Food at a long open house party

[Anonymous]

How do you handle food safety at an open house? We’re hosting a grad party from 12-4 and would like to serve food but I’m not sure how? Just divide everything in two and swap everything half way through?
The sheet cake can be out the whole time

[Anonymous]

Put long folding tables inside but right near the doors to the back. So people take food that's indoors, not in the sun, in air-conditioning, and then step outside to eat it.

Do NOT leave the sheet cake outside the whole time. That is a terrible idea.

[Anonymous]

Definitely put food out in smaller portions so it's not all out at once. To keep food cold, fill disposable foil pans with ice and place platters and bowls on top of the ice. To keep food hot, use crockpot/slow cookers set to warm. You can usually borrow slow cookers from friends and family if you need several.

[Anonymous]

Container store sells chillers
They are flat just put cold items on top of them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Put long folding tables inside but right near the doors to the back. So people take food that's indoors, not in the sun, in air-conditioning, and then step outside to eat it.

Do NOT leave the sheet cake outside the whole time. That is a terrible idea.

I didn’t mean outside! All the food will be in our kitchen. People can go in buffet-style and eat outside on our deck/yard

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put long folding tables inside but right near the doors to the back. So people take food that's indoors, not in the sun, in air-conditioning, and then step outside to eat it.

Do NOT leave the sheet cake outside the whole time. That is a terrible idea.

I didn’t mean outside! All the food will be in our kitchen. People can go in buffet-style and eat outside on our deck/yard

You need to say things like this in the first post! One of the hosts needs to be in the kitchen at least every half hour to throw out empties, clean things up, refill, etc.

[Anonymous]

What kind of food are you serving? My rule of thumb is that anything can sit out on my (indoor, air conditioned) kitchen island for up to 2 hours, except seafood. So I would be fine splitting sandwich platters in half, crudite and dips in half, etc. And I would obviously use chafing dishes for anything that needed to be served hot. I think your plan to split everything in half and serve it indoors is about what I would do.

[Anonymous]

OP, as a guest at grad parties, I’m grateful to you for thinking of this! I suspect most hosts just refill, they don’t remove the old food.

As others said, I’d split the food in half and do a full replacement 2 hrs into the party. Maybe a couple of friends can be tagged to help you guys with this so it goes fast.

[Anonymous]

I’ll also add, I doubt that guests coming at the last hour would expect to find the full meal still out. So another way is that you could just stagger the food - just snacky stuff out first 30-45 min, the main food out the middle 2.5 hrs (so no need to replace it), only dessert and fruit left out for final 45 min.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, as a guest at grad parties, I’m grateful to you for thinking of this! I suspect most hosts just refill, they don’t remove the old food.

As others said, I’d split the food in half and do a full replacement 2 hrs into the party. Maybe a couple of friends can be tagged to help you guys with this so it goes fast.

And has anything ever happened with spoiled food / poisoning at these grad parties? Nope. Keep in mind that, in another 3 months, your kid will be eating leftovers that sat out all night on their dorm floor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, as a guest at grad parties, I’m grateful to you for thinking of this! I suspect most hosts just refill, they don’t remove the old food.

As others said, I’d split the food in half and do a full replacement 2 hrs into the party. Maybe a couple of friends can be tagged to help you guys with this so it goes fast.

And has anything ever happened with spoiled food / poisoning at these grad parties? Nope. Keep in mind that, in another 3 months, your kid will be eating leftovers that sat out all night on their dorm floor.

Yes, but Grandma won't be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, as a guest at grad parties, I’m grateful to you for thinking of this! I suspect most hosts just refill, they don’t remove the old food.

As others said, I’d split the food in half and do a full replacement 2 hrs into the party. Maybe a couple of friends can be tagged to help you guys with this so it goes fast.

When I host a long open house, this is what I do. Also depending on the time of day, I might switch type of food. I used to host an open house that started at 11. At 11, there was more brunch type food. More dinner/dessert in second half.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, as a guest at grad parties, I’m grateful to you for thinking of this! I suspect most hosts just refill, they don’t remove the old food.

As others said, I’d split the food in half and do a full replacement 2 hrs into the party. Maybe a couple of friends can be tagged to help you guys with this so it goes fast.

And has anything ever happened with spoiled food / poisoning at these grad parties? Nope. Keep in mind that, in another 3 months, your kid will be eating leftovers that sat out all night on their dorm floor.

At some point, people stop eating picked over food. So if your goal is to stop feeding them, don’t refresh. But if you want people in the second half to stay, refresh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, as a guest at grad parties, I’m grateful to you for thinking of this! I suspect most hosts just refill, they don’t remove the old food.

As others said, I’d split the food in half and do a full replacement 2 hrs into the party. Maybe a couple of friends can be tagged to help you guys with this so it goes fast.

And has anything ever happened with spoiled food / poisoning at these grad parties? Nope. Keep in mind that, in another 3 months, your kid will be eating leftovers that sat out all night on their dorm floor.

+1

I think DCUM would be horrified at my "food safety" protocols. Expired room temperature yogurt? Not unheard of here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, as a guest at grad parties, I’m grateful to you for thinking of this! I suspect most hosts just refill, they don’t remove the old food.

As others said, I’d split the food in half and do a full replacement 2 hrs into the party. Maybe a couple of friends can be tagged to help you guys with this so it goes fast.

And has anything ever happened with spoiled food / poisoning at these grad parties? Nope. Keep in mind that, in another 3 months, your kid will be eating leftovers that sat out all night on their dorm floor.

+1

I think DCUM would be horrified at my "food safety" protocols. Expired room temperature yogurt? Not unheard of here.

This is an AI post by Big Yogurt, right?