Lifestyle

Picnic Essentials Guide!

With lockdown slowly easing and we’re finally allowed to meet with 6 people outdoors, Onin.London wanted to share with you our must have picnic essentials!

Picnic Essentials


Whether you’re preparing to pack your lunch for work or a picnic in the park, make sure you have a thought for the environment and ditch the disposables in favour of reusable wraps, bags and covers.
We were delighted to discover Marley’s Monsters a range of reusable homewares which includes these fab foodie finds that will help to reduce litter in our parks. We loved the bright colours and cute patterns of Marley’s Monsters reusable homeware.

The reusable Sandwich Wraps, Snack Bags and Bento Bags are made with 100% cotton flannel outer layer and a food-grade and waterproof PUL lining. Marley’s Monsters are available in the UK from Live in the Light – the online natural and organic lifestyle store. Prices start from £8.75 : www.liveinthelight.co.uk

Shop Pom Pom

We’re sick of seeing paper plates littering the ground so we couldn’t resist Shop Pom Pom’s sustainable bamboo plates and cups. They’re  dishwasher proof and adorable. We loved the fabulous flamingo bamboo plate & cup; designed by Christian Borstlap. These are wonderful and plastic free children’s plates and plastic free cups.

Not just for children though, they’re perfect for drinking wine out of. Priced at £9.99, they make a great gift as well as a picnic staple. All orders are delivered by Royal Mail 48 at £3.50 per address order.

https://shoppompom.com/products/flamingo-bamboo-plate-cup-set?_pos=7&_sid=6f1fe6cca&_ss=r

Tishoo

Tishoo is a brand new range of luxury tissues in trendy recyclable tubes, which fit perfectly in standard cup holders in cars, pushchairs and child car seats, as well as in the side pockets of backpacks and bicycle bottle holders. Tishoo tubes are any allergy sufferer’s new best friend. Each pull-tab tube consists of 40 highly absorbent and luxurious 4-ply sheets which are super soft and gentle, even on irritated skin. The tubes are paper-based, 100% recyclable and can be easily reused. Once tissues are finished, use them as a handy car bin, a discreet place to keep loose change or a hygienic and easily accessible way to store clean face masks. 

Buy from Ocado for £1.99 each, currently on 20% introductory offer for £1.59 For more information visit tishoo.co.uk 

Now we’ve got the essentials sorted, it’s time for food!

Noble House Prepared

If you want to up your alfresco picnic game and add some finesse to your outside feast; then Noble House Prepared has the perfect solution to finding your picnic paradise. Noble House Prepared Picnic boxes elevate any outside eating celebration, taking it to a whole new level incorporating super sophisticated, deliciously moreish bites carefully chosen to make boring picnics a thing of the past.

Choose from a incredibly tasty Savoury Picnic Box £75 which serves four) and includes favourites such as a Cheese selection, Quality Hand-Sliced London Cure Smoked Salmon and Gourmet Jumbo Sausage Roll with Red Onion Chutney (ready to bake), or the Sweet Picnic Box £40 which serves four and includes 4x home-baked plump Plain and Fruit scones with jam and cream, a Decadent Rocky Road Slab and 4 x creamy British Cheesecake (2 x with Strawberry Jelly and 2 x with Passionfruit Jelly). You can always get a combined Mixed Sweet and Savoury Picnic box for £115.

All boxes are available with or without a bottle of gently sparkling Crémant d’Alsace Brut NV – additional £18. Alternatively, you can create your own bespoke picnic selection from Noble House’s extensive collection of luxury food and drink items. All baked items are frozen so, if the British weather lets you down, don’t worry, you can safely store your perfect picnic until the sun puts in an appearance! It’s hard to choose which products were our favourites because everything was fabulous!

To purchase visit: https://noblehouseprepared.com

Mandira’s Kitchen

Mandira’s Kitchen have put together a BBQ box to help you celebrate with friends and family.  There are 2 box and 4 box options to suit vegetarians and non vegetarians alike and an option to add some lovely sparking wine from our neighbours Albury vineyard or beer from the very local Firebird Brewery.  Dishes include marinated meats, dips, fish in banana leaves, breads, salad and ice cream. We loved the Masala Bhutta (spiced corn on the cob) and MK Potato Salad (baby potatoes tossed in Green yoghurt and a fabulous spice blend). They were delicious and added something special to our picnic.

