Portable picnic lunch ideas?

[RockyBVI Profile]

Hello all.

I’m hoping I might find some inspiration here. We are going to Wales for the weekend with some friends and their teenaged children. Come rain or shine, the plan is to do lots of hill walking (we can do Pen yFan from the cottage).

I have been charged with making / bringing lunch for one of the days to take on a walk. It’s our only contribution to the formal meal plan (but will take lots of bits) so I’d like to make it a bit more interesting than making rounds of ham sandwiches. I am already planning on brownies but obviously need something savoury. I wondered about some sort of savoury pastry / pasties. Or maybe a couple of long baguette / ciabatta filled with interesting things, pressed and sliced? Any ideas? I’m more than happy to use bough pastry!

Thanks in advance.

[Suffs Profile]

I would go for pasties ... or another substantial picnic favourite, a sausage and egg pie ... this sort of thing https://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-dr ... ie-recipe/

Either of those will fill and energise energetic teenagers and adults in the hills. Have a lovely time

[aero280 Profile]

Something fairly durable. Pasties, sausage rolls, just sausages, scotch eggs, Chelsea buns, quiche, fudge, flapjack, etc. And some fruit. Satsumas/clementines are about right, and apples. Maybe raisins. No squidgy stuff like grapes, strawberries and raspberries.

Not sure about brownies. If it’s a hot day they may melt. Chocolate cake?

[RockyBVI Profile]

Thanks both. Based on these ideas, I am thinking about individual scotch egg pasties. I am sure they must be relatively easy.

Yes - has planned for apples (OH is allergic to oranges)

The brownies are based on Suelle's recipe and I think are pretty robust. And sadly it is due to be cold and raining so melting won't be an issue!

[Pampy Profile]

What about taking something veggie?

[Earthmaiden Profile]

I always think crisps are nice with a picnic.

Do you mean wrapping shortcrust pastry round a Scotch egg? Sounds interesting. I think I would use hot water pastry and make sort of 'gala pies' (though Suffs's sausage and egg pie might be easier to transport and have a better pastry/filling ratio). I'd use very lean sausage meat too as I always have trouble with the fat making the pastry soggy if I use fatty sausage meat for sausage rolls.

It'll be lovely whatever you choose.

[Suffs Profile]

... And sadly it is due to be cold and raining so melting won't be an issue!

A big flask of home made minestrone

[Seatallan Profile]

Hello all.

I’m hoping I might find some inspiration here. We are going to Wales for the weekend with some friends and their teenaged children. Come rain or shine, the plan is to do lots of hill walking (we can do Pen yFan from the cottage).

You must be staying near Brecon Rocky. Mr S & I did Pen yFan on our wedding anniversary not long before we moved up to Cumbria. That was early April and we had all seasons in a day (including a blizzard) but it was still heaving on the summit. Will be interested to hear how busy it is when you're up there. I'm with Suffs re home made soup. Often take some on a fell walk especially if it is chilly.

Hope you have a lovely time!

[liketocook Profile]

I was going to suggest a flask of soup, suffs suggestion of minestrone sounds good. Hot dogs in a flask to have in bread rolls could be another hot option. I wouldn't completely dismiss making some sandwiches depending on how adventurous the teens are with food they might appreciate them.
A flask of hot chocolate could be an idea.

Sea if I remember correctly you climbed Pen yFan around the same time my kids did and they had all the seasons in one day too!
Rocky, my kids usually take a flask of hot chocolate when they hill walk.

[herbidacious Profile]

Spanish omelette? Bit of a faff to make, I suppose...

[Seatallan Profile]

Sea if I remember correctly you climbed Pen yFan around the same time my kids did and they had all the seasons in one day too!
Rocky, my kids usually take a flask of hot chocolate when they hill walk.

LTC, we could well have been there on the same day!!

Always take a flask of coffee when we're hill walking. Never thought of hot chocolate but it sounds yummy.

[liketocook Profile]

Sea if I remember correctly you climbed Pen yFan around the same time my kids did and they had all the seasons in one day too!
Rocky, my kids usually take a flask of hot chocolate when they hill walk.

LTC, we could well have been there on the same day!!

Always take a flask of coffee when we're hill walking. Never thought of hot chocolate but it sounds yummy.

Could well have been Sea!

DS1 doesn't drink tea or coffee so hot chocolate developed as a compromise initially and they found they enjoyed it so much it's now standard fare.

[scullion Profile]

what happened to lashings of ginger beer?

one of the nicest picnics we've had was a few years back on a section of the coastal footpath.
we had some bread with hummus, baba ganoush, green beans in tomato and garlic, and marinaded olives.
we have one of those backpack picnic sets - really convenient to carry!
four of the plastic, cubic, tubs that potato salad came in, from lidl, fitted perfectly. i think i put bottles of fizzy elderflower in the side nets (it may have been prosecco).

pastys are easy, can be personalised - and people can be responsible for carrying/crushing their own - and so all the weight isn't put on one person.

[KeenCook2 Profile]

There are a couple of potentially interesting ideas here, although many seem to need cutlery -- kind of defeating the object of easy to eat picnic food!! https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/collections/ ... ic_recipes

[karadekoolaid Profile]

The perfect thing for a picnic is a Muffalata. Olive salad on the bottom of a large, round Ciabatta. Then layers of prosciutto, mozzarella, salami, provolone, coppa, dolcelatte, mortadella, asiago...then more olive salad. Wrap the whole thing in tinfoil and plastic wrap and stick it in the bottom of the rucksack. The more squashed it gets, the better it is.

[RockyBVI Profile]

Thanks all. Some great ideas. Will definitely make a soup. I’ve been advised that everyone is a committed carnivore which makes things easy. Pasties or muffuletta type thing top of current list with soup, fruit and brownies.

Really appreciate the input.

[Pepper Pig Profile]

Kendal Mint Cake for when the going gets tough?

[Seatallan Profile]

Kendal Mint Cake for when the going gets tough?

Can't be doing with Kendal Mint Cake (which is a shame being as we live in the heart of Kendal Mint Cake country). As an alternative, if you want something seriously wonderful for a sugar-rush emergency I recommend this:

https://www.thetoffeeshop.co.uk/

Their toffe is splendid but their fudge is to die for. Easily the best in the world IMO.

[slimpersoninside Profile]

I had to move from eating toffee to eating fudge when my teeth and fillings started to complain . I didn't really go for fudge before this but do enjoy a good one now and again, I also enjoy making fudge.

ETA: sorry Rocky, this has bought nothing to your original post!

[RockyBVI Profile]

You absolutely have Slim. Despite being dairy intolerant and no sweet tooth, the odd raw sugar thing draws me in. A once a year of Thornton’s (only brand I knew) treatwill be missed. Thanks for the reminder