What's in Your Picnic Basket?

I'm taking part in Dairy Free KidsLinky this week and am opening our picnic basket for you all to have a peek!

We love picnics on Hushabye Farm, anything that keeps the mess of mealtimes out of the house sounds good to me.

There is something about eating out doors that means that all the rules get forgotten....you want cake before savouries...no problem, you want to get up from the table/blanket 20 times to show me your latest ballet dance/gymnastics move....that's just fine. If it means I get to eat without having to bore myself to death with all the repetitive corrections then that's fine by me!

I love both summer and winter picnics and obviously the contents of the basket vary depending on the season.

Sometimes we go all out and there is much planning and preparation involved, other times it's a last minute scramble through the presses/fridge to throw something together.

Here are the usual contents of our picnic basket;

Summer

If it is an all day outing then cocktail sausages are a must. Cooked in the oven while the rest of the picnic is being prepared and then double wrapped in tinfoil and placed in one of the children's insulated lunch bags ensures they are still warm when we arrive. Ketchup decanted into a small container means there is no need to bring the full bottle.

Ham sandwiches are obligatory...to ensure there is some left for me I put mustard on mine ones...thus the kids won't touch these.

Nut and raisen mix is great for snacking on.

Pesto Rice Salad is a great addition.

No picnic is complete without breadsticks, carrot sticks and hummus.

A sweet treat is always required and usually it is either flapjacks or Lemon Drizzle Cake 

Last but not least for the savoury lovers ( me) some tortillas and/or hula hoops.

For drinks I find the drink containers that Keelings were giving free with their strawberries are great to fill the night before and pop in the freezer overnight. They ensure cold drinks on the picnic and keep the contents of the basket nice and cool also.

Winter

We are all fans of soup in our house so winter picnics consist of a flask of homemade soup.

A crusty baguette warmed through in the oven and wrapped in tinfoil is great for dipping into the soup.

Homemade sausage rolls are a lovely treat...I use shop bought puff pastry and our neighbours free range sausages. I take the sausage meat out of the casing and mix it with sone of my mums homemade chutney and then make the rolls with the pastry...cook in oven for about 40 mins and wrap to keep them warm...devine!

The kids love hot chocolate on cold days and the addition of mini marshmallows brings squeals of joy.

Of course a great picnic has nothing to do with the contents of the basket, it is all about the people you share it with and while above is the list of our well planned picnics a ham roll and a packet of digestive biscuits can do the job just fine too😊

If you would like to have a look into some of the other baskets in the Linky just click here .

What do you bring in yours?