When we have a lot of drinks to keep cold, we used a wash tub, the old metal kind on legs and when we finished we just drained away the ice and water. Used this at garage sales when we would sell drinks. We don't picnic :)

Sue

Food and drinks get colder faster if you put them in ice AND water, instead of ice alone.

When serving salads or foods that should be kept cool while on an outing or even at home, keep the foods for example cole slaw or potato salads, in two or more *tupperware containers with lids that seal. These can be kept in a tub of ice water until needed and you don't chance spoilage. By serving one smaller container at a time until it is used up keeps germs away too. Same would go for any or all foods that are served at picnics ...pot lucks, or gatherings. Veggie and fruit trays come to mind where everyone is using their fingers to help themselves. Keep plenty of hand sanitizers on the table.

I'm more of a camper. We fill two liter soft drink bottles with water and freeze them. We use this in the coolers to keep thinks cold. It lasts longer than ice cubes. We have cold drinking water when it melts.

Back when we did more picnicing, I always kept a picnic pack together with salt/pepper/hand soap/dish soap/table cloth, etc., so all I had to do was add a cooler of food and grab and go.

I still haven't figured out a way to keep people from sitting in my chair.

When my daughter turned 21, she had a big barbecue in our backyard for her friends. I didn't own an ice chest or cooler, so I improvised.I bought a big plastic laundry hamper (from the dollar store), filled it with a big plastic bag, added ice and drinks-beer, wine coolers and soda pop. Cleanup was simple and I gained a new laundry hamper.

Ant farms are a great way to provide extra ants should you run short at a picnic.

So often, public places that have picnic tables and those tables are, well, at best gross. I use either tarps that I get for free or a few cents after rebate, cheap shower curtain liners, or plastic roll sheeting for painting that's cheap and use as a tablecloth.

I also take recloseable bags, fill them with water and freeze them to set under cold meat trays and things that I want somewhat chilled. Works well and is cheap. Another thing you can do for cold salads is to take a large bowl, fit another bowl inside it, then fill water between them. Freeze it and you have a freezer bowl to keep that potato salad well chilled. Remember it's not the (commercially made) mayo that causes illness from the heat, it's the potatoes and eggs (and various other things)!

"Hot food hot - cold food cold", and hot means hot, not warm, and cold means cold, not cool. 40ð-140ð is the danger zone. If you have a hot day, don't keep your cooler in the trunk (aka "oven"), keep it in the car where it's cooler.

And keep plenty of trash containers around so there's no excuse for littering.

I freeze water bottles and use them for both cooling and drinking. No messy ice to dump and deal with.

I go to a lot of potlucks so I have several different sizes of insulated casserole/dish carriers with hot/cold pouches. I use them for my monthly potluck picnics also.

Tupperware with round seals is the best leak proof container out there. It can swim and a tub of melted ice and the contents stay dry.

To keep the bees and yellow jackets off your food take along a a few slices of bacon. Set it out a short distance away from where you are eating before setting you own platters out. The bees will go to the bacon and stay off your food. Works for flies too.

I keep all my picnic supplies together including a sharp knife and a small cutting board.

Adella I have my name written on my chair. This in itself gives me the right to tell people to get off, when I want to sit down. LOL, and you betcha, they do. :)

Moni

string a hunk of meat over a 5 gallon bucket that has
dish soap in it. As yellow jackets eat too much they fall
in to water and drown.

As yellow jackets eat too much they fall
in to water and drown.

Why do you want to kill them? They eat larvae and other insects that are harmful to plants. They will leave you alone if you don't bother them.

actually, we've had two VERY bad years with them, in ground hives,nests..whatever they're called, and my son is deathly allergic to them. And we have set out traps around our home and spray the hives under the eaves every year.

That is different if they are invading your home. I thought you were advising picnickers to kill nature around them just because. We've have to eradicate nests under the eaves also. But I don't harm them in their own area like forests and meadows.

I remember going white water rafting one year. When the staff laid out lunch there was a huge tray of ham,turkey and salami. The yellow jackets completely covered it. We just reached under them and took our share. No one got stung. Guess they were too busy knoshing. LOL

I've heard of using opened cans of cat food to attract the yellow jackets too. This was on one of those wedding shows on tv. A wedding planner said that the weirdest thing she carried in her 'emergency wedding kit' was cat food for outdoor weddings and receptions. She would set them around the perimeter of the area and the yellow jackets would swarm to them and stay away from the guests :-) I thought that was just a great tip and plan to try it at our camp this summer.... if I can just find a way to keep the puppies out of the cat food!