Prepare the perfect picnic + checklist to download

Have a picnic again, preferably by the lake! With good preparation your picnic will be perfect.

It’s the most beautiful way to eat outdoors. Also because it’s better outside. Picnicing is also a brilliant way to spend time with family and friends again. It doesn’t matter whether in the park, on the beach or in your own garden.

My Download the checklist For a picnic with everything you find at the end of the post.

1. WHEN DO PICNICS EXIST?

If for you a picnic means relaxed eating outdoors – not a sandwich in your hand while you look at the latest trainers in a shop window – then the history of leisurely alfresco dining can be traced back to ancient times.

The ancient Romans also loved large celebrations with food and drink in the open air. Logically, farmers and artisans also ate out. But they had no alternative to work: they picnicked, so to speak, wherever they worked. And they picnicked even when the weather wasn’t the best.

The picnic as a stage activity was probably cultivated by the French nobility.

Because the word PICNIC is composed of two French terms:

STICK = Aufpicken

NIQUE = nonsense

When it comes to picnics, many people still have outdated images in mind:

• English counties with meadows stretching to the horizon
• green and red checked wool blankets
• large baskets
• and real porcelain
• floor-length dresses and hats

If we think more quickly about England than about France, even if the word is there at every stop, it is also due to Queen Victoria. He loved picnics and popularized them in England. The English educated middle class, who had money to travel, then exported this habit throughout the world.

The question that remained was what exactly a picnic was:

• Eating on blankets outside? OR:
• A community gathering with an outdoor meal, to which each guest contributes something to eat or drink?

In the end it doesn’t matter. Today it’s all of the above: you eat out with loved ones, you relax comfortably on blankets and pillows in comfortable clothes – and no one misses sitting up straight at the table.

Whether you have porcelain plates and glasses with you or alternatively your indestructible camping crockery. Everything is allowed. Nothing must, everything can. We simply do it too rarely.

2. WHY WE SHOULD HAVE A PICNIC MORE OFTEN

First:
Picnic brings more nature into our daily life. We spend too much time indoors, both at work and at home. A picnic gives us the opportunity to hang out for longer than walking the dog. This makes us feel better. This relaxes, reduces stress and also improves our mood.

Second:
A picnic is an opportunity to eat together. Eating together strengthens relationships and creates a climate of belonging and friendship. When we have a picnic we can prepare and share different foods. So we wander over during a picnic with our new Ukrainian neighbors.

3. WHAT ABOUT YOUR PERFECT À LA CARTE PICNIC?

THE «Perfect» Let’s forget about it now. Because if you enter the park with a few sandwiches and a bottle of water, it will be a delicious picnic. It just tastes better on the outside. Your free time is important. Walking barefoot on the grass, watching the children play, squinting at the sun.

Most people have too little of these seemingly mundane moments. No wonder the demand for Themes on awareness has increased enormously. Often we could schedule a few hours for this.

So: choose what you are hungry for from the list. “Better done than perfect.”

And off to nature! Even if this time it’s just baguettes and delicious cheese. Maybe next time the full program?

And so that your preparation goes well, I have one for you Download the checklist prepared. You can find them at the end of the post. Have fun!

4. PREPARE THE PERFECT PICNIC | THE HARDWARE

• A sturdy picnic blanket, preferably with a lined underside
• Folding table and folding chairs
• Picnic basket and/or cooler bag | British Picnic, for example, specializes in picnic baskets and other accessories
• Dishes – no, not the plastic or paper one 
• Cups or glasses
• Silverware
• Pocket knife with bottle opener and corkscrew
• A wooden board
• Resealable containers
• Salt and pepper mills/mills
• Zucker
• 1 tablecloth 110 x 110 cm, matching fabric napkins (very elegant!)
• Tea towels also replace a tablecloth
• Kitchen paper, possibly damp cloths
• 1 waste bag
• Lighter or matches
• Glass(es) for lantern and tealights
• Umbrella from your last beach holiday
• Sun protection and insect repellent
• Sunglasses, hat, cap etc.
• flashlight
• Plasters, remedies for hay fever
• Games (badminton, cards), books, magazines
• Indian tent if your children are currently in the Indian phase
• Rubber boots, in case the lake ends up becoming a stream on which the kids want to build a dam
• Sweater and windbreaker
• Cell phone to record nature sounds 🙂

5. PREPARE THE PERFECT PICNIC | THE SOFTWARE

Some delicious ideas for brunch | Because even simple food tastes better on the outside

• Cherry tomatoes, pepper strips, cucumber wedges, carrots
• a hearty sauce made from herbed quark
• Ready-made rolls or quickly seasoned for a picnic
• Asparagus salad
• Onion pie and quiche from the tray (prepare a day in advance)
• Olive
• Cucumber salad (without mayonnaise) and/or potato salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar (it is best to package the dressing separately in screw-top jars)
• Baguettes and other bread
• Croissants, Apfeltaschen, Rosinenbrötchen
• Yeast braid or sheet cake
• strawberries, blueberries, grapes, apples,
• Jam (homemade)
• Butter
• Whole wild boar salami
• Camembert is a hard cheese
• Sausages for children
• Mustard
• Water, juice, wine, prosecco, coffee in thermos

Recommendation for large families, sports clubs, men on excursions, women carpenters – with and without VW buses

Start a broadcast and split the food and drink list and hardware among everyone, so that not everyone brings potato salad or just beer or just a parasol. Your drinks retailer will probably be happy to lend you beer tables and benches.

They are not that close to the earth, but they have some advantages:

• no back pain
• fewer ants on your plate

Winter is coming pretty quickly. One last tip: my boys always thought it was great to have a picnic in the backyard.

GET THE CHECKLIST FOR YOURS HERE
PERFECT PREPARATIONS FOR A PICNIC