When the weather heats up, keeping food cool at a function can be a difficult task.
Blogger Shannon McNitt is racking up millions of views on a video showing how she keeps food cold while it sits out of the fridge.
In the video, McNitt fills a disposable tray one-third full of water and then pops it in the freezer until it becomes ice. Once it’s frozen, she puts another tray full of prepared food on top, and she says it keeps her food cold while entertaining.
In her example, cherry tomatoes and sliced-up carrots, cucumbers, and cheese were served.
How easy and convenient, right? McNitt then followed up her hack with another explainer video about why adding salt to the water or using ice cubes instead wouldn't be as effective as the original hack.
“After four hours, the water with salt is almost completely liquid. The regular water has almost a full sheet of ice. And the ice cubes are almost completely dissolved,” she explained in her second video. “So in the end, my ice hack is still the winner.”
Social media users seemed impressed with the simple, yet effective hack that keeps bacteria at bay.
One user wrote: “Now, here is a suggestion I will actually use.
“So glad I found this on TikTok,” wrote another, “Doing this from now on for my kids’ birthday parties!”
Another questioned, “how did I not think of this before?”
According to experts, certain food items need to remain cool to “prevent bacterial growth.” This includes fresh produce, meat, poultry, and seafood. The optimum temperature to store these foods at a gathering is 4 degrees Celsius or below. Traditional coolers are recommended, but it is not uncommon for event planners and catering teams to use ice baths to keep temperature-sensitive food cold.