The picnic is one of the annual joys of warm-weather (and sometimes cool-weather) eating, and this guide to packing the best picnic ever will ensure you have a perfect time, wherever you are.

We love nothing better than to lift the lid of a cooler, flip open an old-fashioned hamper, and pop the lids of an abundant array of storage containers to lay out a feast.

Planning a picnic is more than just dragging outdoors the food you’d already be cooking. Throwing a great picnic is the result of a few factors: the setting, the weather (obviously), and the ease of serving and assembly (grilling marinated chicken skewers or portobello mushroom caps on coals is one thing; assembling and cooking panini on site, in a cast iron skillet precariously perched on cinderblocks over a fire, is another).

Still, we’re living in an era of peak picnic. Whereas in the 1970s…