How to Pack Your Picnic Baskets

How a picnic turns out is dependent on several factors such as the weather, the planning and the venue. But more than anything else, what is carried for the picnic and how it is carried is very important in making the picnic a success. In this regard, the picnic baskets become the single most important components of a successful picnic. You cannot just toss some beverages and food into a bag and head off to a picnic. It is important that you plan what to carry and how to carry the picnic supplies, if what is carried is going to facilitate the success of that outdoor meal.

While planning for a picnic therefore, arranging the required necessities in a basket becomes an important ritual. For instance, how you pack your fruits and vegetables in the picnic baskets determine whether they will stay fresh. How the various contents of the basket are arranged will also determine how accessible they are. The following simple tips will help you when picking the picnic baskets such that your picnics will always come out as those of a pro.

Always start with the essentials while packing picnic baskets. Such essential picnic items like plates, cups, utensils, insulated coolers and cloth napkins should be arranged first since they will only be used once and most often after everything else has been removed from the baskets. Try to keep them well organized so that they occupy minimal space and are compact enough not to scratch and scrape against each other.

At the very bottom of the baskets, you should only place those items that will be needed last. Such items include trash bags, toothpicks and antibacterial wipes. Again, ensure that you pack your food in reusable plastic containers that are totally watertight. If possible, separate the different food items in portions or at least courses. The meal servings should progress from one food to the other.

It is also important to line the bottom of your water or beverage cooler with some ice or normal cold packs. The plastic food containers must be placed close to the bottom of your picnic baskets for stability so that they do not overturn and spill the contents during transit. It is also important that you keep the perishable foods at the coldest possible and near the basket bottom. To keep the beverages cold, you can insert several pieces of iced drinking water into their bottles. Once the entire basket has been packed, use the picnic basket to cover the top. A blanket offers the insulation required (by deterring free movement of air) to keep the cold contents cold and the warm contents warm. Again, the blanket is ideally placed on top since it will be the first to use when you reach the picnic destination.

Do not forget to carry insect repellent, sunglasses, sunscreen lotions if you are heading for an outdoor picnic. This must however be packed in an isolated compartment of the picnic basket and not together with food items. That is why it is good to look for picnic baskets with several compartments. For instance, the picnic baskets should have a compartment to hold extra essentials for the picnic such as corkscrews, salt and pepper shakers, cheese knives, beverage containers and cutting boards.