With summer weather finally here and the school holidays in full swing, there's no better chance to get out and enjoy a family picnic, whether that's on holiday, at a local park or just in your back garden. But if the idea of preparing a picnic meal isn't such an appealing prospect, supermarket giant Morrisons has launched its own fully prepared picnic hamper just in time.
Available from Morrisons Cafes, the family picnic box costs £20, or just £15 if you have a Morrisons More loyalty card. It contains a hefty range of goodies for your money - you can choose from a range of sandwiches, pastries, sweet treats and drinks, as well as a healthy fruit option.
OK, it's not exactly the fanciest picnic food (I had the king of picnics last month with the £120 Fortnum and Mason version, which you can read more about here ) but for £15 the Morrisons picnic box seemed like a brilliant buy to keep the family full on a sunny day.
READ MORE: Inside the Trafford Centre's huge summer funfair with beach and water play parkSo I went to pick up one of the Morrisons boxes, after recruiting my family testers - my eight-year-old and four-year-old children, the grandparents and myself. Here's how we did it.
How does it work?
Simply visit your nearest participating Morrisons Café and order a picnic box from the cashier. The boxes will be hand-packed and Morrisons says you can expect it to be ready for you "within 20 minutes".
I went to Morrisons Café in Crewe which was quite busy when I arrived just before lunch. There was an assistant already making up a few picnic boxes for other families.
I was given a printed order form to fill out with my choice from the list of options and they will prepare it for you while you wait in the cafe or go grocery shopping.
I was told it would be ready in 20 minutes but the lady did it quite quickly and within 10 minutes the food was handed to me.
What are the options?
On the order form there are sections that you need to tick for each item that is in the box. The choices you need to make are from the options below:-
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2 x adult sandwiches - choice of egg and cress, smoked ham and cheese, tuna crunch roll, chicken and bacon roll
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2 x children's sandwiches - choice of 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 bag 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 cookies or five custard donuts
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Fruit Pack - Choose from a seven-pack of sweet, easy-to-peel oranges, a five-pack of bananas or a six-pack of apples
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2 x Adult Drinks - Choice of Spring Water, 7UP, Pepsi Max, Oasis Citrus or Fanta Zero
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2 x Children's Drinks - Choice of Spring Water, Orange or Apple & Blackcurrant Fruit Burst
What was in our box?
I was excited to give the picnic box back to my son George who was waiting to have a picnic with his grandparents. We laid out a picnic blanket and he was excited to see everything inside.
We especially liked the colorful design of the box. It looks like a retro picnic basket made of wicker with a check pattern.
For our picnic selection, I chose a smoked ham and cheese sandwich on whole wheat bread and a chicken and bacon sandwich for the adults - which we decided to share between the three of us. For the kids' options, we opted for one of each of the ham and cheese sandwiches, but since both of my boys are picky eaters, I didn't have high hopes that they would try it, to be honest.
I asked for a pack of six sausage rolls, opted for a pack of six Walkers crisps (they're always handy to have in case we don't eat them on a picnic) and for dessert I got a pack of five chocolate biscuits.
We also tried the 6 apple selection, although I was surprised at how big the apples were. That seemed to be very good value for money.
The only small mistake in our order was a mix up of drinks. I had ticked the box for an Oasis drink, sparkling water and two Fruit Bursts for the kids. What they sent was two bottles of Pepsi Max, a bottle of sparkling water and only one Fruit Burst orange drink.
how did it taste?
For the bargain price of £15 (which works out at £3.75 per person if you're feeding four people), I wasn't expecting eye-popping quality produce, to be honest. But how wrong could I be.
The adults all agreed that the sandwiches were really good, and I especially liked the chicken and bacon baguette. I encouraged my son to try the kids ham sandwich, but at first he wouldn't even take a bite.
But after he took a bite, he surprised himself (and us) by really liking it. I was even more surprised when he asked for the other half and gobbled it down.
The sausage rolls were also a great idea for a picnic. The dough wasn't too crumbly, so there wasn't dough all over the blanket, and the sausage inside was just nice and spicy.
The cookies were also a success: they were eagerly devoured by adults and children. They had the perfect mix of firmness and a light crunch, and there were also lots of chocolate chunks in them.
The verdict
Well it was a huge thumbs up from us for the picnic box - especially from my son George. I can't believe he gobbled down the ham sandwich when he is normally such a picky eater and he loved the cookies too.
And what a bargain it turned out to be. Morrisons says the individual items cost up to £26.44 if you buy them in store, so if you buy them with your More card for £15, you'll save a whopping £11.
Even better, I saw on the side of the picnic box a £5 voucher that you can also use at Morrisons Café, which is even more than we expected.
And, as we discovered, there is more than enough food here to spread over a few days. For example, there were apples left over that we saved to eat on other days, we shared the soft drinks and there were loads of sausage rolls that we planned to re-cook with chips and beans to make another meal.
Kids will also love the novelty of the box and the excitement of poking it to see what it's filled with. And it actually felt nice to be able to just sit outside and enjoy the sun while you devour a treat without having to break the bank.