Photo Credit: Google Images
I will be the first person to admit that when I lived in New York, I did not take advantage of the culture that the city had to offer. Though I had friends and coworkers who went to concerts in the park on Wednesday evenings, art museums on the weekends and biking in Central Park during the summer, I was always in Camp Flee The City On Weekends.
Now that I live in Chicago, I find myself outdoors a great deal more often, be it on the rooftop pool at my gym, dining out on a patio with friends or more recently, packing a picnic with friends to a free concert in Millennium Park.
When you’re packing a picnic to transport, whether it’s a two-mile drive in the backseat of your car or um, a forty-minute haul on public transportation, you’re a little limited as to what you can and should bring with you. I’ve learned a few things during summer picnicking ventures so I feel like it’s my duty to share them with you.
Bring a wine opener if you’re planning to drink wine. There is nothing more frustrating than being stuck in the great outdoors with a bottle of vino, a stack of red solo cups…and no corkscrew. To guarantee that this doesn’t happen to you, choose screw-top wines, which are becoming more popular, or make sure to pop a wine key in your purse before you head outside.
Avoid packaging your food in glass containers. They clank, they break and they’re heavy. My favorite way to tote food to-go is to save up plastic containers from take-out orders and reuse them for portability. Not only are the containers designed to stack in such a way that you can tote them easily, you didn’t buy them, so you won’t feel bad if they accidentally get tossed. While I won’t caution against reusable containers (hello, environment!) you will want to bring something that you can wipe down, wash or rinse on-site to avoid a big mess when you get home.
Watch the mayo-based salads. It’s summer. It’s hot. Mayonnaise and dairy products spoil quickly in hot conditions. Either plan on eating them right away when you arrive at the picnic or skip bring salads with pesto or vinaigrette instead of creamy dressings.
Photo Credit: Google Images
Summer Picnic Potluck Menu
Whether you’re supplying the food and inviting friends to come and enjoy or designating dishes for guests to bring to share with the group, we have some perfect picnic potluck menu ideas to help you plan your next park or backyard gathering before the summer winds to an end.
Creamy Chicken Salad with Cranberries & Almonds
Pesto, Barley and Edamame Salad
Sun-Dried Tomato and Feta Spread with Wheat Crackers
Fresh Berry Salad with Strawberries, Blueberries and Blackberries
What are your favorite foods to pack on a picnic? Leave your tips and ideas in the comment section below.
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
excellent tips, especially the one about the corkscrew – that’s one thing that people always forget. summer picnics are just lovely — in fact, my husband is taking a half-day from work today so we can have one together. i’m going to show him your post as soon as he gets home!
All of this sounds so dreamy! I always carry a wine opener in my purse. I’ts my “just in case” item
yes i’ve had that problem too with glass containers – so heavy! love that its cleaner and more environment friendly. i just had to buy some better quality plastic tupperware to carry in my tote without weighing me shoulder down so much!
Great post – love the suggestions!
Opening wine bottles without an opener is not fun. Its possible but can get messy! Some of the boxed wines are fairly decent
Sometimes picnic potlucks (even just at home) are great fun – we tend to do these sometimes with my boys in the backyard (or in the living room if it’s raining).
I have been wanting to go on a picnic this summer! I was thinking the basics: cheese, bread, wine and cured meat!
Picnic weather here is coming up. I am putting those peach crumb bars on my list! I can’t wait to get outside again.
Great tips! Thank you.
Great tips and I just love everything picnic!
Thanks for sharing!
Such great suggestions. My wife always do this in wine country. OK, some days are PB&J!
great tips! Very fun post!
Great tips, Maris! All your salads and the peach crumble bars sound so good!
My favorite picnic food? BLT on my grandmother’s famous buttermilk biscuits!
Ha! Is it wrong that I carry a wine-opener in my purse?! You never know when an impromptu picnic might bust out! Living in Boston we have plenty of open space too. Cheers!
—You inspired me to do this with hubby. Great for a Date, right?
Wine for sure.
I love summer picnics. Your set up is perfect! There’s a free summer concert series every Thursday at the Santa Monica pier, and people picnic on the beach during the show. A wine opener is definitely essential. Oh, and red cups if you’re drinking on the beach. We forgot that part and had to borrow a few from some Australian guys, ha!
Love picnics!
Seasonal fresh fruit and veggies with great dips
OR
great desserts
Great tips!! There is nothing worse than being without a corkscrew!!!
I love, love, love picnics in the summertime. I always mean to have more than I get around to. This is a good reminder that I need to have more of them.
I think though that as far as NYC goes though there is definitely a culture of getting out of the city. One of my best friends lives there and it’s always so weirdly quiet during weekends in the summer.
I don’t know that I have ever had a picnic – is that sad or what? I need to remedy that sometime! I think I would bring snacky items like veggies or strawberries, and maybe some hummus and crackers. And def wine!
My boyfriend and I need to make use of the city and do these things!
The kind of picnic I want: good bread, good cheese, fresh fruit, iced tea.
I’ve had a lot of crappy picnics, and they all involve gunky mayo-heavy salads. Don’t really understand why anyone would crave that in the hot summer days, actually.
Hi Maris, I LOVE LOVE LOVE picnics, so love this post!!! Dennis and I were just saying today that now that the summer is FINALLY here in Vancouver, we need to have some picnic dinners very soon! Your post has inspired me even more. (and wish we lived in the same city so we could picnic together, I have NO doubt many laughs would be shared!!) Thanks as always for your wonderful ideas and posts. Have a great day!
great tips adore picnics
I haven’t been on any picnics yet this summer. Hope I get to go on one before it ends. Thanks for all the tips!
This picnic looks really french: cheese and wine, even the chicken salad. I am thinking it is more made for Ravinia then Millenium Park. Oh how I miss Chicago in the summer.
Very nice suggestion. We’ve only on picnic once this year. Sometimes it sounds too hectic (with small kids especially) and ended up not going. Should enjoy nice weather outside more! Great reminder….
It’s so much of fun for a summer picnic. Chit chat and eating…
I wish that I live somewhere where people eat in parks.. I loved that when I visited London.. Nobody does it here
I thnk the last time I went on a picnic was about three years ago. Nick and I stopped at Subway and then ate it down by the river near our house. I’ve never actually done a “from scratch” picnic, but I can imagine cheese (or hummus, which is more heat-stable), crackers, wine (or beer…) and fresh fruit being the perfect foods for a nice picnic!
Great tips and recipe selections. I think my favorite is the peach crumb bars. I need to make those regardless if their is a picnic in site or not! YUM!
Great tips Maris! Those containers are so good and now you can get enviro friendly forks and knives etc
You make picnic making sound so easy. I always run out of ideas and end up with the same things time and time again. I love the sound of the pesto/barley/endame salad, it sounds really light and healthy without all the dairy and mayonnaise that many salads have. Great idea about the spinach in the pesto, I’m going to give that a go.
This looks perfect for the last days of Ravinia!
Great tips! I just love picnics in the summer.
Maris! I LOVE picnics! I even love indoor picnics in the middle of winter! Great suggestions and a great picnic menu! : )