Keeping Food Hot & Delicious I'm having a large amount of guests over tomorrow and I wanted to know how can keep large portions of food hot and ready to serve without it getting cold or damp, while also keeping my deserts cool and refreshing. I'm serving Pasta, Sandwiches, Chicken, Fries &amp; Cold Deserts. 

I'm looking for a tech savvy and cheap way to keep my food hot and cold accordingly and any advice would be helpful.
Standard answer is hotel pans and chaffing dishes with alcohol burners for the hot items.

Double hotel pans with ice between them for the cold items.

Coolers work well for storing items before serve. Things that are fried though would do much better in an oven set to the lowest temp, coolers will trap moisture and they will lose their crispness.


Chafing dish


Hotel pans