Keeping Cold Foods Cold in the Summer Heat

The good

The day of our graduation party was one of the hotter days of summer with very high humidity. We were fortunate to try out the inflatable salad bar my wife received as a birthday gift. What a great idea!

Just before the guests arrived we filled it with a few jumbo bags of ice and used it to keep the pasta salad, bottled water, ketchup, mustard, onions and cheddar cheese for the chili dogs cold.

The not as good

The food was served outside in our garage and we used steam pans to keep the chili, hot dogs, and pulled pork barbeque hot. The open flame from the sterno cans didn’t help keeping the garage at a comfortable temperature on that hot, humid day. We used a small fan to help keep air circulating, but in the future, I would consider using crock pots instead and having more than one fan running.

We had far too much beer left after the party which you will see came in handy at a friend’s party the following day.