Helpful Tips for a Great Barbecue

Barbecue weather is now in full swing, and what better excuse to fill a sunny Sunday than to treat your friends and family with an open-air feast. We’ve come up with five top tips to bear in mind when dealing with the challenge of being the host with the most.

Capacity and Space

Make sure you’re well prepared for the volume of food and drink you’re likely to need. Barbecues can prove challenging for anyone’s kitchen, whether it’s kitchen space, room in the fridge or enough hot surfaces for your food. If you’re hosting a party of several guests, the chances are they’ll be bringing a healthy stock of drink with them, which means you have to have enough fridge-space or a chill box on hand to accommodate those cans of booze or bottles of pop. Before guests arrive, give the kitchen / dining spaces a good tidy; not only does clutter not feel too inviting, you’ve also got to make room for likely pasta dishes or bowls of salad.

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Keep Things Separate

Food hygiene is the number one priority for barbecue time; it’s important to keep uncooked meat away from cooked food, and containers must be strictly kept for specific uses with no cross-over. Managing grill space on your barbecue can be critical for your vegan/vegetarian guests – they won’t be very impressed with their veggie kebabs rubbing along next to pork sausages or on grill bars dripping with fat. We suggest cooking your veggie food first or, if you have two barbecues, to treat meat and non-meat completely separately – this goes for storing cooked food also.

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Preparation is Key

Barbecue food can be quick-cook but long on preparation time. Get to work the night before to defrost anything you need to, and get marinating those chicken pieces or lamb kebabs. Prepare salads, pasta, dips and whatever other side dishes well ahead of guests arriving so hosting can be stress-free with drinks and chatter on arrival. Don’t be slaving away in the kitchen when you’d rather be catching up with your friends.

Shop Clever

Nobody likes to over-spend, so make a plan for what meat and vegetable dishes you’re going to create and stick to it. It’s tempting to get carried away and over-buy food and snacks. Take advantage of offers where you see them, but only if it means you’re not adding unnecessarily to your workload when it comes to preparing everything.

Be Weather Wise

The good old British weather can be an unpredictable beast. If in the event it rains and you’re in full swing outdoors, and don’t want to have your day turn into a wash-out, think ahead what parts of the home you can utilise for your guests. The kitchen will be essential for cooking if the barbecue is out of action; so work out how you can quickly transfer cooking operations inside – having capacity for all the food will be a challenge, perhaps invest in an extra electric grill or hotplates. Furniture and living space will need to be ready and waiting if rain is stopping play, by getting rid of clutter in advance and getting hold of those spare chairs you may keep hidden away to be on hand within easy reach.

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