Summer picnics

Summer Picnics, Coronavirus-Style

Take a look at our picnicking tips to have yourself a worry-free afternoon.

As summer brings warm days and later evenings, many of us head outdoors for good fun and food, sunshine, braais and picnics. A picnic is the perfect solution, allowing us to have a fun time while staying safe during a pandemic, if we take the right precautions.

Enjoy a picnic in your neighbourhood, a local beach, nature reserve, botanical gardens or even in your own backyard.

It won’t be hard to find the perfect place for you to set up lunch and spend a day in the sun. (See our suggestions on p26.)

DO: Picnic in your backyard or on the patio and practise social distancing.

DON‘T: Picnic in a crowded park. Avoiding crowds helps protect you from exposure to the coronavirus.

When you are relaxing with family and friends (or at this point frenemies), it is easy to get caught up in the fun of a get-together. But in the time of COVID-19, certain traditions need to be rethought so that you can have fun without risking infection from the coronavirus – or a foodborne germ. Unfortunately, with warmer temperatures, a small error can expose your loved ones to foodborne illnesses or more. For a COVID-conscious picnic, while being outside presents a lower risk than gathering indoors, it’s still important to take some extra precautions, such as following social distancing (spacing chairs, dining areas, or picnic blankets at least 1.5m apart), wearing face masks and not sharing utensils.

DO: Wear a mask. Remember that wearing a mask when you're in public helps protect those around you. DON‘T: Expose yourself to unnecessary risk. Wearing a mask, using hand sanitiser and social distancing in public helps protect everyone.

By now, we’ve heard it a million times, but washing your hands is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and a large percentage of foodborne illnesses can be prevented if people wash their hands before cooking, after handling raw meat and before eating or serving food.

DO: Bring hand sanitiser or have access to a source of clean water to wash your hands.

Rub the sanitiser all over your hands, including between your fingers and around your nails. This is especially important to do before eating or after handling any raw meat that you plan to grill.

DON‘T: Handle food if you haven’t cleaned your hands properly.

TOP TIP: Create a hand-washing station. Hand sanitiser is a start, but if you have an outdoor tap or hose, provide soap and paper towels for guests to wash and dry their hands (using the paper towel to turn off the tap).

DO: Start with a clean slate.

Your hands should not only be kept clean, but also your cooler and food containers. Juices from raw meat and poultry can drip into your cooler, which can become a breeding ground for bacteria. Pack your food in clean, tightly sealed containers. Sanitise your cooler, and wash reusable bags you will use to transport food in. Wash fruit and vegetables at home first, even if you plan on peeling it, as bacteria can transfer from the knife to the edible portion. DON’T: Cross-contaminate.

Even if you can’t wash plates, tongs and serving utensils at the picnic site, rather bring two sets. It is more hygienic to handle raw meats with one and cooked meat with another. Even using the same container for raw and cooked foods can lead to contamination and foodborne illnesses.

DO: Separate foods.

Keep ready-to-eat foods like bread rolls, fruit, vegetables and cold meats away from contaminated serving utensils. Also pack your cooler with care by separating the foods as much as possible. Pack hot and cold foods apart. Rather consider packing beverages in a separate cooler box.

DO: Keep cold foods cold and cooked foods hot to reduce risk of food poisoning.

Be sure to use an insulated cooler and ice packs to help keep perishable food at a safe temperature. Your insulated cooler usually can’t keep your food cool enough on its own. Only pack your cooler three quarters full of food and reserve one quarter of the space for ice packs. Whenever possible, freeze or chill foods before packing them in your cooler.

DON‘T: Repurpose ice.

Whenever you bring along ice in a cooler box to use in drinks, and not only to keep food cold, you need to pack it in a separate sealed bag. Don’t open ice bags into your cooler box and use these ice blocks in your drinks.

The ice blocks can pick up odourless, invisible bacteria from the surface of your cooler box, which can be consumed by you if it is in your drinks and cause foodborne illnesses. >>

DO: Keep food at a safe temperature. Especially in summer when temperatures are soaring, you need to be careful to keep food at a safe temperature. The temperature danger zone for food is between 5˚C to 60˚C. Exposure at these temperatures can cause bacteria numbers to double every 20 minutes. Unfortunately, you can’t see, smell or taste it if food has been exposed to harmful bacteria with toxins growing in it. Rather keep the food in a wellinsulated cooler with enough ice or ice packs to keep the temperature below 5˚C. Transport the cooler inside your car, on your back seat where the air conditioner is on, rather than in the hot boot. At the picnic site, cover the cooler with a blanket and place it in the shade.

DON’T: Eat food that has been sitting outside in the heat too long, i.e. food that’s been sitting out for longer than two hours (or after one hour if the outdoor temperature is 32°C or higher). Be careful with foods with dairy-based ingredients and salads containing egg and tuna.

And last but not least, don’t forget the sunscreen…

DO: Wear sunscreen. It’s an easy way to protect your skin from damaging ultraviolet (UV) rays.

DON’T: Skip the sunscreen because it’s cloudy. Even on a cloudy day, UV rays from the sun can damage your skin, which is a risk for skin cancer.

See our easy picnic food recipes on page 28. Our picnic ideas are quick to make and easy to transport to your favourite outdoor spot.

Happy picnicking!

Source: news.lvhn.org/dos-and-dontssummer-picnics-coronavirus-style/

Picnic Checklist

Bottle Cork Opener

Mask

Hand Sanitiser Sunscreen

Ice Packs

Containers

Napkins Acrylic Glasses

Sharp Knife

Utensils Snacks and Drinks

Plates

Cutting Board

Picnic Blanket or Throw

Be Sun Smart!

Are you ready for this year’s summer holiday? Be safe in the sun and make sure that your sunscreen has not expired before using it! If you’ve bought sunscreen and opened the bottle more than a year ago, you'll have to throw it out. You can hold on to an unopened bottle for a little longer. It usually only expires after three years. Ingredients may become degraded over time, which renders the sunscreen less potent, and potentially may not exert the full SPF that it claims on the label. You may be less protected against sunburn and skin cancer.

advice

STAY PROTECTED!

But rather be safe than sorry (or badly sunburned) and check for an expiration date. Using an expired sunscreen is almost like not using one at all. Talk to our friendly team at a Local Choice pharmacy about putting your health first.