Sterno for the holidays!

As the holidays draw near, we're all thinking about family, togetherness, shopping, and of course... good food. It seems these things go hand in hand. For me, coordinating a get together with friends & family, can be tough. I'm not the most organized person, and all of the cooking and cleaning can easily overwhelm me. Then, throw the kids into the mix, and we may as well just order pizza for dinner!

Seriously though, I enjoy spending time with loved ones, but I am not necessarily the best host. Sure, I can easily host small, spur of the moment, get together's with friends --- But anything that requires planned cooking, I have the hardest time with! My biggest issue: time management. I can't seem to get everything from the stove to the table, while it's still hot and delicious. By the time the main entrée is out, the sides are luke warm at best.

Ughhhhh. Pizza sounds better and better every time...

To try and hone my skills (in preparation for the upcoming holidays ), I decided to host a practice dinner. Of course, I needed willing participants AND a menu. Since I've been working days, this was a little tricky... I settled on a "Breakfast for Dinner" theme, and secured some friends and their families as my "guests". The menu: Scrambled Eggs, Sausage, Pancakes, Fresh Fruit, and Brownie Muffins.

Nothing goes cold faster than breakfast food. Seriously --- Eggs go cold in like 5 minutes! The challenge: Find a way to serve breakfast food to a large group of people, while it's still hot! I won't bore you with the details, explaining the trials and tribulations of this challenge... However, I did find a solution. A glorious, brilliant, simple solution. The solution: Sterno Buffet Chafer.

If you've never used Sterno, you have no idea what you're missing! It's quite possibly the most convenient & portable fuel (and heat) source. When combined with the buffet style chafing dish, it makes hosting dinner so much easier!

The Buffet Chafer comes with a foldable frame for compact storage, and has two ½ food pans. It's constructed of stainless steel, so it's quite durable, and you don't have to worry about it rusting. It also includes 2 fuel holders, 1 fuel holder tray, a lid, and a 4” deep water pan. Each can of Sterno has a 2 ¼ hour burn time, so you'll need to plan how many cans you'll need for your event. Aside from that, set up is quick and easy!

Once the Buffet Chafer is set up, you just add an inch of hot water to the water pan, position the 2 Sterno cans ( in the fuel holders) below the water pan, and light them. The Sterno heats the water, so when you put the food pans in place, the food stays warm! The lid fits snug against the pans, and keeps the heat in while no one is actively serving from the pans. It's an ingenious setup, that saved me from serving cold eggs! 

My "Breakfast for Dinner" was a huge success! The food was hot & delicious. We enjoyed good company and good food, thanks to Sterno's Home Buffet. The best part is that I'm now ready to host Thanksgiving! If anyone wants an invite, let me know --- This year I'll be serving hot food! 

Products received complimentary, for testing & review purposes. All opinions stated above are honest reflections belonging solely to Sarah's Honest Opinion.