Keeping food warm can be done in different ways!

There are a number of ways to keep food warm at home. You keep warm when the guests come later, for example, someone who has to work overtime or you eat an extensive meal and dishes have to be kept warm in the meantime. There will probably be many more reasons why you should or want to keep food warm. We will discuss this in detail in this blog.

You can keep food warm in the oven, in warm boxes or in a bain-marie. You can also keep food warm by preheating the plate or wrapping the dish with aluminum foil. A cooler bag or a tea light can also help keep food warm.

There are several ways to keep food warm. These are discussed in detail here. It also discusses how you can safely store food and what you should pay attention to when storing food and why. In short, a lot of good information.

1. Keeping Food Warm In The Oven

You can always keep food warm in the oven. Also for a longer period of time. You do have to cover the bowl with food with a heat-resistant lid or aluminum foil to prevent it from drying out. Place the dish or dishes with delicious hot dishes in an oven that has been preheated to 70 degrees.

You can keep the meal warm for about 2 hours. Make sure that the meal goes into the oven at at least 60 degrees. The meal should not be cooled below 60 degrees and then reheated. That could lead to food poisoning. It is best to place prepared food directly in the oven. This way it does not cool down to below 60 degrees.

2. Hot plates

There are different hot plates. Some are electric, others can be charged in advance and stay warm for at least an hour. They all do the same thing and that is keep food warm on the table. For when there is a long after-dinner or when a buffet has been prepared. When dining for a long time, keep the lid on the dishes or aluminum foil over it so that the top of the meal also stays warm and the food does not dry out at the top. The warming plates cannot heat up cold food. You do have to place warm dishes with hot food on the plates. It would really take too long for the food to be completely warm. This is not good for the quality of the food and could lead to food poisoning.

3. Warming plate Tea light (dish warmer)

You can also keep food warm on a hot plate, tea light or dish warmer. This is a safe way to have a cozy dinner because it has a double-sided wall against scorching tablecloths or tables. These dish warmers with 2 tea lights can be used at a buffet, for soups, sauces, but also for vegetables and potatoes and so on. Can be used for 1 large bowl or 2 smaller bowls.

Here too, a bowl with a hot meal must be placed on it. It cannot be a cooled meal that you let the dish warmer warm up. That would take a really long time and that would not benefit the quality of the food. The heating time would be too long, which could spoil the food in a short time and lead to food poisoning.

So only putting a hot dish on the dish warmers will keep them warm long enough and it will be safe for your health.

4. Keeping food warm on the table

There is another way to keep food warm on the table and that is to preheat the plates before serving. When you have a larger group and you want to start eating right away, it is useful to preheat the plates with a plate warmer. This way the food stays warm for a while and you can all start a warm meal at the same time that has not cooled down.

5. Keep food warm Au Bain-marie

The translation of au bain-marie is water bath. So food can be kept warm by placing trays/bowls in warm water that is just near the boiling point. When you do this on the gas stove, you can leave the water near the boiling point. This keeps the food warm.

There are also professional au Bain-marie devices that you can put on the table when you have a buffet, for example. Incidentally, it can also be the other way around. Cooling can also be done au Bain-marie by placing bowls or dishes of soup or sauce in cold water, which cools it down quickly. Which is important when you want to keep these soups or sauces in the fridge.

You can also rent kitchen equipment. More on this later.

6. Warming bag

You can also keep food warm in a warming bag. These bags are so well insulated that the heat does not disappear into the air. Usually they are used to take them to another address, but you can of course also fill them at home, especially if someone comes home later or you have prepared large meals and a part needs to be kept warm for a while. Nice and easy.

7. Keep Food Warm Aluminum Foil

Aluminum foil has an insulating effect. When you have made a warm sandwich, you can wrap it in aluminum foil and eat it warm. You can also fold this aluminum foil around containers. If it needs to be kept warm for a little longer, you can first fold newspaper around the trays, then the foil. The air between the newspapers remains warm due to the insulating capacity of the aluminum foil.

If you want to keep something warm for a few hours, you have to use another method as you can read in this blog. Aluminum foil can’t keep warm that long.

8. Keeping food warm Renting

You can rent warming materials for parties and parties to keep food warm. You can’t cook in it. Food continues to be kept warm in these containers, which are heated by means of a chafing dish (heating a water pan containing a container). The prepared food must therefore go in immediately after preparation. You can rent chafing dish for a few euros, whereby it must be said that there is often also an inner container and burner if you want to rent it completely. Google chaving dish and you’ll find one near you.

9. Keep food warm Temperature

When you want or need to keep food warm, there are a number of things that you have to take into account in connection with food safety. The fact is that bacteria can multiply quickly when hot food cools to a certain temperature. When this happens, food poisoning is lurking. And you don’t want that on your conscience.

When you have made food, it is important that you immediately put the food in warming equipment or bags after preparation so that it can stay warm for a while. Of course it depends on the equipment or bag how long you can keep heating the food. When the temperature drops to 60 degrees (with warming bags), it should be consumed immediately.

For example, the bain-marie and the oven ensure that the food remains at a constant temperature above 60 degrees so that it remains safe to eat.

Tips For Keeping Food Warm

If you want to let the food cool down, because you are preparing it for the next day or in the evening, you must do so within 2 hours. This is related to food safety. Bacteria don’t get a chance to grow to a dangerous amount. Then put the cooled food in the refrigerator (7 degrees or lower) or freezer (Min 18 degrees minimum). You can also cool down in a bain-marie or when it is very cold outside, below 7 degrees, put it outside well covered and then put it in the fridge or freezer. If you leave it outside, be aware that the temperature remains below 7 degrees, otherwise the food will spoil.