The Storage Bin Hack For Seamless Food Transportation

Easily transporting multiple holiday dishes to a dinner or party in one trip can be treacherous. Stacking them could lead to disaster and all it takes is one misstep to spill your carefully prepared holiday meals all over the sidewalk. But the last thing you want to do is walk back and forth to the car when you should be spending that time socializing. So what's the solution? Just combine your standard run-of-the-mill storage bin with a cooling rack or two and you're all set.

Starting with a clean storage bin, place the largest dish on the bottom. If more than one will fit then go ahead and put a second dish down as long as they are the same height. Height is important because the next step is to place a cooling rack on top and you want it to lay flat, not balance precariously. Use small towels to take up any spare space if necessary. The cooling rack should fit fairly snugly inside the storage bin so that it doesn't move around. Voilà! You've got a shelf to set the next dish on top of. Technically you can repeat this layering process, creating multiple shelves until you reach the top. But be careful that everything is tight-fitting and secure so that your carefully crafted entrees or desserts won't slide around.

When done properly, this hack will make it easy to carry all of your items in at once so that you don't have to take multiple trips or pull anyone away from the party to help transport dishes. It's an especially useful hack if you will be arriving at the party solo and won't have an extra set of hands to assist with transporting food.

If you're providing the bulk of the food and thus have a whole bunch of separate dishes, it might be tempting to load them all into one storage bin. But while that might seem like the quickest idea, you don't want to make it so heavy that it becomes a whole other kind of hazard. Overloading the bin to the point where you end up struggling with it could cause you to trip and fall or even throw your back out, so be sure to avoid that. 

Placement during the drive is also key. You don't want to set the storage bin just anywhere. The trunk or hatchback is generally the best place, but you can also set it on a seat — just be sure to secure the bin with a seat belt.

You can actually use just about any kind of solid container that the cooling racks will fit into snugly for this hack. Storage bins are particularly great because they have handles and lids and can fit quite a few items. But coolers are a great option too since their insulation will help keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold for the trip. No more sweaty Jell-O molds or swampy cheesecakes — woohoo! No matter what you're using, be sure to use separate containers for hot and cold (or room temperature) foods. You definitely don't want that steaming hot green bean casserole to wilt a salad or melt the frosting off those sugar cookies.

You can also opt to use a cardboard box if you don't have access to a bin or cooler. However, keep in mind that these can be flimsy. Make sure that the bottom is securely closed and be extra cautious not to overload it. You don't want to have the bottom falling out while you're trying to transport dinner from the house to the car or from the car to the party.

With so many hacks for cooling racks, it's not much of a surprise to discover another great one like this. Whether you use a storage bin, a cooler, a box, or some other ingenious container, transporting holiday dinner just got a whole lot easier.