This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Lysol®. The opinions and text are all mine.
The season of picnic till you can’t picnic anymore is upon us. Translation = time to move the party outdoors and to cook hundreds of pounds of chicken and burgers all summer long!
Being outside in the beautiful outdoors is some of the best time you can spend with family and friends or even alone. However, after winter and spring have had their way with your outdoor settings, you need to clean it all up. As a person who used to own a food store/restaurant, sanitation plays big into safe food handling. Further, as a total germaphobe, I can’t relax unless I know I handled picnic prep ‘properly’.
From food prep to picnic tables, germs are on surfaces you never considered. What should you do to clean up the food prep spaces and your outdoor picnic zones? Lavishly live life out loud and use my 7 Summer Party Tips: Food Prep Safety to Picnic Tables to throw a fabulous party!
7 Summer Party Tips: Food Prep Safety to Picnic Tables
Before you fire up that grill, sit on those chairs, use those picnic tables or play on the swings, let me share some picnic prep. Once you prep the food for the grill master, you really need to clean food contact surfaces. Picnics are a lot of work and spending time outdoors is great, but the areas we use need to be maintained.
The 7 Summer Party Tips: Food Prep Safety to Picnic Tables should help you easily navigate your way from cleaning prep to serving food that has not been in contact with other food! Party safe and have fun!
Long before your party starts, head to Target to the home cleaning aisle and pick up my 2 hero products for pre-party setup! Locate and purchase Lysol® Daily Cleanser Spray and Lysol Daily Cleanser Wipes, 80 wipes. In fact, take advantage of the 20% off in-store Cartwheel offer from 5/20-5/26 & the buy one, get one 20% offer, 5/27-6/2! Now, let’s party prep shall we?
1. Tables, Chairs, and Grills
Hold on to those baskets of chips and those fruit platters, and do not put down your tableware UNTIL you use Lysol Daily Cleanser Spray. Outdoor tables are subject to wildlife running on them, dead bugs, and dirt. No one wants to add this to their condiment menu so before you set anything down, make sure you do a cleanup ahead of time.
While your meat is marinating inside, head outside and use Lysol Daily Cleanser Spray to kill 99.9% of germs that are on those surfaces. The best part is that you are cleaning germs without leaving behind harsh chemicals.
2. Disinfect Easily
To disinfect using the Lysol Daily Cleanser, spray the surface you want to clean and make sure it is thoroughly wet. Walk away and spray the next surface, and the next, and then after 10 minutes of stand time, wipe.
It’s that easy, no water necessary. Did I mention why I use it? Lysol Daily Cleanser has only a few simple ingredients. Additionally, it is free from ammonia, fragrances, and dyes.
3. Let the food touch the surface, no worries!
No worries about food coming into contact with the freshly sanitized surface (like kids putting bread on the table or chips and eating them). No worries if the kids put their toys down or if you place pacifiers on the table, it’s all good because this cleanser is safe to use on food contact surfaces, baby areas, toys, pet areas, and even pacifiers!
4. Other Picnic Places
So if you are packing up for a picnic play date at a park that has picnic tables, pack this in your bag. While you are getting the kids in the sandbox, spray the cleaner. Once the kids are settled in the sandbox, wipe away the spray with a paper towel. Put out the lunch spread and enjoy!
5. Swing Sets, Slides & Bird “Doo Doo’
I know you are laughing but I am that MOM. Swings and slides are wonderful as long as there is no bird ‘doo doo’ on them. If there is, I need a way to clean it up fast so the kids can keep on playing. Swings in the backyard or at the picnic table where you are hosting your party are breeding grounds for germs. Overall, if you are outside, you have already come to terms with this, however, bird poop is a whole other level of germ.
Did you ever avoid a swing seat because of bird poop, yet someone else walked up and flicked it off with their finger? Well, their ‘flick’ simply removed some of the doo-doo, yet the germs are now on their fingers and their clothes. Get this, then they sit where the rest of the germs went and NOW will travel into their home. Is it any wonder we get sick with some of the weirdest things?
Use Lysol Daily Cleansing Wipes to clean the seats your children are about to swing on. Feel good using this wipe as they are free from harsh chemical residue, ammonia, fragrances, and dyes. Want to know what else? The areas you wipe don’t need to be rinsed off and the wipes kill 99.9% of germs that were there! Sit those butts in those swings and worry no more.
Safely Cleaning Food Contact Surfaces or ‘Do I get food poisoning with that serving of lettuce you just cut up after putting raw chicken and burger meat on the counter?’
Picnics are meant to be fun, don’t let the party ruin somebody’s next few days by serving up germs and bacteria. Use this method of food prep to keep your guests and yourself safe from food contact surfaces.
6. Sanitizing Is Easy
Meat Handling Techniques
Every time you use a cutting board or countertop to prepare a raw meat, simply use Lysol Daily Cleansing Wipes. If you are making hamburgers and then get ready to switch to chicken prep, stop and wipe your surface, then let that surface dry.
Then, begin with the next meat. These are disposable and super easy to use as there is no rinsing needed. I heart that the wipes do not have any harsh chemical residue, or ammonia, fragrances or dyes.
Next, when you are done prepping the food, wipe down the counters and sink handles as well as the sink, leave nothing to chance.
Wipe all the surfaces you prepared food around and on. It’s that easy.
7. Party Around The Grill
We love our grilling. And, picnics and grills go hand in hand, but so do the germs that come with grilling! Seriously, one of the biggest food contact surfaces are your grill side tables. Here is where the truest picnic begins.
Guys gather around and while one flips the burgers, the others drink beers. The griller has a set of utensils that are placed on the grill side table.
Then it happens, the first person puts their bottle on the side table and walks away. Minutes later, he returns, grabs the bottle which has touched the contaminated area and then touches other foods and people. It’s contamination overload by a beer bottle. Instead of letting raw food interfere with human hands, beer bottles, etc., wipe the grilling utensils off after the meat has cooked or wipe the contact surfaces off, your choice. Either way, you are keeping contact surfaces free of bacteria.
