Beaches are beautiful, making them perfect places to spend your time outdoors in summer. Sandy shores provide perfect spots for beach games, picnic, or sunbathing sessions with the salty sea making a great backdrop and ultimate playground.
However, oceans, seas, and shores are in danger of pollution and staggering amounts of threats. Despite having good intentions, everyone poses a risk to the beach environment.
You can pack sustainable foods to the beaches to help protect the oceans from pollution and other threats.
Unlike when packing food in coolers or baskets for a picnic in a local park, various guidelines govern beach picnics and how to pack foods for such activities. The sand at the beaches is bound to end up virtually everywhere despite the measures and precautions you take.
Beaches tend to be breezy and windy, meaning salt and sand can easily swirl around and get deposited on anything, especially if it’s wet, sticky or edible.
Walk, take bike rides or use public transportation to beaches. Use high efficiency kitchen appliances to prepare the foods you intend to bring to the beach. The aim is to reduce your energy usage and fossil fuels consumption.
The latter reduces carbon dioxide that finds its way into oceans, making them more acidic. This helps protect corals and other forms of sea life.
Fisheries worldwide are about to collapse. Three-quarters of fisheries worldwide, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), have been fully exploited, significantly depleted, overexploited, or recovering from overexploitation. This has significantly depleted the natural resources.
Therefore, opt for sustainable foods such as seafood from sustainable fisheries to help protect fish in oceans. Terms such as “sustainably caught”, “line caught”, “sustainably-harvested” or “diver caught” can help you find sustainable seafood to pack for your beach outdoor adventures.
Pack your food in reusable plastics to ensure that you don’t end up littering the beaches and thus oceans with plastic debris. Use reusable water bottles, cloth grocery bags, and reusable plastic containers to pack your food.
Additionally, some beach foods hold up better than others. Although basics such as chips, crackers, dried food, and nuts make perfect snacks for your beach picnic, it’s good to pack more substantial foods to keep you full for longer.
The right foods to bring to the beach are also sustainable and eco-friendly, including their packages. Here’re a few foods you can pack and bring with you for a beach adventure:
7 Delicious Foods You Can Bring to Your Beach Picnic to Keep the Oceans Clean
- Hard boiled eggs
Boiled eggs are easy to prepare and bound to make you full for longer. Moreover, you can easily rinse off the sand in case of an impromptu sand storm.
Whether you like your hard boiled eggs cold or warm, simply peel them back at home to enjoy your delicious meal at the beach hassle-free. Peeling the eggs back home also ensures that the beach remains clean when you leave.
- Wraps
Sandwiches are delicious, but easily harbor sand particles within bread crannies and nooks. On the other hand, wraps feature an outer, protective layer that’ll keep out sand.
Pack your wraps in foil to prevent a sand-in-food scenario. Simply peel them off as you eat your delicious meal. Make sure you collect the foil and other wrappings to dispose of properly back home.
- Chicken rotisserie
You can spend a short time cooking your meals to bring to the beach. This ensures more time is spent at the beach. Shred a rotisserie chicken and prepare it to eat cold or warm water at the beach.
However, make sure you prepare the chicken a day before and refrigerate it to shorten your cook time the next day.
There’re many ways to prepare your chicken. For instance, you can use the best offset smoker that comes with a classic design to grill your chicken.
- Grain salad
Choose your preferred grain to prepare a tasty grain salad. Consider faro salad, tabbouleh, quinoa salad, or any other type. Mix it with cheese and fresh veggies for the best meal at the beach.
Pack your grain salad in a reusable plastic container that you’ll bring back home to keep the beach and ocean clean.
- Kebabs
Kebabs render beach eating easy and fun. Use fruits, chicken, steak, or veggies to prepare nutritious meals for the beach. Whichever ingredients you pick to prepare your kebabs, you’ll enjoy your meals when at the beach.
Don’t dispose the skewers when done eating. Pack it together with other disposals to get rid of the right way back home. Moreover, you can easily enjoy your kebabs with sandy fingers.
- Bars
Pack light for the beach and still enjoy sweet, savory foods. Opt for filling options with nutritious ingredients. Consider oats and nuts, but avoid melty chocolate and caramel with sticky ingredients. You won’t like them coated in sand.
Remember to pack the wrappings for proper disposal back home.
- Smoothie
Choose your favorite food flavor extracts to add to your smoothie. As an example, you can flavor your smoothie with vanilla extracts for added taste. The extracts are also perfect for bakings needs in your kitchen. Use a water bottle or an insulated thermos to store your favorite smoothie for a beach picnic. You’ll enjoy your cool treat later at the beach without the fear of making the natural environment dirty and polluted.