5 Must-Haves For A Special Sustainable Baddie Picnic
Picnics aren’t just for the girlies vacationing on the coast of the Mediterranean. A picnic in your own (proverbial, since many of us are city baddies) backyard can be the perfect way to combine all our favorite loves: snacks, Instagram, saving money (and jet fuel!), being outside, and sustainability.
When we enjoy time in public green spaces, we are investing in the maintenance of those spaces while also limiting our transportation and waste. Not only is the activity itself better for the environment, but the eats are too!
Of course, we recommend prioritizing locally-sourced and small business-owned snacks for your next climate-conscious outdoor adventure. Check out this list of some of my fave local, ethically sourced, and environmentally responsible picnic essentials, and begin manifesting your ideal picnic.
If you aren’t on the tinned fish train, where have you been? Believe me, I was the weird, canned tuna girl in elementary school, so yeah, I'm feeling a little high and mighty that tinned fish is now sustainable, ethical, and cool. Fishwife is a female-owned tinned fish brand that sources fish from responsibly managed fisheries and aquaculture farms. The Fishwife website is loaded with tons of great recipes for dips, snacks, and more! I recommend whipping up a little Fishwife Smoked Trout Dip and serving it with some homemade leftover almond pulp crackers. Your picnicking crew will be blown away by your culinary mastery.
Whether you’re down for a drink or not, this small batch, Non-Alcoholic Aperitivo brand, based in New York, is an ideal addition to your picnic party dreams. Picnics are incomplete without a little bev to sip on, and Figlia is certainly a crowd pleaser. Figlia is active in their efforts to end addiction through donations from a portion of product sales, and their commitment to donating 1% of all profits to local NYC environmental protection nonprofits and organizations. Slip a bottle of Figlia into your tote and take a stroll!
We probably all have some version of the same picnic image running through our heads. Cheese boards galore, creamy hummus with a fresh drizzle of olive oil, bright green guacamole…my mouth is watering. But what is this image missing? The perfect cracker! Moonshot Snacks is woman-owned, Black-owned, and absolutely killing it in the snack game. Their bright fun boxes will pop out at the grocery store but just wait until you open a box of their rosemary garlic crackers… and boom you’ll be hooked. These snacks put climate-friendly at the top of their priority list. They are carbon neutral, they source ingredients from climate-friendly farmers and deliver their products on a short supply chain. Check out their website for more transparency, and can somebody please pass the crackers?
Now, we couldn’t include a cracker suggestion without a little cheese to put on top! Bandit Cheese (formerly known as conscious cultures) is a Philly-based vegan cheese brand making the most savory and rich vegan cheeses on the market. Bandit cheeses are handmade, using simple ingredients, and mixed with a whole lotta love. Although they are a small team, you can find their cheeses all over the country. My suggestion? Get your hands on The Maverick; you will not be disappointed.