by With the summer weather finally upon us, and the summer holidays in full swing, it’s a great opportunity to get out and enjoy a family picnic on holiday, in a local park or right in your back garden. But if the thought of preparing a picnic feast doesn’t sound so palatable, supermarket giant Morrisons has launched its own fully prepared picnic hamper just in time.
Available at Morrisons Cafes, the family picnic box costs £20, or £15 if you have a Morrisons More loyalty card. It includes a wide variety of treats for your money – you can choose from a range of sandwiches, pastry rolls, sweet treats and drinks, as well as a healthy fruit selection too.
Sure, it’s not exactly the best fodder (as it was already king of picnics last month with the £120 Fortnum and Mason version which you can read about here). But at £15, the Morrisons picnic box looked like a great bargain to fill the family on a sunny day.
READ MORE: Inside Trafford Centre’s huge summer fair with beach and splash park
So I went to pick up one of the Morrisons boxes, having recruited family testers – my eight and four year olds, the grandparents as well as myself. This is how we succeeded.
How does it work?
Simply pop into your nearest Morrisons Cafe and order a picnic box from the assistants at the tillpoint. The boxes are packed by hand, and Morrisons says to expect it to be ready for you “within 20 minutes”.
I went to the Morrisons Café in Crewe, which was fairly busy when I arrived just before lunchtime. A helper was already there making up a few picnic boxes for other families.
I was given a printed order form to fill in with my choice from the list of options. They then make up for you while you wait in the cafe or go and shop.
I was told it would be ready within 20 minutes, but the lady did it fairly quickly and I was given mine within 10 minutes.
What are the options?
On the order form, there are sections that you tick for each item that comes in the box. The choices you need to make are from the options below:-
-
2 x sandwiches for adults – choose between egg and bacon, smoked ham and cheese, tuna crunch roll, chicken and bacon roll
-
2 x children’s sandwiches – choose from ham or cheese
-
A pack of six sausage rolls or cheese and onion rolls
-
Crisps – choose from a six pack of Walkers Variety or a 125g bag of Morrisons Best Cooked Sea Salt Crisps
-
Sweet treat – choose from a pack of five strawberry donuts, a pack of five milk chocolate chip cookies, or five custard donuts
-
Fruit pack – choose from a seven pack of sweet smooth peeled oranges, a five pack of bananas, or a six pack of apples
-
2 x adult drinks – choose from spring water, 7UP, Pepsi Max, Oasis Citrus, or Fanta Zero
-
2 x children’s drinks – choose from spring water, or orange or apple and blackcurrant Fruit Burst
What was in our box
I was excited to get the picnic box back to my son George, who was waiting to have a picnic at his grandparents’ house. We put up a picnic blanket and he was excited to see everything inside.
We particularly liked the colorful design of the box, which was created to look like a retro picnic hamper with a gingham sheet.
For our picnic option I chose a smoked ham and cheese sandwich on wholemeal bread and a chicken and bacon roll for the adults – and we decided to share it between the three of us. For the kids’ choices we went for one of each ham and cheese sandwiches, but as my two boys are picky eaters I wasn’t too hopeful that they tried to be honest.
I asked for the six pack of sausage rolls, chose the six pack of Walkers crisps (as these are always handy to have in the house if we don’t manage to eat them at the picnic), and the five pack of chocolates. chunk cookies for dessert.
We also went for the 6 apple option, although I was surprised at how big the apples were, which seems very good value for money.
The only slight error on our order was a mix up with the drinks – I ticked the box for an Oasis drink, Spring Water and two Fruit Bursts for the kids – but what they sent were two a bottle of Pepsi Max, a sparkling bottle. water and just one Fruit Burst orange drink.
How did it all taste?
At the bargain price of £15 (working out at £3.75 per person if you’re feeding four), I wasn’t holding out too much hope for quality items to be honest. But how wrong can I be.
All the adults agreed that the sandwiches were delicious, and I particularly liked the chicken and bacon baguette. I encouraged my son to try the kids’ ham sandwich, and at first he didn’t even want to bite into it.
But after tasting it, he surprised himself (and us) that he really liked it. I was more surprised when he asked the other half and wolfed that down.
The sausage rolls were also a great picnic option, the pastry wasn’t too tasty so you didn’t get pastry everywhere on the mat, and there was just enough spice in the sausage.
The cookies were also a big hit – adults and kids alike were delighted with the perfect mix of chewiness and a little crunch, with plenty of chocolate chunks in them too.
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 put the ham sandwich down when he’s usually such a picky eater and loved the cookies too.
And it was a huge deal. Morrisons say the individual items would cost up to £26.44 if bought in store, so if you’re buying it with your £15 More card you’re saving £11.
Even better, I then saw on the side of the picnic box that there is a £5 voucher printed on it which you can use again at Morrisons Cafe too, which is even more than we bargained for.
And, as we discovered, there’s more than enough food here to spread over a few days. For example, there were leftover apples that we saved to eat on other days, we shared the fizzy drinks, and there were lots of sausage rolls that we planned to cook again with chips and beans to make another meal.
Kids will also love the novelty value of the box, and the excitement of picking inside to see what’s inside. And it felt nice to be able to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine while treating yourself to some festivities without breaking the bank to do it.
