What to pack #2: Picnic Kit List
What to pack #2: Picnic Kit List
Memories of Picnics Past
In her book Picnic, author Claudia Roden describes the pleasures of outdoor eating as offering moments in nature “as ephemeral as they are intense.” The pleasure of picnics may last only the length of the meal, but the intensity of a picnic experience, whether in a leafy park or garden, on a rocky beach or even on a roadside, enchant like anchors of happiness. They “liberate the soul” writes Claudia, quoting Jean Jacques Rousseau.
Part of the joy of picnics is the rediscovery of well-used picnic kit. You reach under the stairs, reach into the back cupboard or shed, and pull out the picnic paraphernelia that is permeated in memories of picnics past. The worn melamine plates, the familiar tupperware, the comfortable rug.
Except picnics have changed. The world of outdoor dining has become disposable. Covid times had us all eating outside in all seasons, with our wooden cutlery and bamboo bowls, the momentum combining with an urgent swing away from plastic. Picnic kit is now biodegradable, compostable, plant-based.
The irony is that a truly recyclable piece of picnic kit is actually one that lasts a lifetime. A piece that makes you smile just to look at it, bringing back memories of gatherings with friends and family. The memories that gird the true happiness anchors of life’s experiences.
Here are some tips for a long-lasting picnicware kit list, bringing in influences from other cultures, to enhance the summer, and summers for the years ahead.
The Picnic Blanket
As it is the Ultimate Stage for your picnic, a picnic blanket needs to fulfil a good few functions. It needs to be large enough to seat a gang, strong enough to survive rough ground, waterproof enough, portable enough, and then soft enough to sleep on after lunch. The dog will claim it first, so it needs to be washable at the end of the day. There are budget options with waterproof linings but, for a real sense of picnic luxury, you need an historic, intrinsically workable fabric.
The Aran Sweater Market sell throws and blankets that fulfil many of these functions and we especially love this from McNutt’s of Donegal. It’s waterproof from the 100% wool, rather than an super-imposed plastic lining. It’s soft, and just the right colour.
The Tablecloth
Sometimes your picnic is in the garden or a nearby park, and your food is served on a picnic table. This is when you need a Mexican oil cloth. A true Mexican oil cloth sports colours that are garish and surreal, and a 70s design ethic. You buy by the foot, price = quality applies. These cloths are a mixture of PVC and cotton, they are wipeable and storable, and assured to bring joy. Buy online from a specialist.
The Picnic Basket
Ireland is blessed with basketmakers, and a willow basket is your first choice for a picnic. The one pictured above is made by Yvonne Flynn in Bantry.
A basket combines well with a cooler bag or cooler box, and here we follow the crowd and recommend all things YETI. If you’ve searched cooler boxes on the web, then Yeti probably already appears in your insta feed. And probably your friends all have something made by YETI, whether it be a coffee cup, a cooler box or a chair. All are recommended.
The Picnic Plate
Ditch the plastic and take influence from global tableware. Your materials are melamine, stainless steel or enamelware. Your styling is tiffin, thali, bento or mezze.
The Tiffin
We can thank the dabawallahs of Mumbai for the prevalence of this steel lunchbox, delivered precipitously on bicycles to office workers in the city, each with their particular, often faith-based diets.
We’ve picked up tiffins in Mumbai itself whilst travelling, and have kept collecting ever since. You’d be surprised by how many people collect tiffins.
Right now, Nisbets sell a set of 6 Utopia 3 brand for the ultimate group picnic. But these are pricey. Sometimes you see them in Indian shops and supermarkets and otherwise a visit to London’s Southall should be on your itinerary, or source online.
The Lunchbox
Here the influence should come from the Japanese bento box. We love the bento-style lunchboxes from Black & Blum, which we purchase from Organico Bantry.
The Sistema Brilliance storage boxes (widely available) are super air tight and the 2L size is great for making a grazing board.
A Mini Flask
We often enjoy a picnic breakfast, enjoying a porridge pot and a cup of tea. A 150ml mini flask is a handy thing to carry, to contain a splash of fresh milk. This saves using UHT milk which comes as standard in hotel rooms.
The Ultimate Picnic
When travelling around Ireland, B&Bs and hotels will often put together a picnic for you. Our most magical picnic was created by Breac House, which we enjoyed on Horn Head, in far north County Donegal. The picnic itself was delicious, and the kit was epic! Lunch Boxes by A Slice of Green; Icon food flask from Thermos (with hidden spoon!); Achill Island Sea Salt sliding tin; and a waxed cotton rucksack from Ashley Smith of Atlantic Equipment (you can buy the bag from the Breac website).
Do you have a picnic kit reccomendation? If so then do share.
What a wonderful array!
The last time we had a picnic none of the above were packed as we took sandwiches wrapped in Gladwrap and we bought a coffee from the Coffee Caravan over the road from the park. So nothing flash that day. but in the past with family, some of the above items including the picnic rug, the plastic cloth which then became the “oops mat” when the grandchildren were little and is now on my painting table, a thermos, and mounds of Tupperware, oh and not forgetting the esky to keep food and drinks cold.