I've just used https://github.com/moltin/laravel-cart on a project and was simple enough once you get your around the insert array and you can add custom data to it also. So I would highly recommend this package.
I'm new to Laravel (and programming in general) and was dreading the day I'd have to add a shopping cart. Literally took 30 minutes with LaravelShoppingcart, can't believe how easy it was!