All options can be found here: https://www.mandiraskitchen.com/product-category/bbq-boxes

Proper Corn

Whether it’s a movie night in, a Sunday sofa session or a 3pm pick-me-up, PROPER Snacks is on hand for feel good snacking. As the first snack brand in the UK to be certified B Corp, PROPER Snacks not only taste banging, but they are also better for you, for our world, and for our community. The PROPERCORN range features four delicious flavours to choose from: Sweet & Salty, Lightly Sea Salted, Sweet and Salted Caramel all of which are under 136 kcals per serving, vegan and gluten-free. If it’s chips you prefer, then look no further than PROPERCHIPS, lentil chip flavours include Sour Cream & Chive, Barbecue, Sweet Sriracha Chilli, Sea Salt and Salt & Vinegar. Using nothing but the best natural ingredients, every PROPERCHIPS pack comes in at under 100 kcals per serving and contains 30% less fat than leading crisps.

All packs are available nationwide at proper.co.uk, or all flavours are available in all major UK supermarkets nationwide. PROPERCORN RRP £0.80 for single packs and £1.60 for sharing packs. PROPERCHIPS RRP £1.99 per sharing pack and £0.80 for singles.

Now to wash down all that gorgeous food, don’t forget the drinks.

Keeping spirits high, World of Zing, the pioneers of craft bottled cocktails, has launched their Cocktail Party Pouches. Whether at a picnic, barbeque or drinks in the park, World of Zing has got your pre-made cocktails at the ready, available to purchase at www.worldofzing.com/collections/cocktail-pouches priced from £10.00.

Leave the bottle openers and glasses at home, as the pouches are easily transportable in robust outdoor friendly packaging. World of Zing also supply a pack including compostable plastic glasses. The  cocktails come in a range of 7 flavours, ready to drink in either a 250ml pouch with 2-3 serves or 1.5l Magnum pouch, ideal for larger events. We’ve tried a few Zing Cocktails before but some of our favourites definitely include:

  • Passionfruit Margarita
  • Pornstar Martini
  • Bordeaux Negroni
  • Persian Lime Margarita
  • Rhubarb Cosmo
  • Manhattan Whiskey Sour
  • Salted Caramel Espresso Martini 

Jameson, Ginger and Lime

Jameson, Ginger and Lime are ready-to-drink 250ml mixed canned drinks, that are perfect for picnics. This refreshing whiskey mixed drink, made with Jameson Irish Whiskey, delicious ginger ale and a dash of lime tastes great when chilled and especially when shared with friends (social distancing rules permitted, of course). Find a can at your nearest supermarket, or buy online from Tesco here.

And if alcohol isn’t your thing, these are our suggestions

Crave Drinks

Founder, Anita Rae, was involved in both sports nutrition and the music industry for many years and saw a gap in the market for a tasty yet heathy beverage. Crave’s three mouth-watering flavours are all based on popular cocktails aimed at the adult palette: Mint & Lime (Mojito), Passionfruit & Vanilla (Pornstar Martini) and Pineapple & Coconut (Piña Colada). Crave Natural Energy drink are a perfect blend of natural and functional ingredients expertly blended to help health-conscious consumers stay energised whilst supporting their immune system. All products contain zero sugar, zero artificial flavourings or sweeteners, are gluten free and vegan friendly, and only contain 10 calories per 250ml can! £5 for a 3 pack, they’re a great price and can be purchased from https://www.cravedrinks.com

Sea Arch Drinks

Inspired by a G&T but with none of the alcohol, the attractive new Sea & T ready to drink cans from Sea Arch Drinks are delicious, non-alcoholic cocktails. Made using the award-winning Sea Arch Coastal Juniper blend, the Sea & T range is crisp, refreshing and a great alternative for times when people don’t want to drink alcohol.

Sea & T 250ml RTD can: A double measure of Sea Arch Coastal Juniper with a light Indian tonic. Think Aromatic juniper, Blood orange and grapefruit, dry seaside herbs of sea kelp and samphire with Coriander and cardamom flavours. The lightly sparkling, low-calorie Indian tonic complements the Sea Arch spirit to make a deliciously refreshing alcohol-free tipple.

Rose Sea & T 250ml RTD can: A double measure of Sea Arch Coastal Juniper with a delicate Rose and Raspberry infused tonic. With all the delicious botanical flavours of the Sea Arch Coastal Juniper blend mixed with a lightly sparkling and elegant raspberry and rose infused tonic.

RRP is £2.35 per can. Case size for trade purchases is 12 cans per case. Stockists include Ocado; Amazon; The Wise Bartender; Sea Arch online shop

To round off of our picnic must haves! Onin.London has put together a picnic playlist to have your music needs sorted. Tweet us your suggestions and we’ll add them to our playlist.

Written by Tegan LeBon