Picnics are about taking in the sun, running, climbing and having fun. Picnics are a great place to encourage kids to eat foods they might not have otherwise tried. Eating in the great outdoors is also a way to make meal time productive for light eaters. The Picnic Site reminds picnic goers that simplicity is the key for a picnic venue -- especially with kids.
Main Course Ideas
Finger foods work best on a picnic. Cold fried chicken, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or chicken salad wraps make great picnic foods. Foods that don't require silverware make packing easier. They also eliminate the chance that you may litter by accidentally dropping plastic utensils. As long as you pack your basket with several ice packs, most foods will stay good for a couple of hours, but the Food Network cautions against eating food that has been out of the cooler for more than an hour. Remember to cut crusts off of sandwiches, especially if you know your kids won't eat the crust. You'll have less food to accidentally drop on the ground attracting unwanted critters to your picnic site. By wrapping salads such as tuna salad or chicken salad in a wrap, you avoid possible messes and make ordinary sandwiches a little more special for this fun outing.
Side Dishes
When eating in nature, stick with the theme by eating foods found in nature. If it is strawberry season bring strawberries. If your picnic is in the fall, squash and zucchini are seasonable favorites. Slice them and leave the cores and any seeds at home to make less mess at the end of the meal. Be sure to peel any fruits that you can ahead of time to keep things clean and simple. A special picnic treat could be a chocolate or hazelnut spread for dipping fruit and veggies.
Get your kids involved, too. "Parenting" Magazine recommends enlisting your kids at home to help make dishes such as deviled eggs for your picnic. Once you have hard boiled the eggs, your child will have a great time scooping out the yolks, mashing them with mayonnaise and piling them into the white of the egg. Something she may not have eaten at home will become a picnic-time favorite.
Dessert
As if the picnic wasn't sweet already, picnic desserts add more flair and fun. If you have access to a barbeque grill, make a sandwich of graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate bars. Wrap them in foil and pack them in your basket. As the meal draws to a close, warn up the grill and set the treats on a high rack for a few minutes. The melted marshmallows and chocolate are sure to be a crowd-pleaser.
Dessert can be delicious and nutritious. Fruit kabobs are healthy and fun to make and eat. You will need skewers, small marshmallows and chopped fruit. Let the kids build their own fruit kabobs by sliding various fruits and marshmallows onto skewers. Colored marshmallows add even more style to the skewers.
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