One of the healthiest summer items is to pack an easy picnic lunch to eat with your loved ones. By all means cultivate it. When the weather is nice outside, take as many meals outside as possible. There’s nothing like an outing in the fresh air to improve your health or lift your spirits. Even an occasional lunch or dinner served on the shaded porch seems twice as appetizing as the same meal eaten in the hot dining room; and if a little management is used, there is not much extra work. Be sure to pack everything carefully; Messy looking food is never much enjoyed. Wrap each sandwich separately, or if they are small and this is too much trouble, at least wrap the different varieties separately. The modern picnic kit has boxes and containers for everything. But an ordinary basket or conveniently sized packing box, filled with empty tin cookie boxes or other assorted containers you can find in your cupboard, will also hold a lunch fit for a queen.

Here are some fun and easy ideas to make your picnic a little different and more special.

Sandwich Fillings: For excellent reasons, sandwiches are the mainstay of every picnic. They are easy to eat and remarkably filling. Most people fall into a rut when it comes to the sandwiches they take to picnics. Ham, chicken, cheese or egg sandwiches are all good in their own way, but the variety in sandwiches is just as nice as anything else. Have you ever tried mixing some chopped green bell pepper into your cheese sandwiches? Also popular are sandwiches made from Boston baked whole wheat bread with raisins, sliced ​​and filled with cream cheese, or as an appetizer, sandwiches made from very thin slices of whole wheat bread spread with a thin filling of tangy cheese sprinkled with horseradish.

Tomato or cucumber sandwiches: These are best when made just before eating, which can be handled very easily even in a car, by slicing the cucumbers and tomatoes just before you start, packing them separately in jars or plastic containers, and then boxing up buttered bread or biscuit slices, or biscuit halves together with a sheet of wax paper between them so they can be quickly pulled apart for filling. It is customary to take a small can of mayonnaise and spoon it on top of the tomato or cucumber before putting the top of the sandwich back on. Crisp lettuce leaves can be used in sandwiches in the same way. These simple vegetable sandwiches are the most popular in the lunch basket on a hot day.

Peanut Sandwiches: Peel the freshly roasted peanuts and crush them very fine with a rolling pin or run them through the food processor. For every two cups of peanuts, use a cup of finely chopped celery. Turn everything into a paste by adding stiff whipped cream. Season to taste with salt. Spread on thin slices of freshly buttered whole wheat bread.

Ground Beef Sandwiches: You can use any deli meat you have for this. Ham, pork or corned beef are especially tasty. Trim the meat carefully and trim away all the gristle, but leave a bit of fat, not enough to make it greasy, but enough to take away the dry taste that cold meat often has. Run through the food processor. If the meat is rather lean, moisten with melted butter, using a tablespoon for each cup of meat. Add a pinch of pepper and salt, if necessary. Cold meat is best if a few drops of Worcestershire sauce or a tablespoon of ketchup or hot sauce are added to each cup of ground meat. Spread between thin slices of white or whole wheat bread or buttered white or biscuit rolls.

Pineapple cake: This is quite delicious at a picnic to eat with the fruit that forms the healthiest dessert. Use your favorite layer cake recipe, or try this one: Mix one cup of sugar and one-half cup of butter, add two well-beaten eggs and one-half cup of milk, and then add two cups of flour into which a heaping teaspoon of baking powder has been sieved. Bake in two layers.

Stuffed: Boil two cups of sugar with two thirds of a cup of cream for ten minutes. Remove from heat and beat until thick and smooth. To one third of this add a cup of grated pineapple and distribute among the layers; to the rest, add enough pineapple juice to smoothly spread over the top and sides, and then mix in a third cup of the grated pineapple to make the glaze rough. Before the frosting sets, press a slice of canned pineapple cut into petal-like points into the center of the cake and place a candied cherry in the center. The pineapple used for decoration must be well drained of the juice and as dry as possible, so that it sticks to the topping.

spice cupcakes: Take a cup of granulated sugar, add a cup of brown sugar and cream with a cup of butter, add three well beaten eggs, half a cup of milk. Then slowly mix two and a half cups of flour into which two teaspoons of baking powder have been sifted with one teaspoon of grated nutmeg, one teaspoon of cinnamon, one teaspoon of mixed ground cloves. Lastly, add a cup of floured raisins. Bake in small molds. These are good left alone or covered with chocolate or white icing.

homemade gingerbread cookies: Put in a saucepan a cup of molasses, add half a cup of brown sugar and cook over low heat until the sugar melts. Dissolve one teaspoon of baking soda in two teaspoons of warm water, add to the hot molasses. Now add a half cup of butter that has melted about halfway. Then add, little by little, two cups of flour into which one teaspoon of ginger, one teaspoon of cinnamon, and half a teaspoon of nutmeg have been mixed. If it’s too soft, add a little more flour. There should be enough for the clips to come out thin. Cut with a small cookie cutter and bake in a speed oven. These snaps must be very crunchy. They are delicious with lemonade or fruit drinks.

Pound Cake Sandwiches: Add sweet cream to one of the small cream cheeses that come wrapped in foil, until thin enough to spread evenly, add four coarsely chopped Brazil nuts or six English walnuts and a teaspoon of strawberry jam. Stir until well blended and spread between thin slices of cake.

Cheese sticks: These are delicious and easy to pack. Sift a cup of flour with a quarter teaspoon of baking powder and a pinch of salt. Using a knife, chop two tablespoons of butter into the flour, add a cup of grated cheese and a pinch of cayenne pepper and enough cold water to make a hard paste and roll out very thin. Cut into narrow strips and bake on greased paper in the bottom of an inverted pie plate or shallow drip pan. Sprinkle a few grains of salt over each finger while it’s still hot.

Pineapple-Lemonade: This can be served here cold. Boil a pound of sugar with six cups of water to form a syrup. Then strain and cool. When cool, add the juice of six lemons and one orange and one can of grated pineapple, both the fruit and the juice. Allow the mixture to get very cold in the refrigerator before pouring it into a thermos.

grape punch: This is a drink that has always been highly appreciated when I have taken it to picnics. Make a quarter of the tea – it must be quite strong because it will be very diluted – while it is hot, add two tablespoons of sugar and allow to cool. Then squeeze the strained juice of one and a half medium-sized lemon and add three cups of grape juice. If you like your drinks sweeter, add more sugar.

Fruit-Lemonade: Make two-thirds the amount of strong lemonade you need, and every two cups add a cup of fruit juice from the can or mason jar, or extract fresh fruit by letting it sit on a wide, heavily sugared plate overnight. The berries should be lightly crushed to get the most juice, and the pineapple should be finely crushed. Add some of the crushed berries or some pineapple chunks to the thermos or carafe before corking.