If you’ve ever searched for picnic meals ideas, then you know that a lot of what’s on the internet is garbage. They give you a ton of recipes that are served cold. Which is technically helpful, but they don’t really consider if it’s easy to make, if it stores easily, or if it serves easily.
So what you end up with is a ton of cold meal recipes with complicated ingredients so you end up making the typical ham sandwich or just abandoning the idea all together.
Which is a real shame because having a list of picnic meal ideas can save you a small fortune.
It was a significant factor in us reducing our spending by over $23,000 a year, and paying off over $30,000 in debt.
We realized that most of the stuff we do on the weekends and evenings that burn through our budget is on food. Food at the concert, food at the movies, food at the brewery… literally it’s all on food.
I started packing picnics when we had plans to go somewhere. And I’d always try to make the picnic exciting enough that we wouldn’t feel bad that we’re not eating out.
Brown bag it… Hint: If you can get over the environmental toll of disposables… using plastic baggies and making picnic bags where each person’s meal is tucked into a brown paper bag is literally amazing. No dishes once you get home and no clean up. Just take the bag and dump it in the trash wherever you end up eating.
You can use individual lunch boxes if you have them (just stick the brown bags and a cooler pack in them) but I upgraded to this large comfy cooler bag and never looked back. It’s easier to carry, can easily morph from a cooler for two people to a cooler for 6 people, and (because I care about things like this) I love the way it looks.
Just this week alone…
We met friends at a brewery for trivia night, and we packed a picnic.
- I took the kids canoeing at a friend’s house and packed a picnic.
- I took the kids to the playground after lunch and packed a picnic (plus put an extra one in the fridge for my husband so when he got home, dinner was waiting for him)
- Jon and I went to the beach and packed a picnic, then went to the movies.
We’ve had students in Hot Mess to Home Success (our comprehensive step-by-step home management class that teaches ANYONE how to manage their home using bare minimum effort on a consistent basis while working with their unique personality instead of against it) use these in super creative ways.
One mom starting packing picnics to take her kids to the playground one day a week, every week. She ended up meeting other moms there that started doing the same thing, now she’s got an easy dinner one day a week that she can prep ahead the day before and her own little picnic club.
Another mom started planning for picnic meals (put into individual brown bags) for days that she knew were going to be crazy. There’s nothing like coming home after a stressful day and the only thing you need to do to serve dinner is to grab bags out of the fridge and distribute them.
If you want to adopt this into your own life, I thought I’d share with you my master list of picnic meal ideas…
Great Ways to Use Picnic Lunches
- Work lunches
- Beach trips
- Vacation meals
- Alternatives to eating out during outings with family and friends
- Playground
- Park
- Car trips
This is a master list of cold picnic meal ideas (or hot if they can be kept in an insulated thermos) for 4 hours.
Very few of these have traditional recipes. That’s on purpose. I’ll link to a recipe if we use one, but most of these are easy 15-minute meals that are just thrown together. Use it as an inspiration list.
Don’t be afraid to mix and match. Our youngest adores Nutella sandwiches and Jon and I like different things, and our son is thrilled with turkey sandwiches.
If you’re making Greek Pasta Salad, don’t feel the need to make everyone make the same thing. Starting at 5 years old, I have the kids make and pack their own picnic lunches, then I just make mine and Jon’s.
Updates: Easy Picnic Meals You’ll Love
Just adding these four below because we seem to eat this on frequent rotation this year. 🙂
🔹 Chicken Summer Rolls with Thai Peanut Sauce (or use store-bought sweet chili sauce for a shortcut)
- Light, fresh, and easy to eat with your hands. These Thai-inspired summer rolls are perfect for packing ahead.
- Wrap up hummus, crunchy veggies, and feta cheese for an easy, mess-free picnic meal.
- A twist on classic chicken salad—with cranberries, apples, and pecans for a sweet-savory crunch. Serve it in sandwiches, wraps, or lettuce cups.
- Pre-pack chopped romaine, shredded chicken, parmesan, and croutons in containers. Bring Caesar dressing on the side to keep it fresh.
