The weather is turning lovely. The days are longer, and we all want to get outside. We all need a bit of a getaway after a long winter. But spring means planting and cleaning, leaving little time for excursions. We may not be able to head to the park or the lake just yet, so I have a little trick for staging your own little getaway. I call it the picnic trick.
Before you change your mind, go ahead and prepare a picnic basket right now to keep by the door for that first perfect spring afternoon or midweek evening when you need an instant-getaway. By having it ready, there’s no excuse when the picnic mood strikes. You’ll be ready at a moment’s notice to call a few friends, throw some blankets in the car, visit your local grocer then head to your favorite park for a simple picnic meal that will transport everyone to a much slower rhythm of life.
Don’t want to leave home? Have a picnic in your backyard or on the front stoop. The location isn’t important. It’s the simple act of doing something different, something out of your routine that helps you break free from spring’s other demands.
Picnic Basket Kit
1 large basket, vintage suitcase or favorite backpack
selection of mismatched cloth napkins (perhaps ones that have seen better days but are too lovely to toss).
jelly jar glasses
A tin can filled with inexpensive flatware (My favorites come from flea markets and dollar stores.)
Melamine dishes for everyone, a few extra for serving
salt and pepper shakers
roll of paper towels
kitchen knife
a comfy quilt or a large rectangle flannel backed tablecloth
bug spray
sunscreen
kite, sidewalk chalk, bottle of bubbles
matches
citronella jar candles
hand sanitizer
small cutting board
straws
Easy European-inspired Picnic Meal
This is our favorite meal to grab at the grocery store on the way if we decide on a last minute picnic. It’s inspired by what I imagine a picnic in the rolling provincial hills of France would be like.
Ingredients
1 loaf of crusty French bed
bottled sparkling lemonade
bottled water
fresh fruit
grape tomatoes
package of fresh mozzarella
package of classic hummus
rotisserie chicken
Directions
Spread the cheese, fruit and tomatoes on your cutting board to serve. Use the bottled water to rinse fruit and veggies if needed.
Leave the chicken and hummus in their containers, carving the chicken as needed.
No need to stand on ceremony. This is a picnic. Instead of slicing the bread, just let everyone tear off chunks.
Enjoy!
Arkansas Women Blogger Jerusalem Jackson Greer is a writer, speaker, nest-fluffer, urban farm-gal and author of A Homemade Year: The Blessings of Cooking, Crafting and Coming Together. Jerusalem lives with her husband and two sons in a 1940s cottage in Arkansas at the crossroads of beauty and mess with an ever-changing rotation of pets, including a hen house full of chickens. As a family, they are attempting to live a slower version of modern life. She blogs about all of this and more at http://jerusalemgreer.com