Save the Gravy! 3 Tips for Traveling with Holiday Dishes

by Courtney Conley
Road Trip

It’s the holiday season, and if it’s anything like last year, around 112.5 million Americans will be traveling for the holidays. When my family gathers for holidays, each of us brings a side dish to share with everyone. As we all live between 10 minutes and 2 hours away from each other, some of us have to travel pretty far with our side dishes! If you’re in a similar situation and will be traveling with food this holiday season, here are 3 tips for getting to your destination safely, and not spilling a drop of gravy.

1. Understand food safety guidelines and plan accordingly.

One of the hassles of holiday travel is making sure food is safely transported. Many families will bring along a cooked dish to share, and that means you need to make sure it stays at a safe temperature. The USDA says the "Danger Zone" is between 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, which is when bacteria grow most rapidly. If you are going to be traveling a longer distance (1.5 hours or more), maybe offer to bring rolls or cookies, which are safe at room temperature. If you’re traveling with a cold dish, like pasta salad or veggies, pack your dish in a cooler with plenty of ice. If you’re in charge of something warm like gravy or baked sweet potatoes, it’s best to cook your dish at home, cool it completely, and transport it while cold. Then you can reheat it when you get to your destination. Other warm dishes can be transported wrapped in foil and placed inside an insulated bag on short trips, but keep an eye on the internal temperature of your warm dishes and make sure they stay out of the Danger Zone.

2. Secure your dishes in your vehicle.

If you go through the effort of making a beautiful dish to share with your family, you want to make sure it gets to Grandma’s house safely! Not only is it a mess to have to clean up a spilled dish, it can also be a driving distraction. Here are a few ways to keep your holiday dishes secure on your drive:

  • Get lids that lock. Whether it’s a slow cooker or casserole dish, there are lots of options for secure lids with locks. If you don’t have a locking lid option, you can secure lids with rubber bands.
  • Place your secured dish in a cooler or insulated bag. This will help keep your food at a safe temperature, and help with keeping any spills contained to one area.
  • Keep your holiday dishes in the trunk or on the floor of the back seat, not on the seats themselves. You should not keep them on your lap while you’re driving, or on a passenger’s lap. This will help prevent distracted driving. The driver’s focus should be on the road, not on a slow cooker full of stuffing.
  • If transporting pies or other baked goods, place them on a baking sheet and wrap foil around the pies and baking sheet so they are secured together. Then, store the baking sheet in your trunk with a floor mat or other gripped surface underneath it to keep it from slipping.

If you are bringing home leftovers (who doesn’t love a Friday afternoon leftover lunch?), keep the same safety guidelines above in mind, and don’t eat any leftovers that were left out of the fridge for more than 2 hours.

3. Drive carefully.

This one sounds obvious, because we should always be driving carefully and defensively, but it’s particularly important on holidays. Like we mentioned above, holidays are big travel days, and the roads will be busy. If you live in an area of the country where snow and ice are possible, that complicates things even more. Even the most expertly-secured dishes are at risk if you’re not driving defensively. Give yourself plenty of time to get to your destination, and stay on the alert. If you want to brush up on your defensive driving skills and knowledge of rules of the road, we can help! Our online courses give you the information you need in a fun and engaging way. Click here to see which courses we offer in your state!

We hope you'll use these tips this holiday season to get to your destination safely! Let us know on Facebook what other topics you’d like us to cover here on our blog. We love to hear from you!

It’s the holiday season, and if it’s anything like last year, around 112.5 million Americans will be traveling for the holidays. When my family gathers for holidays, each of us brings a side dish to share with everyone. As we all live between 10 minutes and 2 hours away from each other, some of us have to travel pretty far with our side dishes! If you’re in a similar situation and will be traveling with food this holiday season, here are 3 tips for getting to your destination safely, and not spilling a drop of gravy.

Categories: Trip Planning, Driving Safety