Great ideas for great tailgating

Tailgating is great fun and usually the food is delicious, here are some great ideas to keep it so.

1. Plan what you’re going to cook and what you’re going to need well in advance. Ensure when you put things into your vehicle you put the things you need last, in first, and the things you’ll need first, in last.

* Don’t leave thinking about things until the last minute because you’ll forget things and when you realize your mistake you won’t have the kitchen in the next room;

* Don’t forget tables and chairs, crockery and cutlery, condiments and sauces;

* If using gas make sure you have a spare bottle;

* Don’t forget to put into the vehicle those perishable things, such as the meat or fish, which you’re keeping in the fridge till the last minute;

* Don’t forget to put in your grill and your charcoals or your burner and your skillets or stockpots; and,

* Don’t forget the trash bags for waste disposal.

2. Well before you’re set to go:

* The meal is going to be really important. Buy really good quality ingredients because whatever you do and however good is the recipe you’ll be disappointed if the quality of the food you’ve started with is below par;

* If you’re using fish or prawns try to buy therm fresh; avoid frozen because its convenient;

* Use marinades to prepare any meats or fish; the more you can do before the better;

* Prepare sauces you’ll be using before hand;

* Place all the food you’ll be taking into fully seal able containers ensuring that you keep raw meats/foods for cooking completely separate from other foods;

3. Make sure that where you plan to visit and more specifically where you plan to do your cooking that you are permitted to use grill or gas stoves; more and more often we’re finding evermore restrictions;

4. When you arrive at your location :

* take time to prepare things before starting cooking;

* Ensure that your grill or stove on a level sound base;

* Set up a fresh food & your raw food preparation area keeping utensils separate for each;

5. Take great care of your food hygiene when tailgating:

* Ensure that your food before cooking is kept chilled so as to avoid contamination;

* Keep apart uncooked raw foods from foods to be eaten raw;

* Wash before starting to handle foods and wash again when you move from preparing your raw meats to the food you’ll be eating fresh;

* When you’re out in the real world often times things can slip, keep focused on the job in hand and your timetable;

* Take great care to make sure you cook your meats thoroughly; to help its best to have a meat thermometer handy so you can see the temperature inside the meat.

6. And then finally:

* make sure that you clean up well where ever you’ve stopped;

* extinguish the grill fire and remove the ashes immersing them in water before disposing of them; and,

* get rid of your waste appropriately or take it with you.