Cooking for family and friends

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A party is great fun. Whether it’s to celebrate a birthday, anniversary, wedding, Christmas or community event, it’s a time when we gather together the people we care about to celebrate. The last thing we want is for it to end with our guests getting sick with food poisoning. Unfortunately, this is too often what happens.

Why does food poisoning happen more often at large gatherings?

The average home kitchen is really not designed for cooking for large numbers of people. Work surfaces stoves and fridges are intending to cater for normal cooking needs for a family not for preparing large amounts of food.

Guests often bring a plate, which means the food can be out of the fridge for several hours, enough time for any bacteria in it to multiply.

To avoid a last minute rush and being too exhausted to enjoy the party, most people start preparing food well ahead of the event. That’s fine, and some, non-perishable items, such as a Christmas cake can be prepared weeks ahead (because the food is too dry for bacteria to grow). Other foods, such as casseroles or sausage rolls, can be cooked in advance but need to be carefully prepared and then chilled or frozen quickly.

Don’t be a goose… avoid temperature abuse

Temperature abuse is the major cause of foodborne illness at parties and functions. Remember to minimise the time food stays in the temperature danger zone (5 ° C - 60 ° C) by:

Keeping hot food steaming hot – use the top of the stove or an oven turned down to just below 100 ° C. Some foods are served lukewarm. If you want to serve food at less than 60 ° C, that’s ok provided that it doesn’t stay at that temperature for more than 4 hours.
Keeping cold food cold — if you prepare ahead of time, make sure that the fridge is still operating at or below 5 ° C – even though you’ve loaded in all that extra food.
Cooling quickly, once the steam stops rising, cover the food and put it immediately in the fridge. You want it to cool as quickly as possible so that spores, which can survive cooking, don’t germinate.
Hastening the cooling process by pre-cooling the hot food in its container in a sink of iced or cold water or putting it into shallow containers and chilling or freezing the food in those. Deep containers can take days for the centre of the food to reach 5 ° C.
Thawing any frozen food correctly in the fridge or microwave either the day before or on the day of the party.
Reheat food fast either on top of the stove, in the oven or in a microwave. Remember those spores are always looking for windows of opportunity to germinate and make your guests sick.

The Fridge

Domestic fridges are not very large and an overcrowded fridge or freezer does not allow the cold air to circulate freely around the food so sometimes foods can be inadequately frozen or chilled. When it contains a big load of food, the fridge has to work overtime to cope and, particularly if the weather is hot, the temperature inside will rise.

You should have a fridge thermometer inside the fridge to check that your fridge is operating at the correct temperature (around 4-5 ° C). At these temperatures food poisoning bacteria will multiply very slowly and the food will remain safe for 2 or 3 days. Check your fridge temperatures first thing in the morning after the food has had a chance to cool and adjust the controls to lower the temperature if necessary.

Loading the fridge

Make sure that raw meat and poultry can’t contaminate ready to eat food. Raw food, can contain food poisoning bacteria. This is not a problem if the food is cooked before it is eaten. However, if these bacteria get onto ready to eat food, such as salads, they can cause food poisoning – see the cross contamination leaflet for more information.

You inevitably will run out of space to allow you to do this properly, particularly if your guests are also bringing food which needs to be refrigerated until you are ready to eat, so what should you do?

What can be taken out of the fridge?

Take out the beer for a start. The drinks can’t make you sick if they are inadequately cooled, the food can. You can fill the laundry sink and insulated containers or buckets with ice and keep all the beer and soft drinks chilled.
The ground coffee can also be removed for a while without losing its flavour. Whole fruit can survive in the fruit bowl or cupboard, as can whole raw vegetables
Those jars of pickles, chutneys and bottled sauces that have vinegar on the label can come out too because they won’t be a problem outside the fridge for a couple of days.
If you still don’t have enough room, make sure the things that are eaten later are in the fridge and leave out the things you will eat first – remember they can stay out of the fridge for up to 4 hours in total.

What can’t?

Cooked meats, deli meats, pates etc. should be left in the fridge until you are ready to eat them.
Salads - especially cooked vegetable, pasta or rice salads (whether they contain meat or poultry or not).
Ready to eat seafood.
Dips and other ready to eat foods.

Preparing and cooking the food

Because of the risks inherent in catering for a large group, you need to be even more careful than usual about preparing the food to prevent any bacteria being introduced by cross contamination.

Wash your hands, chopping boards, knives and anything else which will come into contact with the food before you start preparation and between preparing raw and ready to eat foods.
Cook poultry, minced meats, sausages and other pre-prepared meats until well done, right through to the centre. No pink should be left visible. Steaks and other solid pieces of meat can be cooked to taste.
Do not allow to cool on the bench. As soon as steam stops rising, refrigerate or freeze in a leak-proof container.
Don’t prepare food if you’re feeling unwell or have gastroenteritis.
Don’t leave perishable nibbles, like dips and soft cheeses, out in the temperature danger zone for too long. It's better to divide them into small amounts and replenish with fresh portions as required. This also makes them look more appetising. Don' t mix fresh top-ups with ones that have been outside for some time. Low risk foods, e.g. nuts, crisps, crackers, etc. can be topped up.

Bringing a plate or taking home leftovers

Use insulated containers with lots of ice-bricks, gel packs etc to keep the food chilled.
Chill the food well before taking it out of the fridge to pack. Don’t pack food if it has just been cooked and is still warm.
Cover all ready to eat food securely.
Pack any raw meat or poultry in a sealed container at the bottom of the container (to avoid any juices dripping onto other food).
If you want to bring home any left-overs, ask your hosts to put your ice-bricks or gel packs into the freezer during the party so that you can transport the left-overs home safely. Put leftovers into the fridge as soon as you get home.

Now enjoy your party …

And for safety’s sake remember the 6 key tips……

keep hot food steaming hot
keep cold food refrigerated
Cook food properly
Separate raw and cooked foods
Keep kitchen and utensils clean
Wash hands with soap and dry thoroughly