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The Best Outdoor Food Covers

Last updated on August 16, 2024
Best Outdoor Food Cover

Our Review Process

Don't Waste Your Money is focused on helping you make the best purchasing decision. Our team of experts spends hundreds of hours analyzing, testing, and researching products so you don't have to. Learn more.

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Our Picks For The Top Outdoor Food Covers

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Product Overview
Key Takeaway
 Top Pick

Onarway Eco-Friendly Outdoor Food Covers, 6-Pack

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Onarway

Eco-Friendly Outdoor Food Covers, 6-Pack

An attractive floral lace decorates the edges of these outdoor food covers. Each set includes a total of six 17-inch mesh tents that are perfect for guarding your hamburgers and fruit salad from flies and bees. The frame is made from a durable metal, so you can count on the covers staying in place once you set them up.

Overall Take

Easy to StoreThese outdoor food covers fold up flat for easy storage in a drawer or on a shelf.

 Runner Up

Anpro Easy Clean Outdoor Food Covers, 4-Pack

Anpro

Easy Clean Outdoor Food Covers, 4-Pack

Since you get five outdoor food covers with this set, you'll find it's the perfect choice for a family reunion at the park or a backyard barbecue with friends. The set includes a large cover for your main dish, as well as five smaller covers to protect your side dishes. Each is made of a breathable mesh to allow air in, while also keeping the bugs ...

Overall Take

Great for Family ReunionsYou'll find these outdoor food covers are available in all white or a rainbow of colors.

 We Also Like

Simply Genius Clear Zero-Waste Outdoor Food Covers, 6-Pack

Simply Genius

Clear Zero-Waste Outdoor Food Covers, 6-Pack

You'll find many uses for these outdoor food covers. In addition to protecting your chips and salsa from curious bugs, the tents can be used to cover plants and herbs. This particular set includes six tents that each measure 16 inches in diameter and 10 inches in height.

Overall Take

Most VersatileTo clean these outdoor food covers all you need to do is rinse them off and set them aside to air dry.

 Also Great

Camkey Compact Extendable Outdoor Food Covers, 6-Pack

Camkey

Compact Extendable Outdoor Food Covers, 6-Pack

With this outdoor food covers set, you'll get a total of six 17-inch covers. Each collapses in seconds for easy storage when not in use. Once open and placed over your food and drinks, the mesh screen creates a barrier to protect your items against bugs and debris.

Overall Take

Affordable SetYou'll love the budget-friendly price tag on these outdoor food covers.

Buying Guide

There are few things worse after spending time preparing a picnic or outdoor smorgasbord than unwelcome pests, dirt or pollen. Enter the food cover, a great product that can save the day. By keeping your plate guarded, these covers eliminate worries of bugs or other unwanted guests.

Due to the similarity of many outdoor food covers, you may do well by identifying the desired height or fringe design you want before you begin to shop. In addition, you should weigh the cost of different-numbered packs of covers, as you may need more or fewer, depending on how often you plan to entertain large crowds.

Food tents often come in heights of 8 to 11 inches, which can be a crucial difference, depending on what you plan to put underneath. For banquets or outdoor parties where you’ll be using larger serving platters, it is recommended to purchase larger food covers when possible.

What to Look For

  • Due to being so lightweight and transportable, many of the food covers on the market are easily blown away by stiff winds. You can help prevent that by placing small weights on the lace or mesh extending from the bottom of the cover.
  • When using these covers in the garden to protect plants, you can mound some soil around the bottom edges to hold them in place.
  • While food covers will deflect even small flying insects and some amount of pollen and dirt, fruit flies are often small and persistent enough to get through. This is not necessarily a failure of the food cover, but rather a limitation of how fine the mesh can effectively be made before it becomes closer to a solid fabric.

More to Explore

Insects have plagued human food sources forever, and there have been any number of inventions, gimmicks and gadgets designed to keep them away.

Those are fine and good, but there are some historically natural methods which work surprisingly well. Mint and its cousin catnip naturally repel mosquitos, wasps and ants, among other pests. Decorating with the herb or soaking and hanging cotton balls with mint oil can perfume the air and keep bugs away.

Lemongrass, lavender and rosemary are also among other natural herbs that exude oils and smells insects do not like.

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