My birthday just passed a weekend or so ago and more than anything I wanted to do a picnic! Well, as it turns out my lovely husband went through an enormous amount of effort to get 80% – dare I say maybe 90% of the below done! The only thing that sucked was the weather. Good ol’ Canada had us sitting indoors for the feast. Oh well, it was so gorgeous visually that I didn’t even care!
Now, I don’t want to take too much credit. BUT, he did use my previously made sandwich recipes, so you could say it was a joined effort. The lemonade is hardly a recipe, but is one of my fave drinks of the summer!
I broke it up into a few sections in order to make it easy, on how I pack a picnic!
The Basket
The basket itself can come in any shape or size. I actually got this one for Christmas, it’s from Amazon and has supplies for 4! The only difference is mine was light blue vs. the dark stripes.
I like to start by lining the basket with a throw or tea towel – nothing too thick. Something that can be used to wipe up messes later comes in extra handy.
I took out all the glasses, because though they’re great for something like a bottle they didn’t serve any purpose this time. When you have a mixed drink, I like to just pre-fill mason jars with it instead. Once ready just pop the lid off and – boom! No need for bringing a separate container for beverages.
Beverages
As mentioned above, know what you want to drink. When choosing pop, just bring the cans. If you’re feeding more than 4 people, I’d say bring a large bottle or pitcher (ours has a lovely handle and makes it super easy to bring along). If you’re bringing something like wine, bring glasses!
The Actual Food!
I’m sure you saw based on Pinterest searches that there are probably a million and one recipes out there for picnics! However, while there’s a tonne of them out there – some are just tried and true classics that you NEED to have.
For example, when I asked the hubs for a picnic for my birthday – I specified that I want adorable and cute sandwiches!
We ended up stuffed from the sandwiches, pasta salad, and fruit salad! So while it may not look like a “tonne” we couldn’t even finish half. So definitely pack small bite size pieces, or things that can be put away into a larger container and taken home.
Fun hack! If you don’t want to have to deal with mixing clean and dirty dishes in your basket, bring a large ziploc bag and place your dirty dishes in there!
The Pack Up
Of course, don’t forget napkins, but trust me that’s not what you should worry about. Nothing spoils a picnic like leftover food that you can’t place anywhere. Utilise food containers vs. individually wrapping. It’s one thing to add a string to keep things together, but definitely place it all in carrying containers!
The Recipes
Here’s an easy little guide to making a gourmet picnic on a budget! Most items can be mixed and matched and you can really swap a tonne of things like preferred meats, spreads and bread types!
One Stop Picnic Multi-Recipe
Ingredients
Sandwiches
Salami & Gouda Sandwich
- 2 pieces rye bread (toasted)
- 2 tbsp microgreens
- 2 tsp mayonnaise
- 1 tsp red pepper jelly
- 1 slice Gouda cheese
- ½ slice roasted red pepper
Smoked Salmon Open Face Sandwich
- 1 slice rye or white bread (toasted)
- 1 package smoked salmon (we used the smallest 80g one)
- 1 tsp cream cheese
- ⅛ tsp sesame seeds (garnish – optional)
- ⅛ tsp green onion (garnish – optional)
Pastrami & Swiss Sandwich
- 2 slices rye bread (toasted)
- 3 slices pastrami
- 1 slice Swiss cheese
- 2 tbsp microgreens
- 1 tsp tomato & vodka chutney (optional – can be subbed with any tart spread)
- ½ slice roasted red pepper
Ham & Swiss Sandwich
- 2 slices white bread toasted
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp mayonnaise
- 2 slices ham
- 1 slice Swiss cheese
- 1 leaf lettuce
Pink Lemonade
- 1 Minute Maid Pink Lemonade Can
- 4 cups water
- ½ bottle Perrier (or any fizzy water)
- ¼ cup slices strawberries
Macaroni Salad
- ⅓ box elbow macaroni
- ½ red bell pepper (finely chopped)
- 1 stick celery (finely chopped)
- 3 pickles (finely chopped)
- ⅓ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ tsp mustard
Fruit Salad
- ⅓ cup strawberries (roughly 5-6) (sliced)
- 2 kiwis (sliced)
- 1 banana (sliced)
- ½ tbsp honey
- ½ tsp lemon juice
Instructions
Sandwiches
- For all sandwiches, other than smoked salmon, toast the bread and add spreads to each bread piece. Layer meat, cheese, greens, and roasted pepper, in that order. Cut off edges and you're done!
- For smoked salmon, spread on cream cheese, and add salmon on top. Garnish.
Macaroni Salad
- Boil the elbow macaroni as per instructions.
- In meantime, chop up pickles, pepper, and celery.
- Once drained, combine all ingredients and mix.
Pink Lemonade
- Combine all ingredients in a pitcher and mix!
Fruit Salad
- Combine all ingredients and mix!
