My mother-in-law really loves a picnic. She is an extreme picnic-er. I’m talking multi-course gourmet meals: smoked salmon, shrimp, scallops, lobster, a selection of cheeses and artisan bread as appetizers; a mixed grill or even prime rib for a main with baked potatoes and several vegetable sides; and finish it with a selection of fresh fruit and homemade pie. I know, yum. But it’s not easy. (It’s not even always fun … shh … don’t tell Donna.) There’s carting everything to the picnic site, for one. Then there’s the elaborate set-up and tear-down. There will inevitably be bugs or wind or rain or rabid dogs or any combination thereof. One thing’s for sure, though. You will never forget those meals.
I’m starting to come around to the idea of picnics, too. But only because I discovered that they can actually be so easy! Especially if you tell your kids that grabbing a slice from your local pizzeria and eating it at a picnic table at the park is a picnic. That’s what we did last Tuesday when we were on our own for supper. We got slices from Vesuvios and headed over to Young C’s park of choice to enjoy them. He then burned off all his energy at the playground and we went straight into the bedtime routine as soon as we got home. Bedtime was a breeze!
You could always bring a home-cooked dinner or some sandwiches to the local park, too, of course. I really love a picnic as a fun alternative to a weekday meal, though, and you’re going to want an extremely streamlined process for that to work. A park with picnic tables in walking distance with finger food (ie. sandwiches, pizza, etc.) is the easiest. It’s a sliding scale from there to my mother-in-laws feasts and you can find your comfort zone anywhere in between. The more elaborate the meal gets, the more you will want to use plastic outdoor table cloths, re-washable picnic dishes and other al fresco dining accoutrements.
It’s not really about the food in the end, I don’t think. It’s about doing something fun and different (and cheap!) on a weeknight. It’s about having fun as a family and remembering that we can still be spontaneous. I said that a local park is easiest, but we are a quick drive to the beach and love a summer evening guarding burgers and fries against sea gull invasions. Make it your own.
8 replies on “What’s For Dinner? Make It A Picnic!”
We go for a lot of picnics and we love them!
But blimey, yours are posh – what recession, exactly? :) We usually take sandwiches, fruit and yogurt – sand is a nuisance on a windy day (am in UK).
Picnics rule – cheap and fun, I agree
Can you really get into trouble for drinking a bit of wine at a park in Ontario? Because that was always the fun part of picnics I had in Québec (and a few times in Toronto, but don’t tell anybody). Our picnic kit usually includes a blanket, a few plastic cups and a swiss army knife. Fancy cooked entrées and side dishes are too complicated for me, but get a good baguette, nice cheeses and patés, some cherry tomatoes and grapes, accompanied by the nicest juice you can fine for the kids and some “vino” for the adults. Not always the cheapest way to eat outdoors, but so enjoyable.
I think you can get away with a splash of wine, but you do have to be discreet. The loyalists frowned on fun when writing our laws apparently.
Well people I grew up having picnics and loving them. When ever we would go in the car up to Parry Sound or just out for a long Sunday drive, we would stop on the side of the road and have sandwiches, drinks and maybe some dessert. When we actually went to a park for a picnic there was always boiled eggs, pork’n beans, cottage cheese, boiled potates and some sort of meat. My dad would pack up the camp stove and bring along his pots. My mom reluctently would go along with the whole thing, but it wasn’t til I grew up and did this on my own that I realized she always had to clean up afterwards and that was no fun for her. Oh well she was always a good sport and once we got there she loved it just as much as we did.
So I am glad to hear that people love to picnic in the park for supper it makes it so exciting and this is what the children will remember. Not mine though they didn’t like picnics much. I remember taking A and T up north we stopped at the MacDonald’s. I told them I had brought things for lunch and so we would just buy a drink. Oh boy those two especially “A” in was nervous what would people think of us eating out of the back of our car, I don’t think we’re allowed to do this. I reassured “A” that we could and if he was hungry he would just eat. I can’t remember what “A” did whether he ate or starved. knowing “A” he probably waited til we arrived at our destination. Just drank the Pop.
Anyways thanks for writing this little story about Picnics Rebecca.
Thanks Donna,
And you know that I love you, right? And that I would never want anything less than the extravagant picnics you throw. Remember last Father’s Day? Eating as fast as we could, huddled under one umbrella and trying to hold against the wind? In High Park (read lots of big trees)? In an electrical storm? Good times.
Remember Sean’s birthday picnic? Surf and Turf with warm garlic butter for the lobster and the meat cooked a perfect medium rare. None of us could sit down to eat because the bees were attacking us…
OMG. We could go on ….
Oh my! I love all of you and your picnic stories!