Picnic Food Safety

Packing healthy foods in your picnic basket is important, but so is making sure your food stays safe in the warmer months.  Follow these food safety tips to help your family stay healthy at your next picnic or outdoor party.

Tips to Make your Picnic more Pleasant!

Helpful Tip #1: Don’t pre-assemble sandwiches with wet ingredients or condiments like mayonnaise – the bread will likely get soggy.  Place meats, cheeses, veggies and other sandwich ingredients in separate baggies or reusable containers and assemble them when you’re ready to eat. Place food in airtight zip-close baggies to keep condensation from making it soggy.

Helpful Tip #2: Bring essential utensils!  Be sure to pack a small cutting board and knife if you’ll need to cut food items like bread, cheese or veggies before eating – they’re included in many picnic sets. Bring along a portable grill, which makes it easy to whip up nearly anything you want no matter where you are. 

Helpful Tip #3: Choose a cooler with high quality thermal insulation for best results.  Hard-sided coolers don’t offer much insulation, not to mention how difficult they are to lug around once they’re full.  Use watertight containers if you’re filling your cooler with ice, or choose reusable ice packs as an alternative to loose ice. 

Helpful Tip #4: Keep cold foods and beverages refrigerated until you are ready to pack the cooler.  Use your cooler to keep foods at a steady temperature – not to cool them down.  If you place warm food in a cooler with ice, the ice is going to melt before the food can chill.

Helpful Tip #5: Pre-cool your cooler before placing everything inside with a few reusable gel ice packs.  Place a few reusable gel ice packs on the bottom of the cooler before putting food inside for maximum cold retention.

Helpful Tip #6: Pack food and beverages in two separate coolers or compartments if you’ll be grabbing drinks throughout the day.  The more often you open your cooler, the more cold air you let out, warming up the food inside.

Helpful Tip #7: Arrange food in the cooler so that the items you’ll be eating first are on top.  That way, you won’t have to dig through the contents and take some things out to find what you need.

Helpful Tip #8: Pack the cooler as full as you can to keep it cold (or hot, if that’s your goal) as long as possible.  Fill cracks and crevices with ice packs or frozen bottles of water.  You can further insulate warm foods by placing your cloth napkins, a kitchen towel or other linens in the cooler along with the food.

Helpful Tip #9: Don’t transport your cooler in the trunk of your car, which exposes it to extreme heat or cold depending on the season.  The best place for coolers is on the floor of the backseat, if they’ll fit.

Helpful Tip #10: Keep your cooler in the shade, if possible.  If you’re going to be lounging on the beach, rowing down a sunny river or hanging out in the park for a while before you eat, finding a shady spot for the cooler can make a big difference in how cold your food stays. Keep perishables like meat, fish, poultry and cheese chilled below 40 degrees F.  After the meal has been served, chill all perishable leftovers within one hour.