There are people who can grab their coolers, slam in hot dogs and all the fixings, drinks, chips, and be out the door.  I am not one of those people.  There are family jokes about my need to take everything with me. 

The boys wanted to spend Fathers’ Day at a park.  I was in charge of food, something to grill – they would carry things (yes, they knew full well what they were getting into).  My first thought, of course, was “Ew, public grill that probably has not been cleaned – hello foil packet meals.”  By the time I had it all together and ready to go, it all fit in one cooler and one grocery bag; everyone was surprised!

For the main course we had Polish Sausage Potato Packets.  I did not put bell peppers in the boys’ packets, but left  in the onion to flavor the potatoes.  These packets don’t need much attention, but they need to be about 4-6” from the coals so that they warm through without burning.  Make sure the tongs you take are not the sharp serrated kind that will pierce the foil.  The corn went on about 10 minutes before the packets.  It was fresh, so I didn’t bother to soak it; probably some water got in the foil when it was in the cooler under ice.  It was a very low maintenance meal to grill!   We had ice cold watermelon and cherries on the side.

While we were cleaning up, I put together Campfire Banana Boats and put them over the now almost spent coals for about 5 minutes.  That was enough to heat the banana and melt the chocolate and marshmallow.  This recipe got 2 votes of “ok, but I wouldn’t choose it”, 1 vote of “this is great – I’ll eat the rest,” and one vote of “ew” (me, I’m not a banana fan and even less of a hot banana fan).  Maybe next time I’ll try baked apples.

This was easy and fun, and rather un-messy way of having a picnic.  I’m already thinking about a ham packet, which would go great with a rice salad….