Reci(es: Bring out the picnic set and enjoy the sunshine

So, out come the deckchairs and barbecues and all of a sudden the shops have a rush on picnic hampers and blankets. There is something particularly liberating about eating al fresco where there is no washing up, children are freed from any semblance of table manners and tidying up after is limited to shaking crumbs off a blanket. But beware, the best-laid plans of a lovely lunch in the country can go awry when the food just doesn't live up to expectations.

If you want to ensure the perfect picnic that suits the whole family here are a few tips and easy-to-make dishes so the sight of a soggy sandwich or a wilting fruit salad isn't one that will spoil your big day.

Forget formality, keep it simple. Elaborate food might work for Hyacinth Bucket at Ascot, but practical picnics don't require much cutlery and crockery.

Even if picnic planning isn't like preparing for a military campaign, it does help to remember to pre-chill food boxes and all food and drink before you pack it.

Remember to include hand wipes, kitchen paper, rubbish sacks, insect repellent, sunscreen and a basic first aid kit for bumps and stings.

Choose your packaging wisely, food boxes protect food but can be bulky, clingfilm will hold wraps, seal salads and saves mess if you line containers with it. Fill salad boxes to the brim to stop movement from causing bruising and damage to leaves.

Portion foods at home, it's so much easier than serving it out on the ground.

Plastic or paper, plates or no plates, it's your choice. The beauty of handheld goodies like wraps and muffins means less weight, less rubbish and best of all, no washing-up.

Avoid a fatigued, flabby salad of wilted browning leaves by dressing it on arrival from a separate container. Or, be British! Like hard-boiled eggs, potato salad is a picnic institution and it's a robust ready- dressed traveller, tastes great and fills everyone up.

If you pack the rigid containers of food to be eaten last at the bottom of the bag, you do not have to unpack everything in one go. Keep picnic treats like cakes until last when the savoury foods have been eaten.

Carrying a big picnic for any distance? Pack it in separate carrying bags so everyone can share the load.

Even the attraction of the most idyllic picnic place can fade for fractious children (and fraught parents) so pack a bat and ball for family rounders or go French with a game of boules.

Tuna wraps

Known as traps in our family, these tuna-filled wraps are picnic favourites. You could use cooked chicken, pilchards, hard-boiled egg or hummus instead of tuna.

For each wrap, spread a large tortilla with cream cheese. Then arrange the filling of 2-3 cooked, diced new potatoes, 2-3 pitted black olives, cut-up cherry tomatoes and about two tablespoons (drained) canned tuna in the centre. Top it with a dollop of salad cream or mayonnaise.

Fold in two opposite sides of the tortilla to partially encase the filling. Roll the tortilla up, starting from one of the remaining two sides, and enclose all the filling. Cut in half diagonally and wrap firmly in clingfilm. Chill before packing.

Pink Panther pasta salad

2 diced cooked beetroots

cold cooked pasta shells

a sliced stick of celery

2 trimmed and sliced spring onions

a scattering of walnuts

washed salad leaves of your choice

Combine all the above ingredients in a bowl then pack it into a container with four quartered cold hard-boiled eggs (held together in clingfilm).

For the dressing

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoons natural yoghurt

1 tablespoon of milk or water

1 teaspoon horseradish sauce

1 tablespoon of finely-chopped beetroot.

Mix all ingredients together and place in a separate container.

When ready to serve, dot the salad with egg quarters, dress it and wait to see if your children (or partner) can resist singing the Pink Panther intro.

New potato salad

500g cooked cold new potatoes

2-3 chopped spring onions

2 tablespoons each of mayonnaise, salad cream and white wine vinegar.

Mix the ingredients together and pack into a container with a clingfilm pouch of chopped chives, mint or parsley ready to scatter over the salad when the picnic starts. (Fresh herbs can lose their vibrant greenness if mixed in too far in advance).

Fruit muffins

Makes six

75g self-raising flour

75g wholemeal self-raising flour

50g caster sugar.

One egg, beaten

75ml milk

75g sunflower or corn oil.

75g mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries)

Heat the oven to 190C/Gas 5. Combine both flours and caster sugar in a bowl. Pour in the egg, milk, oil and stir together. Add the mixed berries and mix lightly.

Bake, in six paper muffin cases for 15 minutes until golden and springy to the touch. Cool thoroughly before packing.

Berry lime refresher

Serves 2

75g chilled mixed berries (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries),

the juice of 2 limes

200ml cold pineapple juice

A dessertspoon of honey

At the last minute whizz all the ingredients together in a blender until smooth.

Pour over ice in a wide-necked container, seal and set off.

Give the drink a good shake up before serving. For extra zing dilute with sparkling water.

Anita Cormac is executive director of The Cooking School at Dean Clough, Halifax.