Thermos Meals
We use these thermoses, and we only do these when we’re going somewhere on a weekend or a day off. Since you need to prep the thermos (or food) to make sure they’re both hot when storing. If I’m doing that on a Saturday, no sweat. If I’m trying to do this on a busy day, I know me well enough to know I’ll say screw it and go to Chick-Fil-A.
Not sure how to use a thermos correctly? You can find that here…
Thermos Picnic Meal Ideas
- Lasagna
- Broccoli Cheddar Soup
- Chicken Rice Soup
- Pasta, Meatballs, Pasta Sauce, Mozzarella
- Cheese Ravioli
- Perogies
- Macaroni and Cheese
- Chili
- Baked Beans
Picnic Meals Wraps
- Tex Mex Chicken Wraps
- Turkey Bacon Ranch Wrap.
- Buffalo Chicken Wrap
(any sandwich can also be served as a wrap)
Sandwich Picnic Meal Ideas
- Turkey, Munster with Arugula and Pickles
- Roast Beef Sandwich
- Ham and Cheese
- Chicken Salad
- Tuna Salad
- Ham Salad
- Eggs Salad
- Nutella sandwiches (want to be super lazy? They make these in Uncrustables now, store in the freezer and throw in a lunch box)
- Peanut butter and Jelly or Peanut Butter and Fluff
- BLT sandwiches
Chicken Salad or Ham Salad served with Crackers
Cold Fried Chicken (I often buy this made at the store, especially when it’s on sale. I have no idea how to fry chicken)
Cold BBQ Chicken
Charcuterie: Preserved Meats, Cheeses, Fruits, Jelly, and Mustards our charcuterie post
Order a pizza for pick up and go ($5 pizza deals).
We call this a picnic lunch but it’s technically eating out. If we’re going to the zoo, or the aquarium, or someplace where we plan to eat first. I’ll pack drinks and sides and we’ll grab a $5 pizza deal (local places have deals or Little Caesars has them pretty consistently) and drive to a picnic table to eat. No kitchen clean-up and we spend a fraction of eating out.
Salad in a Jar
- Greek Salad
- Mexican Salad
- Chef Salad
- Steak Salad
- Buffalo Chicken Salad
- Chicken Cesar Salad
- Strawberry Avocado and Chicken Salad
Rotisserie Chicken Served Cold (pull it off the bone and serve in a container).
Pasta Salad
- Mediterranean Chicken Pasta Salad
- Antipasta Pasta Salad
- BLT Pasta Salad
Sides
- Jalapeno Corn Salad
- Street Corn Salad
- Hummus and Veggies
- Cheese Sticks
- Yogurt
- Fruit Salad
- Granola Bars
- Chips
- Pasta Salad
- Macaroni salad
- Cookies
- Muffins
- Veggies and Ranch Dip or Hummus
- Brownies
- Coleslaw
- Deviled Eggs
- Potato Salad
- Caprese Skewers
- Banana bread
- Spiced Nuts
- Marinated Olive and Cheese Rings with Triscuits
- Ham Pineapple and Cherry Skewers (just add thick-sliced deli meat, pineapple chunks, and cherries to skewers for a low carb, allergy-friendly lunch.
- Yogurt with Fruit and Granola
- Corn, Avocado and Tomato Salad
Do you have something you like to take for picnics that I didn’t include? Add it to the comments and I’ll update the post so you can inspire someone else.
P.S. Hate meal planning? And wish you had a giant list of easy suggestions (like tacos, spaghetti, quesadilla’s, chicken salad sandwiches, etc.) and not complicated recipes? So did I. So I spent several weeks creating a master list of cheap and easy dinner ideas. And you know what? It completely revolutionized meal planning for us.
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These are great ideas! Investing in bento boxes made picnics easy for me. Open the lid and you have all the compartments, no need for a bunch of baggies or containers. Each kid had to pack their own. They are not easy to carry if we have a cooler full, but there are enough of us that two people can carry. I use a bento in an insulated lunch bag when I’m out on my own for the day as well. We did lunch and dinner in Benton every trip to the water park the last three summers. Otherwise we would have spent our season’s pass price in food in two visits.