Whoever wins or loses, making sure your tailgating party is a success takes planning and an eye toward good health.

Tailgate parties are notorious for offering unhealthy foods, often served with scant attention to food safety.

That said, revising your game plan makes it easy to score with the hometown crowd by preparing and serving lighter fare safely. Here’s how.

Keep It Safe
These tips can help you avoid passing food-borne illness to your guests:

• Wash your hands before, during, and after you prepare food. Bring moist towelettes or antibacterial gel if soap and water aren’t available. n Prep meat, poultry, and seafood carefully. Defrost them at home in the refrigerator or the microwave—never on the counter or outside at the tailgate party. These foods should be marinated in the refrigerator, not at room temperature. You shouldn’t reuse marinades unless you boil them first.
• Tightly seal raw meat, poultry, and seafood in plastic wrap or zip-seal bags. Even better, use one cooler for meat and another for vegetables, fruit, and other foods.
• Avoid cross contamination by packing extra serving plates and utensils. Use one set for transporting and cooking raw foods and another set for serving cooked foods.
• Pack perishable foods in a clean, well-insulated cooler that has been prechilled with ice or cold packs. Refrigerate or freeze foods before packing them. Otherwise your cooler may not keep them cold enough.
• Keep your cooler as cool as possible. Avoid transporting it in a hot vehicle trunk. Once you arrive, keep it under a table or in another shady location.
• Throw away perishable foods that have been unrefrigerated for more than two hours.
• If you plan to use a grill, bring a food thermometer to check for doneness. Hamburgers and bratwurst should be cooked to 160 degrees, chicken breasts to 165 degrees. Don’t partially cook or grill foods at home to speed cooking time at the game. Bacteria could multiply in between.
• After the game is over, serve and eat only nonperishable foods or perishable foods that have been packed in a cooler that remained at 40 degrees or below.

Keep It Healthy
Instead of serving high-fat and calorie-laden foods, lighten up your menu with these suggestions:

• Make chili with extra-lean ground beef or ground turkey and plenty of beans.
• Grill skinless chicken or turkey breasts or fresh mushrooms, zucchini, sliced onions, and peppers. Grilled fish and seafood are healthy choices because they’re high in omega-3 fatty acids. Use a grilling rack so fat drips away from the food.
• Serve green leaf or fruit salads with low-fat dressings instead of mayo-based pasta or potato salad. Add toasted walnuts instead of croutons.
• Instead of high-fat potato chips, prepare carrot and celery sticks, cherry tomatoes, and broccoli florets to go along with a low-fat dip.
• Cut back on salty seasonings by using lemon juice, herbs, and spices instead.
• Choose low-fat or reduced-fat cheese for sandwiches, salads, and burger toppings.
• Instead of high-fat commercial baked goods for dessert, try grilled fruit. Fresh pineapple slices, nectarines, peaches, and plums are easy to prepare and loaded with nutrition. Or pack a healthy fruit dessert, such as fruit kababs with fat-free frozen topping.

With these guidelines in place, you can relax, enjoy your guests, and take your seat before kickoff.

By Barbara Floria, senior writer for Vitality. For more information, visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture at www.fsis.usda.gov.

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