Food

Planning a sustainable picnic 

Here are some tips for making your picnic as sustainable as possible.

🧺 1. Plan your picnic

Why not ditch the car and walk or cycle. Less is more, so travel light for a zero-waste and litter-free picnic. 

🧺 2. Pack homemade food

Whilst it’s tempting to reach for off-the-shelf convenience food, it comes with lots of packaging, yet making your own picnic delicacies can be quick, easy and fun (not to mention cost effective). Get creative with leftovers in the fridge and find recipes to use up any odds and ends.

Go fresh and buy loose fruit and vegetables at your local green grocer without the packaging. Cut up vegetables into batons for dips and take whole fruit that people can just grab and eat. Or better still bring seasonal local food where you can.

We found lots of delicious easy-to-make picnic food recipes online, and we liked the National Trust’s quick strawberry jam which is great for scones! Finger food is fab as you don’t need to bring additional cutlery. Now that the food is prepared, see tip 3 on what to pack them in.

🧺 3. Use your own, and choose reusables

There is no need for new outdoor gear, why not use what you already have. Old throws, blankets, and bedsheets can make good picnic mats. Why not bring your own cutlery and crockery for picnicware—disposables are less cost effective and bad for the environment. Use reusable food containers or food wraps such as biodegradable beeswax wraps, and instead of disposable tissues and wipes, bring your own tea towels and cloth napkins which are good for spills and also wrapping food. Pack a flask or other reusable bottles for drinks instead of single-use plastic bottles, cans, or disposable cups. Start saving your jam jars too and repurpose them to hold dips. A small chopping board is also useful, and doubles as a platter.

🧺 4. Plan for waste

BYOB—Bring Your Own Bag for rubbish and take it home. Even the most well-planned picnics can generate some waste, so plan for it by packing some spare bin bags for general waste, recyclables, and food waste if you compost or your council collects it separately. Double thumbs up for you if you can use biodegradable bags!

🧺 5. Weigh it down

Any seasoned picnicker knows that a gust of wind can send your picnic items flying. Keep your mat, and picnicware weighed down—fitted sheets are great as you can use the corners for weights to keep your picnic from blowing away. Promptly discard any rubbish into your bin bag to avoid your items flying across the park or into another picnicker’s drink (wince!)

🧺 6. Check before you go

Make sure to leave no trace. Can you leave the space better than you found it? It takes only a minute to check and clean up before you go, then others can enjoy their time after you.