Ah, football season. The time when you eat, drink, and play the weirdest lawn games ever invented. What's not to love about that? Patrick and I are kind of what you would call football-tailgating junkies. The amount of football games we have traveled to since we've been married is pretty much absurd. That means I've seen a lot of tailgates over the years. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Which has lead me to this...
1. Make-Ahead Food. For tailgates, I only choose recipes that I can make the day before. That way when we get to our tailgating spot, setting up is easy and I've got a beer in my hand by the time the first game of cornhole gets started. These are some of my favorite tailgating recipes:
2. Bring the Essentials. Don't forget to pack garbage bags, paper towels, sunscreen, and bottled water!
3. Tailgate Don't Contaminate. We love to grill hamburgers or chicken sausages during our tailgates. To keep everything clean while we're tailgating, we open the packages and prepare the raw meat at home. We put the sausages and patties in airtight containers. When it's time, Patrick uses tongs to place them on the grill. Easy Peasy!
4. Beer, Beer, Beer. It's considered a state of emergency if you run out of beer at a tailgate. I always err on the side of more, just in case. I buy beer that is not cold, and just put more into the cooler as we need it. In case you're wondering about GF Beers, I love this one, and this one.
5. Think about the Post-Game. I am always hungry after a four-hour football game and so is everyone else. I usually bring a double-batch of my Go-To Chicken Salad for after the game. It's delicious and I can make it up to 2 days ahead of time! We all eat it while we play cornhole and wait for traffic to die down.
So whether you're hosting a tailgate right outside of the stadium or in the comfort of your living room, I hope these tips will help you pull off the best tailgate ever! Here's to the start of a great (hopefully, winning) football season.
Cheers!
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