Starting at Thanksgiving, people have tons of holiday parties and feasts. They make tons of food to feed big crowds and often have leftovers. Most people will eat leftovers, but if you have too many, you may not eat them fast enough or may get tired of eating the same thing day after day. However, food is too expensive just to throw away. So, what do you do with an abundance of leftovers? You can do many things with them, including making other dishes from them and freezing them.
Check the Leftover Inventory
As you are putting food away after the Christmas feast, keep an inventory of what you have. You can keep it in your mind if you think you can remember everything you put in the fridge. You should know how much of everything you have, from the turkey and ham to the desserts. When you know what you have, it's easier to plan other meals and determine what needs to be frozen.
Store Leftovers Properly
Always use airtight containers to store leftovers, as they will last longer. If you know that you're not going to use or eat something within the next three days, put it in freezer containers or resealable plastic bags. You can make life a lot easier by putting what you would eat in one meal in its own container. That way, you won't have to thaw more than you need.
Once you thaw something, you can't refreeze it. Well, you can, but it will significantly degrade the quality of the food. Always date everything you put in the freezer. Just about everything will freeze well. However, potatoes and carrots tend to get mushy. Cooked ham tends to develop a weird taste when it's frozen. Everything else is fair game.
If you don't plan on making other things with the leftovers, you can store them in these containers. They have dividers so that you can put three or more items in one container. You'll have ready-to-eat meals – just take them out of the freezer, thaw them, and heat them in the oven or microwave.
Creating New Meals
You don't have to eat leftovers in the same form as they went into the fridge. You can get creative with them and make new dishes. Some examples are:
- Turkey: Use leftover turkey to make turkey pot pie, hot open turkey sandwiches and turkey salad sandwiches. If you don't have turkey gravy left over, you can cheat a little and use turkey gravy mix. Each packet makes a cup of gravy – just enough for four servings of hot open turkey sandwiches. For a down-n-dirty turkey pot pie, mix chopped turkey with a bag of frozen vegetables, parboiled potato cubes and 1 can each of cream of chicken soup and cream of celery soup (add about ½ can of water to the mix). Make biscuits with Jiffy mix and put them on top of the mixture in a baking dish. Bake at 400 until the biscuit topping is done.
- Ham: Make regular ham sandwiches or subs (grinders for people in Connecticut). Take it a step further and make grilled ham and cheese sandwiches if you want a hot sandwich. You can also use leftover ham to make a ham quiche, ham and cheese omelettes, and much more.
- addsssMashed Potatoes: If you don't want to eat them as-is, make Duchess potatoes or potato pancakes. You can do the same with leftover sweet potatoes.
- slsLeftover Vegetables: Create a stirfry with leftover vegetables and turkey, your favorite meat, or a combination of different meats.
- HHamedSoups and Stews: Boil the bones of the turkey to make turkey broth (add your favorite seasonings). Add chopped turkey and vegetables to make turkey soup. Make a thicker broth for turkey stew.
Host a Leftover Potluck
If you really, really love entertaining, invite your friends and family to create new dishes from their holiday leftovers and hold a potluck. You can even make that into a contest to see who comes up with the most unique, best-tasting ideas.
Too Many Desserts?
You may have too many desserts leftover to eat them all before they go bad. Cakes, pies, brownies and cookies all freeze very well. Fudge also freezes very well. You can cut pies and cakes into individual servings and freeze them like that or just freeze what is left. Just be sure to wrap everything in many layers of plastic wrap, then put them in a resealable plastic freezer bag so they don't get freezer burnt.
Save Money by Being Creative with Leftovers
Instead of looking at leftovers as a daunting task or throwing them away, take a couple of hours and get creative or put them in the freezer. Your pocket will thank you!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from The Simple Riches!