Keep Your Dishes Warm During the Winter

Whether you love going on winter picnics, or will be traveling a long distance to a potluck in cold weather, it’s important to know how to keep food warm when it’s cold outside.

Here are some great tips for when you’ll be eating outside or traveling with food in the winter months.

How to Keep Food Warm Outdoors

Planning a fun outdoor winter picnic or excursion? You’ll want to pack foods that can be completely assembled in advance, are easy to eat, and – of course – will warm you up. Follow these tips for keeping warm foods warm when you’re outdoors:

Bring foods that you can carry in a travel container, such as a Thermos™. Not only is a Thermos™ extremely portable and easy to eat from, but it also helps keep food warm for quite some time. Chili, macaroni and cheese, and tomato soup are all great foods that will warm you up inside and are ideal for this type of container.

Also use a Thermos™ to carry warm beverages like hot apple cider, hot chocolate, tea, or coffee.

Foil-wrapped foods are also ideal for taking on an outdoor winter outing. Prepare and cook the food at home, wrap the food well in aluminum foil to keep it warm, and toss it in your bag. It’s that simple! Some ideas for foil-wrapped foods are burritos and baked potatoes.

How to Keep Food Warm When Traveling in the Winter

So you’ve made a delicious, crowd-pleasing dish that everyone at the potluck party is going to love. But how are you going to keep your dish warm on a long drive when it’s cold out? Follow these tips, including one for how to keep food warm in a cooler, and your food will still be warm when you arrive!

Just as wrapping food with aluminum foil is great for keeping food warm outdoors, it also works well to keep your pre-cooked food warm and insulated when you’re traveling a distance.

Bring a slow cooker meal. Foods cooked in a slow cooker will remain warm a few hours after this appliance has been unplugged.

Small items that require heat, like dips and soups, can be easily stored in soup canisters. The insulated metal in these containers can keep liquids warm for up to five hours.

Grab your cooler. Sounds counter-intuitive, right? But the same cooler you use to keep food cold in the summer can also be used to keep food warm in the winter. Wondering just how to keep food hot in a cooler? According to The Daily South, you’ll need to:

• Wrap solid bricks in heavy-duty foil. Heat them in your oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 20 minutes.
• Line the bottom of the cooler with newspaper or brown paper shopping bags. Place the bricks on top of the lining so they cover the entire bottom of the cooler.
• Place your food on top of the bricks and then pack the top with insulation.

There you have it. Some really useful tips for keeping food warm in the winter. Now you have no excuse to stay inside. Start planning your next winter adventure now – one that includes bringing food, of course!