Let’s grab a drink and go to the park: that’s the Berliner behavior to adopt when the sun finally pierces through the clouds! In this green city, it’s very easy to find a nice and sunny place to have a picnic. Why not doing it with a special someone this week-end…but in a sustainable way? 

Here are some creative tips to enjoy a nice picnic outdoors while being respectuous of the environment. Here we go!

Choose the right basket or cooler

Next to your usual cooler bag, you can also use a traditional picnic wicker basket. Tote bags or reusable bags are cool too!

Pack  a water resistant blanket

You don’t want your clothes  to get wet or your food to be covered by insects, right? Then, don’t forget to bring a nice blanket to keep your picnic safe!

Sustainable tips for plates and cutlery

Instead of plastic and paper plates, you can simply bring your own plate for the picnic. Or you can even try a more original and way yummier solution: make your own edible plates. With parmesan cheese for example! For this, melt the cheese and place it on an upside-down bowl or plate. Cover the entire surface, so that the parmesan paste takes the shape of the bowl. Let the parmesan cool and remove from the pan. (You can also do this trick with melted chocolate for cooler seasons.)

For cutlery, use recyclable or reusable ones, made of wood or stainless steel. For napkins, you can use cloth ones instead of paper ones. You can even sew a bread bag with a napkin and put your bread in it!

Keep everything fresh

Wrap your bread or muffins in a reusable food wrap to keep them in a good shape. And of course, don’t forget to put some ice packs in your picnic basket to keep everything nice and fresh!

To reduce food waste, use glass jars

It’s very common to bring too much food during a picnic: with the sun, leftovers are ruined and it goes to waste. To limit this inconvenient, think about setting the portions out for each of the guests of the picnic. But do you know what else is possible? Packing salads in glass jars! It’s a very handy and sustainable way to store salads in individual quantities. Here’s the recipe: 

1) Put the dressing at the bottom of the jar 

2) Add crunchy veggies 

3) Add protein to your salad if you wish to do it 

4) Add soft veggies 

5) Add lettuce 

6) Shake everything, and the salad is done. All good and no waste!

Of course, you can also use jars for bringing your own fresh water. Not thirsty anymore? Just put a lid on it!

Picnic crisps with veggie peelings

Instead of classic crisps, you can make crisps out of vegetable peelings. Furthermore, using your leftovers is a great and no-waste picnic idea. Now you know what to do with all this green waste!

What are you waiting for? Call your best friend or your loved one and bring them to the nicest sustainable picnic ever!