Pack up for International Picnic Day

Packing a picnic meal

A picnic is quite simply, dining outdoors. It may be as simple as packing up a few sandwiches and sitting in the park, or it can be a more glamorous occasion which involves hampers of sophisticated drinks and nibbles to tickle the taste buds. Whatever your style of picnicking, you can celebrate in your own way today for International Picnic Day!

A typical picnic day might entail an outing with a gathering of friends or family where each group brings different foods to pick at. Sandwiches, crisps, finger foods, fruits, cakes and cold drinks are often part of a picnic day, and it all usually takes place on a patch of grass, hopefully in the sunshine (weather permitting!) and with each member of the picnic party sitting on their own spot on a picnic blanket.

There is something about the outdoors which makes food taste so much better – perhaps it is the fresh air mixing in with your taste buds or perhaps it is simply the novelty of eating outdoors. Whatever it is, picnics are not only a great time to socialise but they are also a great time for you to create your perfect hamper of foods and drinks that you want to share.

Cold and cooked foods for picnic baskets

Unless you are bringing flasks of tea or soup with you, picnics are made up of cold foods and therefore if you are planning on taking any cooked meats with you, you will need to allow time for cooking and cooling down! Cocktail sausages, sausage rolls and chicken legs are often popular amongst meat eaters and vegetable samosas are great for those that like their spicy flavours.

Having plenty of paper plates and cups and plastic cutlery to hand is always a good idea – especially if you are going to be adventurous with your salads. Instead of serving up a standard lettuce, tomato and cucumber combo, why not try a Shrimp and Noodle Salad with Ginger Dressing?

For those with a sweet tooth, make sure you pack away some delicious cookies or desserts and if it is too hot to keep everything cool, avoid the chocolate cookies and try Pistachio Linzer Thumbprints instead!

Potato chips are great to dip into when slowly grazing over the food in the afternoon, and if you want to have dips to accompany the chips, these can totally transform your picnic and can also be eaten with sticks of celery, cucumber, carrot or pepper!

Keep a variety of drinks in a cool box with ice packs so that you can cool down at leisure – fruity sangria makes a great summer picnic drink and you will soon be snoozing in the sun after a couple of glasses!

Find more picnic recipes on Recipebridge.