Getting Ready for a Picnic

It is important to have safe food for your picnic, so make sure you remember some of the basics in food preparation and storage.

Wash your hands when preparing food with warm soapy water for at least 30 seconds before preparing food and after handling raw meat. Keep soap and water handy for handwashing before food preparation and other outdoor activities. 

Keep your raw meat and fruits and vegetables separate to avoid contamination. 

Never use the same plate twice; placing the raw meat from the plate onto the grill, then reusing the same plate for the cooked piece of meat can cause contamination of the cooked meat.  Always use another plate or wash immediately with soap and water then you may reuse the plate. 

When cooking the meat, make sure you cook the meat throughout the cut. You can use a food thermometer to check the temperature of the food being prepared. Ground Beef needs to reach the temperature of 160 degrees. If using take out chicken, eat the chicken within 1 hour. 

Keep your hot food covered to retain the heat. Cold food, keep chilled on ice or in refrigerator until being used. Make sure you refrigerate food as soon as possible.

Never keep food items prepared with mayonnaise standing out longer than 1 hour. Keep these food items out of the sun and keep them on ice when being served. 

When cutting melons, wash the outer surface with water to remove surface dirt, even if it looks clean. Cut melons can be served without refrigeration for a maximum of 4 hours, then keep them refrigerated or chilled on ice. 

Don’t store coolers in the car trunk, temperatures can reach over 150 degrees in the trunk; keep coolers in air conditioned cars when traveling.

Keep your cooler in the shade covered with a blanket to help maintain cold temperatures. Place the food in between layers of ice or gel packs, don’t lay the food on top of the ice.  

Any leftovers after a picnic that have been sitting out for more that 1 hour- throw out.  

If ice has melted, throw the food out, cold water is not cold enough to keep cold foods safe. 

Keep foods covered to prevent insect contamination. Insects can carry harmful bacteria and viruses.