When looking for your tailgating spot before the game, make sure you will have plenty of room for family, friends and games. The number one thing about your spot is for safety and room for fun while barbecuing your favorite foods. Tailgating safety is very important. You not only have family and friends, but you have your neighbors who are having friends and family at their tailgating party. Safety is so important because there are children running, playing, and throwing the football. They need to always be aware of their surroundings so as not to hurt someone or themselves.
Your BBQ grill needs to be another priority of safety. Gas grills are safer than those using brickets. Make sure your propane tank if full before leaving for the tailgating spot. Just cannot afford to run out of fuel! The grills using brickets stay hot longer and not easy to dispose of the coals. If you do use the brickets, bring something to store them in safely when thru cooking. Such as heavy duty foil to put the hot coals in and wrapped up securely and stored in a bucket, with some of the extra ice you brought along. This will prevent them from being a hazard. Do store away from anyone so as not to get burned, before they do cool down.
Storage of food is another importance, as you are going to be at the game for over 3 ½ hours, and this really depends on what transpires throughout the game. If you are preparing your food at home and bringing it to cook at the tailgating party, have different storage bins (ice chests) for food and meats. To prevent spoilage and the possibility of food borne illness, you must take these precautions. Fresh meat should be kept refrigerated at about 38 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit for as much of the time as possible. If you are serving cooked meats, keep it in their packages until ready to use. To avoid food poisoning hazards, packaged meat should not be at a warm temperature of 40 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit for more than one hour. To stress the point, keep your meat on ice until ready to cook on the grill.
Remember when preparing your meat(s), use disposable gloves to prevent contamination of bacteria from your hands. You are not near running water to be able to wash your hands often as needed. They should be disposed of properly so they will not contaminate any other food(s). It is also important to note you should not mix your meats. Secure each in containers separately until ready to put on the grill.
Your accompanying foods, such as potato salad, deviled eggs, condiments, etc. should be kept on ice even while serving. This is important because there are a number of friends and family that will continue enjoying these until the game starts. Lids can be placed on the containers and the lid to the ice chest secured each time after they have dished up their plate. The food will remain safe from bacteria.
Keep plenty of ice, drain your chests and restock your ice before heading off to the game. Bring plenty of trash bags for the throw-a-way items. A separate container for dirty dishes that are not disposable; such as your tailgating accessories, glassware, mugs, can coolers, thermos, BBQ utensils, etc. Clean up around your tailgating site and everyone should get involved with this; yes friends and family. Secure all your equipment so things will be safe until after the game.
Written by Webmaster
Marilynn B. McAlister
512-255-1559
http://www.mymajesticenterprises.com
