Buzz
A beach picnic always seems like a fun idea, but unless you want soggy sandwiches and sandy bites, a bit of preparation is key. After living in coastal states for most of my life, I’ve perfected a method to keep sand out of both my food and my mouth.
Since sandy hands are the main enemy, this plan has two key parts:
Make sure to clean your hands thoroughly before touching any food.
Pre-package and portion your snacks before heading to the beach.
The first step is simple. Grab some wipes and clean your hands before you even open your cooler or picnic basket. While baby wipes work fine, I’m a huge fan of these wonderfully scented essential oil wipes.
While providing wipes does help reduce the amount of sand that ends up everywhere, there's no guarantee that your friends and family will actually use them. From my experience, people don't enjoy being told what to do when they're trying to enjoy a relaxed day at the beach.
This brings us to the second crucial point: the importance of removing food from its original packaging. If you leave food in plastic, bags, or boxes, anyone with sandy hands will have to handle that packaging to get to the food. If the food isn’t already bite-sized, you’re left with the nightmare of portioning it out on the beach or awkwardly gnawing on it with sandy hands, which is fine if you're on your own but doesn’t make sharing easy. Take the food out of its packaging, slice it into bite-sized pieces (think stuff small enough for toothpicks), and store it in easy-to-open, high-sided containers to make your beach meal hassle-free while keeping sand at bay (or at least to a minimum). Don’t forget to provide toothpicks, so people don’t have to dip into their snack with sandy fingers.
Here are some of my favorite snack options that work perfectly with toothpicks:
Salami slices, cheese cubes, and fresh pineapple chunks
Peach slices wrapped in prosciutto
Little mozzarella balls, cherry tomatoes, and pepperoni
Brownie bites with strawberries
Cucumber slices with feta and Kalamata olives
Grilled and chilled veggies paired with cut-up chicken
Grapes with Dubliner cheese (trust me, it’s a great combo!)
If you want to keep your hands even further away from the food, skip the toothpicks and use skewers instead. Forks could also work (I suppose), but there’s something special about crafting little kabobs while lounging on a beach blanket. Chopsticks can be a fun alternative too.
