Summer weather has finally arrived and the school summer holidays are in full swing, making it the perfect opportunity to get out and enjoy a family picnic, whether it’s on holiday, in a local park or simply in your back garden. But if the thought of packing a picnic feast isn’t quite the appetising prospect, supermarket giant Morrisons has launched its own fully prepared picnic hamper just in time.
The family picnic box, available at Morrisons Cafes, is £20, or just £15 if you have a Morrisons More loyalty card. It includes plenty of treats for your money – you can choose from a range of sandwiches, brioche rolls, sweet treats and drinks, plus a healthy fruit option.
Sure, it’s not exactly the most ostentatious picnic essential (I had a picnic king-of-the-mill £120 Fortnum and Mason version last month, which you can read about here ), but for £15, the Morrisons picnic box looked like a great deal to feed the family on a sunny day.
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So I went to pick up one of the Morrisons boxes, recruiting my family testers – my eight- and four-year-old children, my grandparents and I. Here’s how we did it.
How does it work?
Simply head to your nearest participating Morrisons Café and order a picnic box from the till assistants. The boxes are hand-packed and Morrisons says you can expect them to be ready for you “within 20 minutes”.
I headed towards Morrisons Café in Crewe, which was quite busy when I arrived just before lunchtime, and there was an assistant setting up a few picnic boxes for other families.
I was given a printed order form to fill in my selection from a list of options. They then prepare it for you while you wait in the cafe or go shopping.
I was told it would be ready in 20 minutes but the lady sorted everything out pretty quickly and I had mine within 10 minutes.
What are the options?
In the order form, there are sections where you mark each product that comes in the box. The choices you need to make are from the following options:-
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2 x adult sandwiches – choose from egg and cress, smoked ham and cheese, tuna crispy roll, chicken and bacon roll
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2 x kids sandwiches – choose from ham or cheese
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A pack of six sausage rolls or cheese and onion rolls
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Crisps – Choose from a six-pack of Walkers Variety or a 125g pack of Morrisons’ The Best Cooked Sea Salted Crisps
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Sweet treat – choose from a pack of five strawberry donuts, a pack of five milk chocolate chip cookies, or a pack of five custard donuts
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Fruit pack – choose from a seven-pack of sweet, easy-peel oranges, a five-pack of bananas or a six-pack of apples
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2 x adult beverages – choose from spring water, 7UP, Pepsi Max, Oasis Citrus or Fanta Zero
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2 x children’s drinks – choose between spring water or orange or apple and blackcurrant Fruit Blast
What was in our box?
I was excited to take the picnic box back to my son George who was waiting at his grandparents’ house for a picnic. We set up a picnic blanket and he was excited to see everything inside.
We especially liked the colorful design of the box, which is covered in gingham fabric and designed to look like a retro picnic basket.
For our picnic selection I chose a smoked ham and cheese sandwich on wholemeal bread and a chicken and bacon roll for the adults – we decided to share these between the three of us. We chose one each of the ham and cheese sandwiches for the kids, but as both my boys are picky eaters I wasn’t really hopeful about them trying these to be honest.
I asked for six sausage rolls, six packets of Walkers crisps (always handy to have at home if we don’t have time to eat them on a picnic) and for dessert I opted for five packets of chocolate chip cookies.
We also got the one with 6 apples, but was surprised at how big the apples were, seemed like pretty good value for money.
The only slight mistake in our order was a mix-up with the drinks – I had ordered an Oasis drink for the kids, Spring Water, and two Fruit Bursts – but what they sent was two bottles of Pepsi Max, a bottle of sparkling water, and just one Fruit Burst orange drink.
How was its taste?
For the bargain price of £15 (£3.75 per person if you’re feeding four), I wasn’t really holding out much hope for stunning quality produce to be honest – but how wrong I was.
The adults all agreed that the sandwiches were really tasty and I particularly liked the chicken and bacon baguette. I encouraged my son to try the kids ham sandwich and at first he wasn’t even willing to take a bite.
But after one taste, he surprised himself (and us) by actually liking it. I was even more surprised when he asked for the other half and gobbled that down too.
The sausage rolls were also a perfect suggestion for a picnic, the dough wasn’t too crispy so you didn’t get batter all over the blanket and the sausage inside had just enough spice.
The cookies were also a triumph – gobbled up with gusto by both adults and children, they were the perfect combination of chewiness and light crunch, plus they had plenty of chocolate chips inside.
Decision
The picnic box got a big thumbs up from us – especially from my son George. He’s usually a picky eater but I can’t believe he wolfed down the ham sandwich and he loved the cookies too.
And what a great deal it turned out to be. Morrisons says individual items will cost up to £26.44 when bought in store, meaning you’re saving a whopping £11 if you buy them for £15 with your More card.
Even better, on the side of the picnic box I saw a voucher for £5 which could also be used at Morrisons Café – which was more than we had bargained for.
And, as we can see, there’s enough food here to spread over several days. For example, we had apples that we saved to eat on other days, we shared fizzy drinks and there were a lot of sausage rolls that we planned to cook up again with chips and beans and make another meal.
Kids will also love the novelty value of the box and the excitement of reaching inside to see what it’s filled with. And it felt nice to actually sit outside and enjoy some treats without breaking the bank while enjoying the sunshine.