4 Long Island supermarket picnics you can DIY

Long Island may be the picnic epicenter of the universe, with its vast array of beaches, state parks and public pools. But that's just the landscape. It also has a huge selection of mainstream and specialty supermarkets stocked with grab-and-go food from all over the world. 

So with all this good weather, where do you start? The FeedMe team challenged ourselves to create the ultimate picnic. Each food reporter took one of their favorite grocery stores and curated a grab-and-go spread for two, with drinks.

We tried to keep it as cheap as we could, but sometimes, our food-loving entertainer personalities got the better of us. It would be virtually impossible to replicate each of these picnics exactly, but we hope these ideas will power your next excursion.    

Lidl salute to European cured meats

By Erica Marcus

In the five years since it opened on LI, Lidl has become justly popular for low, low prices. But I’ve come to love it for another reason entirely. Amid the cans of 89-cent beans and $6 whole chickens are products imported from Europe bearing the "Preferred Selection" moniker, and they give local specialty markets a run for their money.

European appellation laws are much stricter than American ones, which means that only Parmigiano Reggiano cheese made by members of a consortium in a designated area of Italy can be labeled as such. And so, for my supermarket picnic basket, I decided to blow my colleagues away with the breadth and affordability of Lidl’s "Preferred Selection" cured meats: Italian prosciutto di Parma and coppa (dry-cured shoulder ham), Spanish jamon serrano, German Black Forest ham — are available, presliced, in 3-ounce packages for $4.99 a pop. No carving required! Add some cheese (Gorgonzola Dolce from Lombardy, Spanish Manchego, French Comté), Nocellara olives from Sicily, hollow-crunchy snack crackers from Sardinia, fat Spanish almond cookies, Lidl’s own impossibly good $1.99 baguette and two cans of award-winning German beer from Perlenbacher and you’ve got a true gourmet feast for about $50.

Total spent: $51.17

Winner: Best deal 

H Mart Korean picnic snack board

By Andi Berlin

I usually go straight for the fancy cheeses and salamis when I'm putting together a picnic, but I shop at H Mart more than any other grocery store. So I threw it up as a dare, and to my surprise, people went wild about the idea of a Korean picnic. It's easy too, because H Mart has an extraordinary grab-and-go selection of Korean banchan side dishes, noodles and pastries. I hit up the Jericho location, which is substantially larger than the one in Great Neck.

Around 10 a.m., the food court was setting out fresh kimbap rolls stuffed with spicy pork ($9.99). Then I worked my way along the right side with the prepared foods, picking up jewel boxes of radish kimchi, tasty rolled omelets, chili tofu, scallion pancakes and Korean mochi and dried persimmon for dessert. Then I swung by the kitchen supplies area and picked up a cute board and some cups to pour the Korean rice wine in. I brought along a cutting board and a knife from home, and when we were ready to picnic, I quickly arranged everything into one heck of a snack board.

Total spent: $98.62

Winner: Most creative

Uncle Guiseppe's classic Long Island Italian picnic

By Marie Elena Martinez

Uncle Guiseppe’s Marketplace is the megastore for all things Italian. Inspired by your local specialty marketplace, only ... bigger, you can get fresh-made pasta and prepared sauces along with BBQ-ready meats, sandwiches, panini, salads, antipasto and cheese platters, pizzas, pastries, pies and everything in between. The Italian grocer has seven locations across the Island, including Melville, Port Washington, Massapequa, North Babylon, Smithtown, Port Jefferson Station and East Meadow, plus a fall opening in Bohemia. 

I went with classic picnic options, that hold their temperature, require little assembly, and celebrate all that is good about an Italian style picnic. 

My picnic basket had sandwiches: prosciutto, Taleggio and arugula on focaccia ($11.99) and a Volcano Hero ($12.99), a fried chicken cutlet and provolone on semolina — though made in a variety of options, hot and cold, with and without meat, different breads. I threw in a couple of pasta salads ($9.99/lb.). Here, tricolor tortellini salad and farfalle with pesto, tomato and mozzarella, but if you want a lighter salad, they come both packaged ($12.99) and cased ($9.99/lb.). I love mixing the lemon kale and spinach salad with berries together. Of course, some roasted vegetables ($9.99/lb.), an antipasto staple, plus for dessert, mini cannoli ($14.99/lb.) and some rainbow cookies ($19.99/lb.). To drink, go for San Pellegrino, but I also grabbed a bottle of Pinot Grigio from home because what’s an Italian picnic without wine?

Total spent: $82.08

Winner: Most satisfying 

Stop & Shop's quintessential picnic basket

By Melissa Azofeifa 

While my supermarket picnic basket is the most traditional (no gastronomic journey through Europe and Asia here), it's also the easiest to replicate and the most crowd-pleasing food to bring to the beach or a park. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it, right?

Stop & Shop’s fried chicken holds up — both in quality and price — to what you'll find at the popular chicken chains and independent shops. The eight-piece mixed meat fried chicken ($9.99) has it all: variety, crunch and flavor. The supermarket’s rotisserie chicken ($7.99) is a tasty alternative. Pair it with the tangy flavor of dill pickles ($5.99). A flavorful dip is essential for a summer picnic, and my go-to is classic hummus ($5.49) with pita chips ($4.99). To wash all that down, nonalcoholic Coronas ($11.99) fit the bill for those avoiding alcohol but still seeking a thirst-quenching alternative.

Total spent: $49

Winner: Cheap and easy