Food Safety Tips for Church Potlucks and Picnics

If you attend church potlucks and picnics often, as we have over the years, you may wonder if everyone else pays the same careful attention to food safety as you do in your kitchen. Sweet Miss Louise may be known for her casseroles, but how were they handled before they got to the church hall?

Whenever I’m planning what to bring to a potluck or picnic meal, I always try to bring something that won’t require a lot of heating, or a lot of cooling. I don’t make “fussy” dishes that require specific temperature ranges in order to stay safe because there are too many unknowns when it comes to these occasions. Will there be enough room in the oven, on the stove, or in the microwave to keep hot foods hot enough? Will there be adequate refrigerator space to keep the cold foods cold?

I tend to bring things such as a plate of cheese and crackers, or a vegetable tray, where it won’t matter quite as much if the exact temperature hasn’t been maintained.

I’ve seen some dishes that I wouldn’t dare eat, simply because it would be impossible to tell if they’d been kept at the proper temperature-dishes such as turkey with stuffing inside, or mayonnaise based salads. There is too much possibility of bacteria forming if these types of dishes are left sitting at room temperature for too long.

What about condiments? It may look nice to set out little dishes of ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise, but it’s not the safest. It’s better to bring along squirt bottles-yes, even squirt bottles of mayonnaise, so that the condiments stay clean and don’t need to be dipped into or, worse, having a bug landing in them if you are at a picnic or barbecue.

If you are bringing a dish that needs to remain cold, and you aren’t sure if there will be enough refrigerator space, place your dish in a cooler full of ice, and take it along with you. That way, it will still remain cold and safe, even if the meal is delayed a bit.

If you are bringing a hot dish, heat it thoroughly in your crock pot before you leave home, then take it along with you, still in the crock pot, and plug it into an outlet once you reach the church hall.

You might also heat your dish in the oven, then wrap it in towels to take with you.

For convenience, as well as added food safety, use disposable dishes and containers whenever possible. Disposable dishes mean there will be no need for chasing around looking for your good dishes once the potluck or picnic is over.

You might not want to take a chance on losing your good Tupperware, but I find that, for church potlucks and picnics, Gladware is one of the best things ever invented.