Towels, suntan lotion, sunshades, folding chairs, buckets and spades – all vitally important for a day on the beach – and so too is food! Unless you’re going the whole hog and taking all the paraphernalia for a barbecue and a ‘sit-down’ meal, I think beach food should be simple and easily packed in a couple of cooler boxes.

Pies and quiches are always a good bet for picnics. Individual ones are best, or at least they are easier to eat, and my sausage and apple pasties and mini Quiche Lorraines should go down well with the hungry hoards. Or you could, of course, make one large pie or quiche and slice it as necessary.

Add some small, cold, cooked sausages, chicken drumsticks and cherry tomatoes, always popular nibbles, especially with the children.

I avoid salads with lettuce on the beach when I have to mess about with bottles of dressing. Lettuce always tends to go limp after a while, but a big plastic box full of a cold pasta salad is altogether different.

Twists, springs, tubes, little ‘ears’ or whatever, with diced peppers, spring onions and olives can be easily served in disposable bowls and eaten with plastic forks.

Then, for something sweet, cupcakes and cookies can be the answer. No plates necessary, and sticky fingers and chocolatey mouths can be washed in the sea. A batch of cupcakes is easily made and flavoured and topped with whatever you fancy.

You’ve probably read about the recent spat between the French and the Italians over Nutella.

It so happens I love Nutella, but I don’t buy it very often because every time I open the cupboard and see the jar, I can’t resist dipping my finger in it and having a quick lick. But to show my solidarity with the Italians, I went out and bought a jar and made some chocolate chip cookies with it. They’re chewy and delicious, like American cookies, and travel well in a tin.

The recipe makes about 18, but I doubt if you’ll have many left.These are just a few ideas, but together with some chunks of cantaloupe and slices of watermelon, some crisps and bread, and lots to drink of course, you have the makings of a perfect beachfest. But remember – put your rubbish in the bins provided, or take it home with you.

There’s nothing worse than finding someone else’s leftovers in the sand just where you want to park your umbrella.

Sausage and apple pasties

(Makes 10)

Having devoured two of these in the blink of an eye, my other half gave them his firm seal of approval!

300g plain flour
Salt and pepper
75g butter
75g lard
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
6 rashers streaky bacon, chopped
1 pack large pork or beef sausages, skins removed
1 green apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
4 heaped tbsps fresh white breadcrumbs
1 tsp dried thyme
1 small egg, beaten

Sift the flour into a bowl and add a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the butter and lard and rub it in, then mix to a dough with iced water. Knead lightly on a floured surface, then wrap the pastry in greaseproof and chill in the fridge for half an hour.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onion and bacon until the onion is starting to soften and the bacon is beginning to brown.

Crumble the sausages into a bowl and stir in the onion/bacon mixture, the apple, breadcrumbs and thyme and season well with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Cut the pastry into 10 equal pieces and roll each one into a 15cm circle.

Divide the sausage mixture between them and brush all round the edges with beaten egg, then bring two sides of the pastry up over the filling and pinch them together to seal (like a Cornish pasty).

Stand the pasties on a baking tray, brush them all over with beaten egg and make a small slit each side of the seam.

Bake for 20 minutes, then lower the heat to 180˚C and continue to bake for another 20 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack, pack in an airtight container and store in a cooler box.

Nutella and chocolate chip cookies

(Makes about 18)

180g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch salt
90g soft light brown sugar
100g soft margarine
100g pack chocolate chips
2 tbsps Nutella

Preheat the oven to 200˚C and line two baking trays with baking paper. Sift the flour, bicarb and salt into a bowl. Stir in the sugar, then rub in the margarine. Add the chocolate chips and Nutella and start mixing, first with a wooden spoon, then with your hand until you have a soft uniformly-coloured dough.

Pinch off pieces of dough about the size of a small walnut, roll them into a ball and put them on the baking trays, leaving plenty of room for them to expand.

Pat them down lightly with your hand and bake for about 15 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack. They will be soft but will firm up as they cool. When they are cold, pack in an airtight tin.

Little lemon cupcakes

(Makes 18 small or 12 large)

120g self-raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
120g soft margarine
120g caster sugar
Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
2 eggs
4 tbsps sifted icing sugar
Small cake decorations

Preheat the oven to 190˚C and line patty tins with paper cases. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Put the soft margarine, sugar and lemon rind into a bowl and beat them together until light and fluffy. Add one egg and half the flour and beat them in, then add the remaining egg and the rest of the flour, together with a tablespoon of the lemon juice and beat them in too.

Divide between the paper cases, filling them about three-quarters full, and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until risen and brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Mix the icing sugar with just enough lemon juice to make a thick icing. Top each cupcake with a teaspoonful of icing and add some small decorations. Let the icing set and pack the cupcakes in a plastic box.

Mini Quiche Lorraines

200g plain flour
Pinch of salt
50g butter
50g lard
120g ham
2 heaped tbsp grated Emmental cheese
2 eggs
200ml cream
Salt and pepper
Pinch nutmeg

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, rub in the butter and lard and mix to a dough with iced water. Knead lightly, then roll out fairly thinly. Using a 10cm cutter, stamp out rounds and line a 12-hole muffin tin with them, rerolling the trimmings as necessary. Chill for about half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 190˚C and put a baking sheet in to heat. Shred the ham quite finely and divide it between the tartlets, then top each one with a sprinkling of cheese. Beat the eggs with the cream and season well with salt, pepper and the nutmeg. Pour the mixture over the ham, forking it gently through.

Bake for about 25 minutes until the pastry is golden and the filling is puffy. Cool in the tin, then pack the tartlets in a plastic container and store in a cooler box.