Picnic Lunch Ideas

Now that it is summertime, it is a good time to go out and have a picnic. Here are just a few picnic lunch ideas that I thought of.

Make a cherry tomato and cucumber salad. Put some cherry tomatoes in a bowl and mix them with slices of cucumbers. For the dressing, you can use olive oil, white or red wine vinegar, Italian seasonings, salt and pepper. I always add just a pinch of sugar with my oil and vinegar dressings to sweeten it up a little bit but you don't have to.

Try a bean salad. Mix together garbanzo beans (chickpeas), red kidney beans and canellini beans in a bowl. You can add some diced red onion, a minced fresh garlic clove and some diced red bell pepper. For the dressing, you can use olive oil, white or red wine vinegar, Italian seasoning and salt and pepper. Mix it all together. It might taste better if it is cooler so try putting it in the fridge for a little while.

Wrap it up! Use a flour tortilla wrap and fill it with different meats or chicken, cheese, shredded lettuce, sour cream, tomatoes, etc. You can pretty much put what you want in the wrap. I like Chicken Caesar salad wraps. You can use chicken and romaine lettuce and add some Caesar dressing to it. I even know someone who likes making peanut butter and jelly wraps.

Do you have any leftover chicken from dinner in your fridge? You can cut it up into small pieces or you could buy already cooked chicken pieces and throw them in a bowl with some barbeque sauce. If you have hamburger rolls, you could make a really good bbq chicken sandwich. You can use regular bread too, but I like it better on a roll.

Make little pita pizzas. Buy some small pita breads and top them with pizza sauce or tomato sauce, then sprinkle them with some seasonings, a little garlic powder and some cheese. Bake them in the toaster oven or regular oven or even put them in the microwave.

Bring some fruits. Fruits are a good snack to have with your lunch. Put some grapes in the freezer and have a cool refreshing treat. Watermelon is good because it quenches your thirst. Apples, cherries, peaches, plums and oranges also make for healthy, tasty treats.

Bring some vegetables. Carrot and celery sticks are good as well as cherry tomatoes and cucumber slices for a healthy lunch snack.

Sandwiches. Some good sandwich ideas are egg salad, chicken salad, tuna salad, lunch meat sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly, cheese and tomato, bacon lettuce and tomato with mayonaisse or pulled pork.

Other things that you might need for your picnic are a blanket or lawn chairs, plastic utensils such as a forks, spoons and knives, plastic cups for drinks, water bottles or other canned/bottled drinks, straws, plastic or throw away containers for any salads or other foods that you bring and paper bowls and plates.