Picnic equipment

All the comforts of home
away from home

You can find all sorts of picnic accessories, including beautiful picnic baskets, back-packs and picnic rugs in your local store or online at the UK's Picnic Shop

If you live in the USA, then pop into Picnic World - another terrific picnic website.

Rusty tin sandwich boxes, leaky old flasks and paper plates have turned into beautifully coloured picnic accessories and containers of all shapes and sizes. Plates, bowls, cups, glasses - unbreakable picnicware of every conceivable colour and design is available.

I've even discovered a picnic cup called FLEJ, which is the world's first self-stirring cup. No teaspoon, no batteries, no fuss. Find out more . . . .

To me a picnic usually means sitting on a waterproof rug or blanket spread out on the grass. However, in some circumstances (sandy beach for example), a picnic table and chairs can be a better option. They fold up and are easy to transport. The table can be covered with a bright tablecloth and matching napkins, either in throw-away paper or easily cleaned plastic coated material.

I even found a fabulous portable picnic barbeque. It's easy to carry and stash away and you can find it at the Picnic Shop again. They also have glass and bottle holders which will hold a wine glass, or bottle, without having it topple over, spilling out onto your picnic rug.

Yes, picnicware has improved over the last few years!

Picnic food should be easy to eat and cutlery isn’t always necessary. However, again there are lots of picnic knives, forks and spoons available to choose from in most picnic equipment collections.

Paper plates are convenient as they need no washing up but they do tend to bend when balanced on one's knees. Plastic is better and there are so many pretty patterns available nowadays that they're hard to resist!

There are also all manner of food containers available for keeping things hot or cold, crisp and fresh without letting them spill, crush or break.

Wrapping materials are also needed of course and cling film or wrap is suitable for covering plated food. Silver foil is useful too - you can cover all sorts of items with it - even salt and pepper can be twisted in small pieces of it for lightweight transportation.

Wrap easily-bruised fruit, such as peaches, in soft kitchen paper before packing.

Flasks and containers with screw-on tops are best for liquids.

Individual lunch boxes are great for finger food and especially useful for childrens picnics. Kids love having their own surprise food box.

Picnics are now so popular that there is a vast array of transportation methods available too.

The traditional wicker picnic basket is useful and easy to carry with its suitcase-like shape. You can also find matching wicker baskets to carry bottles in.

You’ll need some insulated containers with ice or ice-packs, for some of the food and drinks. You can choose from bags, boxes, buckets and chests, depending on your journey and size of picnic.

Ice-packs are available in rigid or flexible form and contain a gel, which stays cold for a longer time than ice. Don’t forget to leave them in your freezer overnight to become effective.

Whether you have a large hamper or a small back-pack, try and organize supplies to save space and make the transportation easier. The picnicware should be light and not too bulky.

Plastic bottles are safer than glass but if you do have glass bottles, then wrap in cloths and/or carry in bottle carriers.

Then when you think you have everything covered, you might like to refer to my picnic list for other things to add to your picnic equipment, just in case you’ve missed something!

Grab a picnic equipment bargain now at our auction site!

Go to picnic basket - for treats
Go to picnic flask - for smoothies
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