Posted by The Frugal Housewife on July 3, 2009
Tomorrow is the 4th of July. People everywhere will be grilling, having BBQ’s, having picnics and enjoying celebrating our country’s Independence Day. Sometimes during all the festivities we forget about simple food safety. Who wants to get sick because they ate potato salad that had not been kept cold enough or had been set out too early on the picnic table? I know I don’t!!! I’ve had food poisoning before and it is NO fun!!!!
Some simple food safety tips are:
1. If possible, keep coolers in the shade, not in the direct sunlight.
2. Keep raw meat separate from all other foods. It’s very tempting to put the raw meat in the same cooler with the potato salad or with the canned drinks. Why would that be an unsafe thing to do? The blood and juice from the raw meat might drip onto the tops of the canned drinks or other containers. This would contaminate the containers and possibly infect everyone with E-coli or salmonella. It’s best to use multiple coolers and keep raw meats in a separate cooler with plenty ice.
3. Raw meat should be kept in coolers on ice until right before cooking.
4. Don’t use the same plate or utensil for raw meat and cooked food. It’s very easy to put the cooked hamburgers or steaks back on the the same plate that the raw hamburgers or steaks were on. But it’s the same reason as keeping the raw meat separate from all other foods. E-coli or salmonella could be lurking on the utensils or plate.
5. Keep the potato salad, mayo, ham, and deviled eggs cold enough when outside. Temperatures down here in south West Texas hit 101 degrees today. It would not take but a few minutes for those foods to ruin. If possible when putting food that needs to be kept cold out on the table, set them in a container with ice surrounding them. This will help to keep them cold while serving. As soon as everyone is finished, immediately close up the containers and put them back into the coolers with the ice.
As you can tell, it is a great idea to have multiple coolers of ice to keep food cold. If coolers keep food cold, then coolers will also keep food hot. If you are preparing hot foods to take to your celebration and don’t have insulated carrying covers, pour boiling water into the cooler and let stand for about 10 minutes right before you leave for your gathering. This will warm up the inside of the cooler and will help to keep the hot foods hot. It’s a simple thought but one that has to be reminded — keep hot foods with hot foods, cold foods with cold foods, raw meat with raw meat and canned drinks with canned drinks.
One more tip — don’t use the ice that the raw meat was in for the ice for your cups. The packages may have leaked and got on the ice. You might not even know that the meat juice was on the ice before you pour the drink over the ice in the cup.
These are just a few food safety tips. There are many more food safety tips that can help to ensure that you have a safe 4th of July food celebration. We’d love to hear from you. Leave us a comment with some of your tips!!!
Till next time,
JT Locke
The Frugal Housewife
Technorati Tags: 4th of July celebration, 4th of July celebrations, 4th of July parties, 4th of July party, food preparation, food preparation safety, food safety, food safety education, food safety info, food safety tips, food safety training, food service, food service safety, party preparation
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Posted by The Frugal Housewife on July 2, 2009
A Great Big Thank You to my top droppers on Entrecard!!!
- Learning Corner
- Vanessa
- Photography by KML
- A Simple Life
- Mommy’s Little Corner
- Hello Kitty Gifts
- The Modern Mom
- Living and Writing in China
- moms….. check nyo
- Yummy-as-can-be
Thanks again!!!
Till next time,
JT Locke
The Frugal Housewife
Technorati Tags: Entrecard, Entrecard Top Droppers, Frugal, frugal housewife, The Frugal Housewife, top droppers
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Posted by The Frugal Housewife on July 1, 2009
Bestselling author Sarah Strohmeyer’s new novel, THE PENNY PINCHER’S CLUB, is being released tomorrow, July 2, 2009. Dutton Publicity/Penguin U.S.A. has graciously given me TWO copies of THE PENNY PINCHERS CLUB to give to two lucky winners of the giveaway! The Frugal Housewife is hosting her first giveaway!!
In THE PENNY PINCHER’S CLUB, Kat Griffiths is a married woman who has never saved a penny in her life. She thinks that her husband is going to divorce her. She decides she needs to kick the “spending” habit to get ready for the divorce and life after the divorce.
Having just received the book and having read only a few chapters, I can tell this novel is going to be a hilarious, heartwarming story.
The contest ends July 5, 2009 at 11:59 pm. Two winners will be chosen by Random.org’s Random Number Generator.
The rules for the giveaway are simple!!!
1. Add your link to the Mr. Linky list below. (Note: If your link doesn’t appear on the Mr. Linky, please send me an email to let me know the Mr. Linky is not working — this is the first time I’ve used Mr. Linky!!!)
2. Mention this giveaway on your blog.
3. Leave a comment on this post with the link to the comment.
Dutton Publicity/Penguin U.S.A. will ship the book directly to the winners!!! Thanks in advance for entering the giveaway and I look forward to announcing the winners on July 6th!!!
Till next time,
JT Locke
The Frugal Housewife
Technorati Tags: Frugal, frugal housewife, frugal housewife giveaway, money saving, Penny pincher, Penny Pincher's Club, save money, saving money
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Posted by The Frugal Housewife on June 29, 2009
The Frugal Housewife celebrated her one year blogiversary this month!!! Things have changed a lot around here in the past year. I’ve learned more about blogging, more about research, and certainly more about being FRUGAL!!!
When The Frugal Housewife started it’s focus was going to be more on my family’s journey into leading a frugal lifestyle. It’s going to continue to give little insights into our journey but the focus is going to start moving toward all frugal matters — not just my family’s journey.
There are some great posts in the works. Saving money, rising costs, kitchen tips, and much more are in the planning stages. Also, in the next couple of weeks we are going to run our first contest. General Mills has offered to provide some products for us to give away and I also have a great bath gift basket to give away.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the first year of The Frugal Housewife. Please tell your friends about us and keep on visiting. We look forward to our second year!!!
Till next time,
JT Locke
The Frugal Housewife
Technorati Tags: Frugal, frugal housewife
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