How To Keep Food Safe At A Tailgate Party

Step 1: You Will Need

Step 2: Ice Cold

The First step to keeping your food safe at a tailgate party is to make sure your cold stuff stays COLD.

Pack your meats separately from ready-to-eat foods. Juices from the meat could spoil food like cheese and vegetables.

Use an appliance thermometer to make sure your food stays below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Food that doesn't stay cold will start to go bad within two hours.

Step 3: Keep It Hot

If you're bringing hot food to the tailgating party you want to make sure you keep it hot.

To keep food like soup hot, take your insulated container, fill it with boiling water and let it sit for 2 minutes. Empty it and then fill the container with the piping hot food. This will keep the food steaming for several hours.

Step 4: Make It Hot

Meat and poultry need to reach the correct internal temperature while grilling.

Hamburger patties and pork need to reach at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit and Chicken needs to hit a smoking hot 170 degrees before serving.

Step 5: Internal Food Temperatures:

•Hamburger patties need to be cooked to 160/F
•Beef, lamb, and pork need to be cooked to 165/F
•Medium rare beef, veal, and lamb steaks need to be cooked to 145/F
•Poultry breast meat needs to be cooked to 170/F
•Dark meat needs to be cooked to 180/F
•All pork needs to be cooked to 160/F

So get out your food thermometer, and check the temperature before you serve.

Step 6: Stay Clean

Anytime you touch raw meat you should clean your hands before touching anything else. Use moist towelettes thoroughly to make sure that you don't transmit germs or bacteria onto other foods or utensils. Wipe down everything before you serve.