Party Foods that hold up in the heat?

kiki02

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 5, 2012
Messages
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Florida heat. Outdoor party. What can I make or buy that will hold up and not melt away or spoil in ten minutes?

help! :crazy2:
 
Try to have some type of shade over the food. Use trays filled with ice under the serving trays. Nothing with icing, such as cake or cupcakes.
 
Floridian here! What we do is grill burgers and hot dogs, those are the last thing on the food table usually. Fruit salad and pasta salads are places in bowls and then placed in larger bowls filled with ice. We put out lots of finger foods like chips and pretzels. Everything not eaten should be put away in the fridge or ice chest after an hour or so. For desert, we have brownies, cookies, and popsicles if we're at a house with a freezer.
 
German potato salad is good and will hold up to heat. My mil made potato salad with celery, onions, dukes and a lemon-juice and olive oil dressing.
 

. . . What can I make or buy that will hold up and not melt away or spoil in ten minutes?

1) My ex-mother-in-law's cakes.
2) Their half-live is the same as plutonium.
3) They even outlast Twinkies !
 
You can actually buy bowls that have an ice compartment built in. We just make what we want and keep it on ice, works every time. lol :)
 
We buy a small inflatable pool (about $4 at Walmart), and inflate it. Put it on the table, fill it with a large bag of ice, then all of the salads and items that need to stay cold get put in the pool filled with ice. That way you don't have to have multiple bowls of ice to keep all the cold items cold. When you are done, you just dump it out and deflate it.

As far as ideas for foods that will hold up in the heat, we had a thread the other day where we discussed Texas Caviar (or Cowboy Caviar, or Redneck Caviar). It is really good on tortilla chips, and since it has a vinegar and oil marinade and only beans and chopped vegetables in it, it should be fine in the heat...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3135564
 
No way. where? thanks!!!!

There are lots of places you can find them this time of year. Just look in the picnic/bbq/seasonal section of your local superstore or grocery store. See my links below for examples.

You can even make your own really easily. Take 2 bowls that nest together (one larger than the other). Put ice in the bigger bowl and the food in the smaller bowl. Put the smaller bowl in the bigger bowl. Make sure the ice sits below the edge (so you don't get water in the food).

Walmart
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Prodyne-Salad-on-Ice-Covered-Bowl-with-Servers/17491159
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Prodyne-Dip-on-Ice-Serving-Bowl/17491164

Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Prodyne-AB-5-...d=1373093520&sr=8-4&keywords=cold+bowl+on+ice
http://www.amazon.com/Prodyne-IC-10...d=1373093520&sr=8-6&keywords=cold+bowl+on+ice
 
We did the pool thing with the large plastic toddler pools. Soda and water in one, food that needed to be kept cold in another.
 
Try to have some type of shade over the food. Use trays filled with ice under the serving trays. Nothing with icing, such as cake or cupcakes.

On the 4th we were at the tailend of a heatwave (high was 106) and we had to transport my dad b-day cake about 5 miles from our house to theirs. OMG! You are right about icing. My poor daughter has icing all over her pants by the time we go there.
 
I bought a number of plastic under the bed storage bins -- filled them with ice and put the salad bowls right on the ice. They're longer and less bulky than the toddler pools.
 














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