One of my favorite summertime traditions is enjoying time outside with picnic food. If you’re lucky, perhaps you live near water, or near lots of trees, or both—or just some beautiful natural areas that offer a shady spot to tuck into a tasty meal.
If you’re out of date ideas, I highly recommend this type of outdoor excursion. You could even pick a theme for your picnic and build the experience around it for a thoughtful touch!
Best Picnic Baskets
The first step to a great picnic is a great basket to transport all your picnic food. You can find a wide range of price points for picnic baskets, depending on how many bells and whistles you want. Based on my research, they range from around $20 to $400. Yes, you read that correctly. You can also find them in a variety of materials and sizes.
Here are some suggestions that you might like:
- The Traditional Option: When you think of a picnic basket, this is likely what you picture. It’s great choice if you want to recreate the classic picnic aesthetic.
- The Foldable Option: I like this one because it’s affordable, collapsible, and insulated, making it perfect for keeping beverages cold.
- The Most Portable Option: This is an ideal option for if you’re looking for a backpack-style picnic basket with all the bells and whistles included. Pack this one and hike to a secluded location for some wine and cheese.
- The Bigger Option: Undoubtedly, opt for this if you need an affordable big picnic basket. I like it because it has that classic aesthetic and includes plates and cutlery for four.
- The Luxury Option: In the fanciest version of my life—or perhaps the movie version—this is the picnic basket I would get. This would be a great wedding present for a couple who loves picnicking.
Some Quick Picnicking Tips
Pack it in, pack it out! It’s essential to strategically pack your picnic basket to ensure that you can easily enjoy your meal and clean up after yourself.
- If your picnic basket doesn’t include dinnerware, consider packing containers that can nest inside each other to minimize the amount of space they take up.
- Make sure to think through your entire meal and everything you will need for it! The last thing you want is to have a bottle of wine without a corkscrew. Or pack finger food and forget napkins.
- Keep it simple — save any picnic food that requires both a fork and knife for home. Anything you can eat with your hands works best. (See note about napkins above, lol).
- Food storage matters! If you want anything cold, an insulated container with an ice pack is your best bet. This is also a good idea if you’re going to be traveling for a bit before you reach your picnic spot.
- Don’t forget extra water and hand sanitizer!
- Pack a large Ziploc or Stasher bag where you can store dirty plates and flatware once you’re done.
- Make sure to pack a little garbage bag for any packaging as well!
Best No-Reheat Picnic Food Options
At Workweek Lunch, we have tons of great no-reheat meals because they work so well for meal prep. They also happen to work great for picnic food. Below are some of our favorite options! If you’re looking for more ideas these $2 no-reheat lunch ideas will keep both your mind and stomach at ease.
Wraps
I love wraps for picnics because they’re so portable. You can even wrap them in beeswax or plastic wrap to avoid needing the room for another container!
- Thai Chicken Wraps: These are my favorite WWL wraps. You could get super cute with this and make your whole picnic Thai inspired with bottles of Thai tea and mango slices.
- Chickpea, Spinach, Onion, and Red Pepper Pita Wraps With Yogurt Sauce: These pita wraps are a delicious vegetarian option that everyone can enjoy! They can easily be made vegan as well!
- Sausage, Sweet Potato, Kale, And Hummus Wrap: This one is super yummy and filling. It would probably be really satisfying after a hike or a swim.
Salads
Salads are an incredible no-reheat meal for picnics because they keep so well and are tasty cold or at room temperature. All you need to remember is a fork!
- Basil Lime Chicken & Peach Kale Salad: I am so excited to make this salad. It’s summery that I feel it would be perfect for a picnic.
- The “Everyday” Kale Salad With Homemade Dressing: There are so many ways to customize this delicious salad! You can also keep the ingredients separate and have everyone put together their own plate. And cooked chicken or shrimp would be a great topper.
- Veggie Pesto Pasta Salad With Chickpeas: Because Pasta Salad 100 percent counts as a salad too, right?
- Mediterranean Grilled Chicken Salad: Grill the chicken the night before, assemble the rest of the ingredients, and this zesty salad is ready to go.
Snack Boxes
This is a super easy way to bring some finger food along!
- Bento Box Lunch Ideas from Downshiftology – there are so many lovely snacky options in this post! From melon salads to veggie wraps.
- 7 No-Cook Lunch Box Recipes from Sweet Peas & Saffron – these require no cooking and would be perfect picnic food for kids or adults.
Check out the video below on how to put together these variety snack boxes!
No-Reheat Bowls
If you want something similar to a salad but a bit heartier, one of these no-reheat bowls might do the trick. They’re also easy to share and customize.
- The Ultimate Mediterranean Bowl: You don’t really need to heat up falafel in order to enjoy it, so these Mediterranean bowls are perfect for a picnic!
- No-Reheat Thai Tofu, Zucchini and Carrot Bowls: This recipe was one of the first WWL recipes I loved enough to make several weeks in a row, and it’s really good cold or at room temperature.
- Mexican Turkey and Bean Quinoa Bowl: There are so many flavors packed into these bowls. You can easily make it vegetarian as well!
Check out more no-reheat meal ideas here!
Baked Goods
It’s not a picnic without a little something sweet!
- Easy, No-Frills Banana Bread Muffins: These muffins are super easy to pull together and are always a crowd favorite!
- Savory Muffins With Cheddar Cheese: These muffins are savory instead of sweet and they are a must-try!
- Morning Glory Muffins with Apple and Carrot: This is one of our most popular muffin recipes in the WWL community.
- Cranberry Orange Muffins: These have vibrant, fresh flavors that will be sure to impress everyone at your picnic!
I hope this gave you some great picnic food ideas for your next summer outing!
If you aren’t a member yet, try a free week of the WWL program to get access to all these amazing picnic recipes, plus hundreds of others.
Did I miss your favorite picnic food? Let me know in the comments below!
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