LET’S GO FOR A PICNIC

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20950, 1 November 1939, Page 3

LET’S GO FOR A PICNIC

Let’s go for a picnic! Goodness knows we get little enough sunshine, so let’s grasp every second that we can spend in it, and rush ourselves and our guests out of doors. First of all, prepare all you can the previous day, so that you are not hot, tired, and flustered before you even start from home. This means getting the picnic basket itself ready, checking over the crockery and its other contents, and packing any tinned or bottled foodstuffs. Then I suggest you should make a very com-

plete list of preparations which must be left over for the actual day itself, such as cutting sandwiches, making salads, and filling the milk and water bottles. Make a list of things not to be forgotten, thus: Ground sheet and rug. Sponge bag with damp sponge and towel (for small and sticky fingers).

AVOID FUSS AND BOTHER

s The second list should concern the ;, basket itself. You will want plates e and cups and saucers. The plates I s use myself are the cheap, cardboardy variety, which are not only light to i carry, but are unbreakable, space it saving, and easy to pack, n If you prefer drinking from china s cups and saucers there is* a new kind r, being sold very, very cheaply, which s are almost unbreakable These are y in all sorts of colours. And there I are the new mica, non-smashable _ glasses for lemonade or cider.

Indispensable Gadgets Don’t forget the salt, the corkscrew, that nameless but indispensable gadget for opening bottle-tops, the tin-opener, knives, forks, spoons, and napkins, and oil for the stove and matches. Sandwiches should be packed in tins, and first wrapped in butter muslin wrung out in cold water. This will keep them moist and fresh. Try different varieties of fillings, and if you make any with meat fillings, add lettuce or cucumber or tomato to avoid dryness. Use stale bread and creamed butter, and pinch your edges together so that the filling doesn’t ooze out with the first bite! Lemonade is best made in concentrated form, the water added afterwards. Don’t forget sugar for the tea or coffee. Concentrate on moist foods rather than dry—fruit will be more appreciated than cakes any day, for somehow picnicking is always thirsty work! And so out with the sunshine.