RecipesChoosing the Tastiest Cold Picnic Food Recipes
Cold foods are a popular part of just about any picnic. After all, they taste great and require no special preparation before you eat them. However, they aren"t always easy to keep safe to eat and great tasting. How many of us have had a soggy picnic sandwich or worried about whether the egg salad was safe? Here"s a look at choosing and preparing your cold picnic food recipes so that the entire occasion will be a success. It really isn"t all that hard, as long as you"re careful and pay attention to a few things.
We all know that meat, dairy, and egg products can go bad if they"re allowed to remain at room temperature for too long. Existing bacterial contaminants get their chance to grow. This means making sure that you bring a cooler to keep this type of food cool enough to be safe. However, you don"t want your food to get soggy from melted ice. The answer is to use water tight containers to keep your ice away from your food. Putting the water into plastic bottles and bags, then freezing it inside, will keep your sandwiches and other foods from being unpleasant when you eat them.
Don"t premake those sandwiches, either. Keep all the ingredients separate and whole (if you can) until it"s time to eat them. Sure, it takes a little longer to assemble the sandwich right before you eat, but there"s no concern about soggy bread and wilted lettuce. Make a game out of it and allow everyone to create a custom sandwich. Bring tortillas, flatbreads, and other types of sandwich breads to create individual, interesting sandwiches that will be a lot of fun to eat. Keep condiments in their own containers until you"re ready to apply them, and everyone will be able to enjoy cold picnic food recipes that are delicious and fresh.
Cold salads for picnics have a tendency to be mayonnaise based. This is not only a food poisoning hazard, but also a quality concern. When potato or macaroni salad come to room temperature, they become a breeding ground for bacteria. They also begin to separate and develop an unpleasant soupy texture that almost no one likes. Keep your salads cool in individual containers right up until you"re ready to serve for the rest result. Alternatively, skip mayonnaise based salads, and try alternative cold picnic food recipes, such as pasta salad in a light vinaigrette, or spicy Indian potato salad, which don"t have the same hazards. Bring along nuts, whole fruit, and other finger foods that don"t need to be cooled, too. They"ll be the perfect addition to a delicious picnic lunch.