Tips for a Green Picnic That is Healthy and So Much Fun Being in Nature

Learn about 7 tips for a green picnic.  On a sunny summer day, picnics are my favorite way to spend time with good friends or family.  It is especially fun when it is spontaneous! It can be in a park, by the lake, sea, or riverside, or even in a backyard.

It is more than just fun!  Our bodies and whole beings are nourished from the earth, the sky, and the clean air.

Here Are 7 Tips For a Green Picnic

1.  Start with great healthy recipes:

Here are my favorites:

• Healthy Potato Salad: For some, a picnic isn’t complete without potato salad.  Here is a vegan, healthy one.  Potato Salad
• Avocado Vegetable Dip:  Much fresher and better than the produce store dips:  Avocado Vegetable Salad

Here is a link to healthy tips for a healthy picnic

Healthy Picnic Is the Best with Tasty Food and Drinks This Summer

2.  Don’t Get Sick:

People often get food poisoning when they go on picnics.  There is no reason to suffer if you take a few simple precautions. Much of food safety relates to meat, so if you eliminate meat like I do, there is one less thing to think about.

• Wash your hands before preparing food, and do so on-site. You can set up a water container with a spigot and soap for hand washing.  As a very last resort, waterless hand sanitizers or disposable hand wipes can be used. I always carry a sanitizer made with safe, natural ingredients so I don’t pollute myself and the environment with chemicals.
• Wash those filthy watermelon skins.
  The skins of thick-skinned, firm-skinned fruits and vegetables transport bacteria from all over the world.  Scrub them well before cutting so as not to transfer bacteria to the inside of the fruit or vegetable.
• Keep food cold. Potato and pasta salads should be kept cold until serving.  Mayonnaise is not the main problem with these salads http://www.dressings-sauces.org/Mayonnaise_Dressings.html. Potatoes, eggs, and pasta can produce harmful bacteria; chill them before combining to make the salad. Keep the salads and all fresh foods cold till serving and after serving

3.  Don’t Get Stung: (naturally)

It might be debatable whether Deet, the main ingredient in most mosquito repellents, is harmful to your health at suggested dosages BUT NO ONE would try to argue that it is GOOD for your health.

Why then should we be using valuable earth resources to manufacture and transport something that in the long run is questionable for individual health and negative to the environment?

The most common alternative to deet formulas are those with citronella.  This doesn’t last as long but may be more than adequate for a picnic.

Many people use essential oils as repellents. These generally are even less effective on the mosquito or fly side but actually good for your health.

I just found a good one I like called Citronella Outdoor Lotion, which has citronella, eucalyptus, and tea tree oil.

What is your favorite repellent?

4.   Don’t Get Burnt (naturally)

Many people are concerned that popular sunscreens have additives that, when absorbed through the skin, have long-term health consequences.

I don’t use creams very much myself.  Native cultures that deal with a LOT of sun, like in the desert, are not silly enough to run around in muscle shirts and bikinis.  I follow their example and wear a hat or long sleeves.
5. Green Clean up!

Acting green means thinking about everyone long-term, not just yourself. Take your rubbish home or throw it in covered garbage and recycling bins to prevent attracting yellow jackets, rodents, or other wildlife. Keep our nature beautiful.

If you used a grill to grill your vegetables, then clean it before you leave and place trash in a covered bin so the animals and bugs don’t get in..

6. Have a Backup Plan:

Some parks have covered buildings with picnic tables. We have sometimes had to picnic from an open doored car. If the worst happens even a picnic indoors is still fun.

7. Keep it simple …and casual.

You don’t need much for a great picnic. A basket, a  blanket and a loaf of bread is traditional.   Sometimes I just throw a few snacky things into a bag and go for a walk and picnic when the time comes. Picnics need to stay in the laid-back category.

Pretend you are French. They know how to have fun! The word picnic comes from the French word piquenique.   Originally at these piqueniques, everyone would bring food to the event in a way similar to what we call potlucks today and they were indoors.  After the French revolution royal parks were opened to the public and ‘picnicking’ a popular activity.

My Own Experiences  Of Picnics:

I remember my father coming home from work and singing “We’re going on a picnic, picnic…..we’re going on a picnic!”  At that point, we would all start getting ready to go; within half an hour, we all piled into the back of our pickup truck, and off we went to some secluded wild spot near Edmonton, where there were no other people, just our family. We would gather twigs and wood; our father would build a fire. After it was going; potatoes and onions were put straight into the fire without foil as we did not use it in those days.  Yes they came out black so we would cut into them and eat what was in the middle with butter and it was so yummy.

Have you been on any picnics lately? What do you put in your picnic basket?

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