnic lunches all the time to take to our allotment. Each person gets a small lidded plastic container (the kind used in freezers) in which I've packed whatever I can find in the fridge ; (raw veg washed trimmed patted dry)

left over cooked new potatoes
ditto sausages
cherry tomatoes
baby cukes
radishes
spring onions
hard boiled egg
crunchy lettuce quarter
sliced buttered homemade bread
celery stick
carrot sticks
slice of leftover pizza

plus. some fresh fruit, and drinks.
If anyione wants salad dressing, I save those empty tiny marmalade jars from hotel breakfast.

forgot the cheese...