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Picnic tips and shortcuts
When you're planning a picnic, don't forget to take advantage
of the huge range of ready-made products available. Supermarkets
have lots of ready-prepared foods to enjoy in a unexpected burst
of sunshine to help you create a quick picnic.
Cooked meats
There are plenty of cooked meats to choose from as well as meat
products such as pork pies, sausage rolls and Scotch eggs (and
lots of vegetarian version too). You can buy a whole ready-to-eat
roast chicken or handy-sized fillets or drumsticks. Small trays
of marinated cooked chicken goujons will spice up a sandwich (try
lime and coriander), or you can toss plain ones in a ready-made
herby mayonnaise and serve with fresh salad leaves.
Salads
Bags of fresh salad are plentiful in supermarkets now. Choose
from single varieties such as spinach, watercress, rocket or the
mixed versions such as baby leaf salad or Continental or Italian
style. Easy to transport, they're all washed and ready to use.
There are lots of other handy salad items that will enhance a
picnic: cherry tomatoes, baby sweetcorn cobs, pre-cut crudités,
vegetables such as carrot batons and cabbage shreds. Also, make
use of the salad bars in the bigger supermarkets - lots of different
salads to choose from and you spoon them straight into handy resealable
tubs.
Deli goodies
You could create an entire picnic just with the great selection
of pies, pâtés, cooked meats, cheeses and antipasti
from the deli counter. Deli counter pies are so good these days,
they'll never know it's not homemade! Take a small jar of tomato
chutney to serve with it. Enhance your picnic by choosing some
exciting treats such as tubs of marinated, roasted peppers; stuffed
cherry tomatoes; chicken satay skewers; rich pâtés
or juicy olives dressed in oil and herbs.
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