Keeping Food Safe at the Beach
Posted in Food Safety,Our Blog on June 11, 2026
Its beach time! A time of the year that so many people pack up their families and head somewhere to put their toes in the sand and feel the waves crash against them. We know about bringing the blankets, towels, maybe even a picnic basket but how do we go about keeping food safe at the beach? Let’s take a look today and find out.
- When bringing a cooler make sure you have room for both the food and the ice. You can use loose ice or even ice packs (my personal favorite) but ensure you can fit everything in and even consider a larger cooler if necessary.
- Bring a thermometer to monitor the temperature inside the cooler. There are some that have probes that are very reasonably priced and are super easy to use.
- Keep your cooler in a cool spot. We like to put up canopy tents or even an umbrella to make sure that our cooler is out of the sun. This helps the life of the ice so much.
- Provide hand washing or sanitizer methods. Typically, these facilities are not easy to find access to when traveling so it is very important to have clean hands before touching any food. Creating your own handwashing station can be as easy as a bowl, a bottle of clean water and soap.
- Keep raw foods separate from prepared foods. Often people find that packing two coolers is the only way to ensure that these foods never come in contact with each other.
- Remember to not over pack your cooler.
- Get a separate cooler for drinks to not only save space in your food cooler but to also have access to clean ice. We just wipe down our bottles, reusable cups etc and use the ice from the separate cooler to keep our drinks cold.
- Prep and season foods before you leave home. This allows for you to use things at home that aren’t easy to carry along on trips like a cutting board. Prepping at home reduces the risk of cross contamination greatly.
- Use containers over bags. Containers are way more sturdy and don’t allow for things to puncture them as easy compared to a plastic bag. We like to use the ones you can see through like the glass Pyrex dishes that come in the bulk packaging. Not only do I feel that glass is easier to clean, but it doesn’t provide the waste that plastic usually does.
- Put food away unless you are eating. This keeps bugs, birds and other creatures from trying to join you for lunch.
- Make plans to bring food home or discard what you didn’t eat if you can’t get to a fridge in time.
- Always clean up after yourself to ensure that no food particles or anything is left behind to build bacteria for the next person that comes to the spot after you.
For more summer food safety tips please keep an eye on Make Food Safe.
