Last Updated on 12 June 2026 by Colette
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As a family, we love a good picnic. I’m not a massive fan of spending a fortune on food when we are out and about (it gets expensive when there’s five of you!). I prefer to plan ahead and pack my bag with lunch treats and snacks that I know the kids will enjoy. So, more often than not, our summer days out will see me hoiking a cool bag of sandwiches, crisps, pork pies and fruit around a park with my picnic blanket. I’m not known for being a good cook, but I can put together a good picnic!
Of course on the whole, picnics are eaten for lunch – but have you ever considered a breakfast picnic? Here’s four reasons you should as well as some ideas for what food to take:
Novelty value
If, like us, you often have a picnic lunch in the holidays or on a sunny weekend then it makes a change to pack up breakfast foods instead of sausage rolls and the kids find it really exciting to get up and out early doors to eat their breakfast outside.
Everywhere is quiet
By heading out for a breakfast picnic, you’ll find that everywhere is still nice and quiet, whilst pretty much everyone else is at home eating their breakfast at a leisurely pace and getting ready to head out for the day! There’s no issues with getting parked and you’ll be able to enjoy your chosen picnic destination in peace – you end up feeling like you’ve had the best of the day by the time everyone else rocks up mid morning!
You’ll avoid the mid day sun
On a hot summer’s day you’ll benefit from getting out earlier before it gets too hot for the kids. This means less stress for you in terms of looking for shade or faffing about with sun cream top ups and you can head home again when it starts to get really warm, feeling like you’ve already had a full day out! Do remember jumpers though as it might be colder than you think first thing.
There’s no lugging food around
Because a breakfast picnic will likely be mostly eaten on arrival, you won’t have to carry the food around for hours or worry about keeping it cool! Our breakfast picnics are mostly made up of things which don’t need containers or things that need to be taken home again which makes life much easier!
Suggestions for easy breakfast picnic food:
Pain au chocolat – we tend to buy individually wrapped ones from the supermarket but obviously fresh ones would be even better!
Crepes – as above we buy these individually wrapped – I don’t think they’re amazing but Ben is a fan and they are very convenient
Fruit – easy to eat strawberries & raspberries are a firm favourite
Cereal – either buy those mini variety boxes that you can just pour the milk straight into (yes seriously – just pour it into the plastic bag and eat straight from them pack – thank Mini Travellers for that one) or put your chosen cereal into individual tupperware before you leave and eat it from the box. We just take a small bottle of milk with us but you could pop some in a flask to keep it extra cold if you prefer. (You can get fancy travel cereal bowls but that’s just something else to have to carry home and I don’t think we do this often enough to invest!)
Yogurt – nice and easy straight from the pot (don’t forget a spoon) or the tube if you buy those squeezy ones that my kids love!
Fruit juice – we take juice in cartons for ease but you could take a larger bottle of juice with some cups as long as you didn’t mind carrying them
Homemade cereal bars – If you’re feeling super fancy / organised – what about these delicious homemade cereal bars?
Tea / coffee – I’m not a tea or coffee drinker but Dave would absolutely take a flask of coffee on a breakfast picnic! (I might take a fancy hot chocolate on a cooler morning)
Have you been on a breakfast picnic before – or do you feel inspired to give it a go now? Let me know how you get on!
Read this next:
Why not take a hot picnic on your next day out?
10 reasons you’ll love Heaton Park
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A breakfast picnic is a fantastic idea and a great way to miss the midday sun. I think during the summer we will have to give one a try. x
Definitely give it a go – we had such a lovely morning.