~ 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.
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 For Travel
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…)
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.
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 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.
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!
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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Holiday Tips
MEAT
- Enjoy The Holiday – Pre-Cook The Turkey
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- Instant Pot Roast & Brown Gravy
- Homemade Tamales!
SIDE DISHES
- RancherMan’s Green Bean Casserole Recipe
- Old Fashioned Southern Cornbread Dressing
- Quick & Easy Roasted Vegetables
- Zesty Ranch-Style Beans
- Rosemary Rice
DESSERTS
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- Honey-Sweetened Whipped Cream
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BREAD
INGREDIENTS
- MYO Sweetened Condensed Milk
- MYO Broth Easily!
- Easy Cream-Of-ANYTHING Soup Recipe
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- How To Tell If Your Baking Powder Is Still Good
FOOD SAFETY
- What Do The Dates On The Food Labels Mean?
- Keeping Hot Dishes HOT In Transit
- Keeping Food Safely COLD
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wrapping in layers of newspaper also works as a good insulator and then wrap in heavy towels and/or foil
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.