Keeping your cooked party food toasty warm helps it look and taste great, and, protects its safety. Your hot buffet needs to be at the right temperature (above 140 F.) Food warmers are designed to do just that. "Keep hot foods hot." Here are the most popular options:
Food Warmers (Chafers):
Food warmers, aka: "chafers" are portable food warmers, easy to rent, and for sale at party stores and online, from $35 and up. Food warmers often hold foods in 12" x 20" pans, using sterno fuel to heat water under your food. Usually polished and professional in appearance, they're similar to what you've seen in restaurants and catered events.
Disposable Food Warmers:
Disposable food warmers are the throwaway portable version, made for limited use - but fine for many home parties. Available at party stores, WalMart, etc., from $12 for a kit, they are the same size as the non-disposable version, also using sterno fuel - only made from lesser materials, and they don't look as nice. For larger home parties, we often recommend using both kinds. Keep the nicer looking warmers around your guests, while using the disposable ones nearer the kitchen to hold foods right out of the oven. This keeps your oven space available for more cooking, while cooked foods stays warm and ready to be served in the disposable warmers.
One big advantage of both disposable and non-disposable food warmers is that they use no electricity, with no wires to trip over. The sterno fuel burns for hours keeping food warm, no problem. Because they heat water under your food, the moist heat is evenly distributed and burning or drying is minimized.
Chafing Dishes:
Chafing dishes can be identical to food warmers, or they can be smaller and decorative. They can come in many shapes and sizes. They are heated either with a candle or with electricity. They tend to be smaller than food warmes, therefore they are generally popular for smaller parties. If you decide to keep your party buffet entrees hot using chafing dishes, watch those wires, and check foods for burning.
Coolers:
No, this is not a typo. You can keep food warm by using picnic coolers. They are, of course, designed to keep foods cold, however due to their outstanding insulating capacity, they contain heat as well as cold. Their volume is usually from 33 to 55 or so cubic feet. This is how you keep your food warm using the picnic coolers: Wrap 4 bricks (the kind used to build walls) with aluminum foil. Heat the bricks in a 350