Cool Ideas for Hot Summer Picnics
It’s great to get outside and build memories, but so often it is hard to keep cool foods cool. Whether you’ve got drinks, fruit or anything else you might want to keep cool at your picnic, these ideas will do the trick.
Salad Bar and Soda Pop Station
Keeping salads and drinks cold can be a problem, but here is an easy solution. Take a laundry basket, a plastic baby tub, a wheelbarrow, a wagon or even a child’s plastic wading pool and fill with ice cubes. Place soda cans in the ice around the outer edges of the container. Then place the salad bowls in the middle of the container. The most secure way to place the bowl is to make an indentation with your hand, then place the bowl in and twist it from side to side.
Ice Bowl for Long-Lasting Coolness
Another way to keep food cold for a long period of time is to use a block of ice. Place the ice on a large try or pan, or directly on the ground. Chip out a section on the top of the ice just slightly smaller than the bowl that will contain the food you want to keep cold. Then fill a metal bowl with hot water and slide it around the hollow top of the ice block until the bowl filters into the ice. You may need to change the hot water more than once. When the food is in the bowl, the solid ice counter will hold the food and keep it cool for a long period of time.
Double Boiler Food Keeper: A Versatile Hack
If you’ve got a double boiler on hand, you can put ice in the bottom pan, and then put the food you want to keep cool in the top pan. Keep the pan covered with a lid when you aren’t serving. It’s a great idea for chilled salads. Just a side note. If, by chance, you want to keep foods warm while serving, heat rock salt in your oven and place it in the bottom of a double boiler. Then place the food you want to keep warm in the top pan and put the lid on. This works well if you want to fix the food before your guests arrive.
Elegant Ice Rings for Punch
Keeping punch cool can be a problem, but chill out. Colorful ice rings for your punch bowl will not only keep the drinks cool, they will add elegance. You can add maraschino cherries, berries, pineapple, mint or other leaves, or small flowers to your ice ring to make it interesting. If you use flowers, make sure they are not poisonous. You can create contrast by adding food coloring to the water you’re freezing.
To make an ice ring, gather the fruit or other decorations you plan to use along with an interestingly-shaped pan. Bundt pans, gelatin molds or even plastic cups for smaller ice cubes all make good molds. Arrange the decorations in the bottom of the pan upside down so they will look natural when you turn the molded ice over. Then pour a shallow layer of water into the pan; stop pouring before the decorations are completely covered and begin to float. Place in the freezer for one to two hours, until the water has frozen. This will set the decorations in place. Then add water to just below the rim of the mold, allowing for space for the water to expand as it freezes. Then freeze again.
These ideas will help you keep cool foods cool at one of your hot summer parties so that only good memories are made.
