Taking your family on a picnic is one of the best ways to bond and let go of stress. Picnics also enable you to get some vitamin D and breathe in the fresh air. But for your next picnic trip to be a success, you need to plan for it carefully — and that usually means packing the right foods.
The food you’ll bring can impact the enjoyment of your entire family during the picnic, which is why it’s important to choose carefully. You want your family to be full during your next picnic trip, right? This article lists down some of the best foods to pack when going on a picnic trip to ensure that the next one with your family will be one for the books!
Fresh Fruits
If you want to bring healthy and easy-to-prepare foods on your next picnic trip, pack fresh fruits. Apples and oranges are always excellent picnic foods as they’re filling and conveniently available almost anywhere. If you’re going on a picnic during summer, pack blueberries, strawberries, and watermelons, as well since they are a great resource for staying hydrated during hot days.
Large grocery stores, like Costco, Aldi, and Morrisons, have digital leaflets that offer discounts on fresh fruits, so make sure to check them out before going to pick them up in the stores before going to the picnic with your family. You can even take advantage of Lidl offers found on their weekly deals and buy discounted fruits and vegetables.
Yorkshire Pudding
Do you want to serve some finger foods at your next picnic? Then bring some Yorkshire pudding. This baked goodie is easy to make and only requires eggs, flour, and milk. Yorkshire pudding is best served with some curry, jam, or sausages, so ask your family what they want to have during the picnic.
Sandwiches
Sandwiches are a staple in picnics because they’re easy to make. Sandwiches are also versatile as you can use any ingredient, perfect to suit the unique taste buds of each family member.
Here are some sandwiches recipes you can prepare for your next picnic trip:
- Caprese Sandwich: For this sandwich, you’ll need creamy mozzarella, juicy tomatoes, and fresh basil as your spread. Caprese sandwiches are delicious and have a unique texture.
- Chickpea Salad Sandwich: Ditch the chicken salad and bring chickpea salad sandwiches instead. This recipe uses a creamy vegan sandwich filled with crisp vegetables.
- Vegetarian Club Sandwich: You can make vegetarian club sandwiches by using fresh vegetables, avocados, and marinated tempeh as your filling.
- Romesco Cauliflower Sandwich: Aside from being healthy, this sandwich uses simple ingredients: roasted cauliflowers and juicy tomatoes. The star of this recipe is its sauce made from roasted red peppers, almonds, tomatoes, and red wine vinegar.
Classic Devilled Eggs
You can’t go wrong with classic deviled eggs. Even if you’re not a pro in the kitchen, you can easily make devilled eggs within minutes. This recipe only requires eggs, mayonnaise, white vinegar, and mustard — items that are already in your kitchen.
If you want to take your devilled eggs up a notch, replace mayonnaise with buffalo and blue cheese or ranch and bacon. Dijon mustard and dill are also an excellent combination for your deviled eggs.
Meat Dishes
While some families love to eat light during picnics, others prefer enjoying a full meal during picnics. If your family belongs to the latter, make sure to pack several meat dishes on your next picnic trip. These foods will surely keep everyone full for hours!
Here are some easy-to-prepare meat dishes that your family will surely love:
- Beef Caldereta: This is a Filipino dish that requires basic ingredients, like olives, carrots, potatoes, and bell peppers. Beef caldereta is best enjoyed with white rice, so don’t forget to bring some!
- Fried Chicken: Everyone loves fried chicken. Depending on your preferences, you can fry them after putting salt and pepper or marinate them with different sauces and spices before cooking.
- Roast Beef Picnic Wraps: To make roast beef picnic wraps, mix mustard, mayonnaise, and honey in a bowl. Set your tortillas flat, spread the mixture in the center, and top with rows of roast beef, cucumber, onions, and tomatoes.
Potato Salad
Packing some potato salad is a must on every picnic trip. Aside from being easy to make, this recipe only requires ingredients that are already in your kitchen. To keep the potato salad from getting watery, use the right potatoes (Yukon gold is one of the best varieties to use) and cool the potatoes first before adding the creamy mayo dressing.
Sweet Potato Chips
If you want to go all-out with potato dishes for your next picnic trip, make some sweet potato chips, too. This recipe is perfect if you’re usually busy at home as it only requires three ingredients (sweet potatoes, kosher salt, and peanut oil) and deep frying.
To ensure that your sweet potato chips end up being crispy, cut the sweet potatoes into 1/16″ thick slices using a mandoline. Sweet potatoes that are too thick will become soggy while slicing them too thin will cause them to break as you fry them.
Desserts
Your picnic trip will never be complete without packing any desserts. This is especially true if you have kids with you. Children usually have a sweet tooth and will want desserts whenever they’re out and about.
Here are some desserts you should bring to your next picnic trip:
- Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies: This recipe is a miniature version of the traditional apple pie. Since they’re hand pies, everyone in your family can enjoy them before, during, or even after the picnic!
- Blueberry Lavender Hand Pies: If your family prefers blueberries because of their sugar-rich taste, make them some blueberry lavender hand pies instead. These pies leave a floral kick because it uses lavender.
- Blackberry-Peach Cobbler Bars: This fruity recipe has everything your family will love about summery fruit cobblers. And because they’re in grab-and-go form, your entire family can enjoy this dessert without using any silverware, and in addition, gain many health benefits that blueberries have on human cognitive abilities.
Shop ASAP
The foods you’ll bring can make or break the success of your next picnic trip, so start shopping for the foods mentioned here. Shopping for foods early will give you more time to prepare for the picnic, which guarantees everyone’s enjoyment!