You know that feeling: that sense of accomplishment when you pull off a great sipping and nibbling experience that started with just a patch of bare grass and perfect Sydney weather. There is a lot of coordination: the location, the weather, the tides, the wind and who provides the cover? Once all that is taken care of, I like to do a few extra things that sweeten the picnic experience a little and make for a really good time on the mat.

Go big

You can get trapped into bringing a bunch of different little things to a picnic. All in their own little containers with plastic seals, leaving you trying to find a flat surface for your five different dips as the oils drip all over your mat. Stop. Instead of overloading, go big and make ONE big dip with enough to last all afternoon. (Assuring myself that it’s also something that will hold up to hours in the hot sun. Sorry, taramasalata, that’s not you.)

My winning (and particularly large) number is all in the ratios. You want 1:1:1:2 cashews, olive oil, parmesan and drained marinated artichokes. Jazz it up with a clove (or two) of garlic, a squeeze of lemon and, of course, salt and pep, then mix it all together. This is a flexible recipe – quite forgiving and very adaptive. You can play with the ratios, replacing the cashews with another nut, swapping the parmesan for something cheddar, and replacing the artichokes with another cooked vegetable. No rules here, go ahead.

Pick it up

If preparing something at home is out of the question, find a place nearby or on the way to fill your basket. Remember, it just needs to be able to do three things: travel well, get eaten with your hands and handle a little sunstroke – save your iced cake for another time. A few options that tick the boxes are a whole slice of pissaladière (a flaky tart with softened onions, olives and anchovies) from Marani Deli in Newtown, a box of the flakiest pastries in Home Croissant (make sure there is at least two ham and gruyere, or potato adjacent to the chippy) or a silly amount of hot chips with chicken salt and black pepper from out of the blue in Clovelly. Any of these will definitely keep you at the top of the list when it comes to the prize for who brought the best thing. Not that it’s a competition (it is a competition).

Wash it, frozen

If you don’t have a mini esky, wine cooler, or old insulated shopping bag with a handful of ice in the bottom, get one or face the consequences of sipping from a paper cup of pét-nat at room temperature in the sun. There is a surplus of vintage Decor wine cellars in thrift stores across the country. Get yours before summer starts and drink chilled wine in the park like an adult. When it comes to what you drink, I like Good deli waysThe Bot’s 750 mil house-brewed peach and citrus iced tea, which is refreshing on its own or swirled in a blender. Otherwise, stop by your local bottle shop for a drop you love to sip in the sun.

Gemma Plunkett is a Sydney-based dinner tragedy. She works as a food writer, recipe developer, and content strategist. Find it (but especially food) in pictures or bimonthly in your inbox via its free newsletter Ding!