Keep Them Safe This Summer with These Easy Food Safety Tips
Ah, summertime…… picnics, barbecues, cookouts, family gatherings in the sun – fun!
But if you’ve ever become ill after eating food, you’ll know you don’t want a repeat of that, and you don’t want it happening to anyone else.
So when you have your next picnic, cookout or party, use these 6 easy food safety tips to make sure everyone enjoys the food and stays healthy.
1. Food Safety Tips for Meat
Raw meat must be properly looked after on a hot day. It can spoil quickly in the heat. And, blood from raw meat can spread bacteria to surfaces and other food. No one wants to get salmonella or worse.
Make sure you keep raw meat separate from all the other food, and keep the containers separate too.
But the best way to avoid these problems is to prepare as much at home as you can – if you precook / parboil food like ribs or chicken, then you’re not dealing with raw meat.
(And you’ll have more time to relax when you’re out in the sunshine!).
Related: Is meat green and sustainable?
2. Food Safety Tips for Cold Food
You need to keep cold foods cold –especially salads that contain mayonnaise which can turn rancid in the heat.
Instead of large bowls that are hard to pack and keep cold, package macaroni, tuna and chicken salad in smaller containers that can be covered with ice and kept cold.
Even better than ice are ice packs. Keep them in the freezer until use, and then layer them around your foods.
Although Ice packs are commonly made of plastic, they are re-usable. (I’ve been re-using my ice blocks for about 30 years now). That makes them green and eco friendly, and also you’re not wasting precious water by making it into ice which then melts and drips away.
3. Food Safety Tips for Pests
Wasps, flies, ants and more are attracted to food. When you’re eating outdoors, you don’t want flies spreading germs.
It’s easy enough to cover food to keep the insects out:
- Use re-usable storage with lids
- if you’ve got a mosquito net, place your table under a tree, attach the net to the tree and drape it over the food
- Use those little plate covers (mini mosquito nets)
Related: Eco Friendly Mosquito Repellents
4. Food Safety Tips for Menu Choices
Many people choose various types of salad for outdoor eating – and that’s generally healthy and eco friendly. But salads wilt easily in the heat and may even go bad.
So consider alternative foods instead – nuts and dried fruit for example don’t mind the heat, don’t need to be kept cold, and are easy to transport.
Related: 3 ways to avoid food waste
5. Food Safety Tips for Ice
If you’re using ice to keep food cool, don’t re-use that ice for drinks as it may be unsanitary. Keep some ice specifically and only for adding to drinks if required.
6. Food Safety Tips for Wipes
If you’re handling and cooking food, you’ll want to keep your hands and some surfaces clean.
To be green and eco friendly you don’t want to use disposables.
Bring re-usable napkins for everyone (just toss them in the washing machine when you get home, it’s not any more work than disposables). (Same for plates and glasses – and everything tastes so much better and feels so much more civilized when it’s not served on cheap disposable items!).
Don’t use wet wipes because they are single-use disposable items which cannot be composted (very un-green).
If you must use disposable paper napkins, be sure to compost them afterwards.
It’s Easy!
These 6 tips are simple and straightforward. They’ll keep you green, eco friendly and safe when you have fun in the sun. Enjoy!
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Thanks for these tips Clare. I love eco-friendly items and try to use them as much as possible.
Food safety is so important and I’m glad you listed green options to make the summer cooking safe for the environment and for us.
Some great tips Clare, i’m a big fan of outdoors eating, and need reminding every now and again about the pitfalls that can occur if we are not careful, thanks