One of the greatest joys when summer comes is to eat outdoors or have a picnic. Today, the temperatures have escalated to a level that it is no longer comfortable to eat outside and there is also a lack of clean water and access to it. Hence, these aspects endanger the joy of eating food outside since the likelihood of contracting illness from food are higher like listeria, campylobacter or salmonella. While such information should not make you put off your picnic plans, you need to be careful what kind of food you are carrying and how you are storing it till the time it is consumed. You need to ensure that the food does not get stale or meteorite to a state when it becomes unfit for consumption.
You need to ensure that the cases that you will carry for your picnic are clean.
1. When you are carrying produce from your home or farms, you need to carry them clean and dry. Then only pack them up.
2. If you opt for food that is ready to eat and hygienically packed, you need not bother about their cleanliness factor. Ensure that open packets are consumed or thrown away after the picnic is over.
3. If fruits are carried, they need to be cleaned before eating. It is best to carry fruits in their whole form and not cut up. Even if you are carrying peeled and skinned fruits, ensure that you pack them in air tight containers.
4. Also, one should carry paper towels, soap, water and moist towels. If running water is not available near the picnic area, you need to carry enough with you.
Carrying Beverages And Perishable Food Items
When you are carrying beverages, try to carry them in a separate cooler. If you are opening the lid of the cooler in order to take out the cold sodas it might be difficult to keep the perishable items chilled in the same container. If you are carrying meat or fish as well as dressing, carry them separately and do not let them come in contact before they are ready to be consumed. Ensure that you carry lots of paper plates and cooking utensils so that you can cook different items separately in different utensils. That will ensure that the cooked food does not get contaminated and the taste of the food is also preserved. When you are carrying perishable food items you need to carry them in ice packs or coolers so that the bacteria do not grow in the containers. When you are carrying it in the car, it is best that the food cooler is kept in the passenger compartment rather than in the hot trunk. When you are carrying frozen meat, it is fine to stash it in the cooler as it simply takes longer to cook. If you are not using up the salad or the dressings, it is best to return them to the cooler fast. If you are unable to finish food on your plate, it is best to stash them in the garbage than carrying it back with you.
