Thanksgiving Food Safety: Keeping Hot Food HOT!

~ by Texas Homesteader ~

To keep food safe it needs to be kept at a safe temperature even when traveling for the big meal. Every step from oven to transport to serving your special dish. Food safety is important.

But how do you keep that casserole safely hot while driving to grandma’s house? Come see how we do it.

MAKE SURE YOUR HOT FOOD STAYS HOT - Food safety is important! See how we keep that casserole hot during transit and before the big meal. #TexasHomesteader

Traveling With A Hot Casserole

So you say you’re planning on skipping over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house for the holidays?

And of course as is tradition, each family is bringing their favorite dish to share at the big feast.

That’s awesome, what a wonderful time you’ll have – warm memories filled with fun, family and good food!

But it’s an hour’s drive to grandma’s house and you want to arrive early enough to visit with all your cousins before you eat.

Plus you know grandma’s kitchen is small & that she’s already got her oven filled to the brim with her mammoth-sized ham and turkey.

So how are you going to keep your dish hot? Or even reheat it before it’s time to sit down for the big meal?

We’re often faced with that situation as well, here’s what we do:

Packing Our Hot Covered Dish

The morning we’re planning to head out for the big feast, RancherMan whips up his famous Green Bean Casserole in that oh-so-ugly green glass casserole dish that I love to hate.  (but it’s tradition that this ugly dish holds his casserole. And besides, glass holds heat well so…)

MAKE SURE YOUR HOT FOOD STAYS HOT - Food safety is important! See how we keep that casserole hot during transit and before the big meal. #TexasHomesteader

He prepared his casserole right before we were scheduled to leave the house so it would be good & hot when we were ready to head out.

When he placed his casserole in the oven I also placed a foil-lined brick in the oven so it would heat up as well.

I love this old vintage brick that I often use. It’s previously been scrubbed clean and wrapped in foil for just this occasion.

MAKE SURE YOUR HOT FOOD STAYS HOT - Food safety is important! See how we keep that casserole hot during transit and before the big meal. #TexasHomesteader

I simply slide it onto a separate cookie sheet next to RancherMan’s casserole and they’re both heated in the oven at the same time.

You don’t have to add a heated brick to keep your dish hot while traveling but I find that it does help keep things hot so I like to add this step.

Packing The Cooler To Keep Food HOT

When RancherMan’s casserole was finished we carefully wrapped his hot casserole dish in an old towel and placed it in our hard-side cooler, which had also been lined with towels for extra insulation. 

I topped it off with the heated & towel-wrapped brick next to the dish to slowly radiate heat inside the cooler while we’re traveling. 

Finally I added another layer of towels on top everything to tuck it all in nice and hot.

MAKE SURE YOUR HOT FOOD STAYS HOT - Food safety is important! See how we keep that casserole hot during transit and before the big meal. #TexasHomesteader

When all was packed into the cooler we locked it tightly shut, loaded it into the car and headed out.

When we got to our gathering spot we were all able to store our coolers of hot food in another room, out of the hustle & bustle going on in the kitchen until it was time to set the table.

This is really helpful since it keeps all the counter tops clear while final preparations are being done. 

When it was time to eat I was very pleased when I carefully reached in to retrieve RancherMan’s casserole and it was still piping hot.

SUCCESS!

MAKE SURE YOUR HOT FOOD STAYS HOT - Food safety is important! See how we keep that casserole hot during transit and before the big meal. #TexasHomesteader

How To Transport Hot Food Without A Cooler

If you don’t have a cooler large enough to hold your hot casserole you can use the same towel-insulation and hot brick procedure using a cardboard box instead.

But I’ve found that cardboard boxes don’t typically keep food quite as hot as as an insulated cooler.

So you’ll want to keep an eye on the food temps if you go that route for very long.

Food safety is important y’all – make sure your hot food stays HOT!

~TxH~

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Tagged in  Our best holiday tips. #TexasHomesteader    All our favorite posts about traveling. #TexasHomesteader        

Want More Holiday Cooking Tips & Recipes?

SIDE DISHES

DESSERTS

BREAD

INGREDIENTS

FOOD SAFETY

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2 thoughts on “Thanksgiving Food Safety: Keeping Hot Food HOT!

  1. ColleenB.~Texas

    wrapping in layers of newspaper also works as a good insulator and then wrap in heavy towels and/or foil

    Reply
  2. taryn

    What a great idea! This will come in handy, and I love that I don’t have to buy anything “special”, just using what we already have. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

    Reply

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