If you’re anything like us, you have tons of leftovers from all the Christmas gatherings stacked up in your fridge even now as you’re reading this post! We were definitely blessed with lots of food…more than two of us could handle, that’s for sure. But we get kind of creative with things. I thought I’d share with all of you!
1. Eat them!
This is my husband’s suggestion, ha! And he’s doing a really good job on this one so far!) Seriously, if you’re leftover eaters in your home, then you’ve probably got this all covered. And I’m sure you’ll take care of them just fine within a week or two!
2. Donate to your local shelter
Call them first and make sure they accept prepared food donations, but very few would refuse you, I promise! Even if you think it’s not enough, they may have a small class or group going on, and they’ll be able to give them all a full meal from your donation. Better to feed a few than throw away good food.
3. Get creative
I take cranberry sauce and mix it with mayonnaise to make “Cranberry Mayo”. Then I take dinner rolls and slices of whatever meat we ate (turkey, ham, prime rib) and make sliders! Then you’ve used the cranberry sauce, rolls and meat in no time!
4. Check with your neighbors
We have some elderly neighbors and a couple single neighbors who have yet to refuse a plate of food I’ve made for them. They love it! I mean, think about it: the single guy who lives next door to you didn’t cook his own Christmas dinner. Don’t you think he’d enjoy a home-cooked meal?
5. Freeze it
I put whole dinners together in food storage containers and freeze them. On days when something unexpected happens, or when I just don’t feel like cooking (THOSE days are few and far between, ha!) I pull a Christmas dinner out of the freezer! I mean, seriously – what member of your family would turn a full Christmas dinner down in February?!
6. Soup and pie for all
No matter the favorite Christmas “meat” at your house (roast beef, ham, turkey) you can use all the leftovers so easily…in soups and pies! What about a nice ham and bean soup? Or a turkey pot pie? Or a roast beef stew?
7. Breakfast!
Take that leftover ham and make a ham and cheese quiche for breakfast! Or how about some cranberry bread from that leftover cranberry sauce? Or potato pancakes from all those mashed potatoes!
And can I just tell you, if all else fails, you need to head over to Pinterest and type in “Christmas leftovers”. Trust me. You’ll be amazed.
What do YOU do with your Christmas leftovers?
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Hope you had a wonderful Christmas! These are great ideas and I’m actually making more soup from what little we have leftover.
What leftovers? We are a big Italian family, so there is never anything left 😉
I really like your post idea for leftovers – I’ve heard of putting cranberry sauce on sandwiches – but your idea is so simple – I will do it! Thank you 🙂
Great ideas! We must have done something right this year…or else everyone was just REALLY hungry! We had NO leftovers!!!
We rarely have much left overs. We usuallt make hot sandwiches with what we do end up with… I use the rest for soups! Yum
I need a big ice chest for next year! My tiny little freezer can’t hold our haul any longer!
I’m one of those singles who does not cook a large meal usually at all any more. I used to make stuffed cabbage and all the neighbors would smell it and come with their (empty) dish in hand!
I didn’t have Christmas dinner this year. My Daughter did all the cooking… Whooo Hoooo!!. There wasn’t much left to do anything with…. but I like your idea of checking with the elderly neighbors.
We rarely ever have leftovers from our Christmas dinner. When we do, it’s so little that we just eat them plain! This year I did repurpose some cranberry sauce though.
These are great ideas! Will definitely have to try the sliders!
These are all great ideas for your Christmas leftovers. I know we don’t let anything go to waste around here.
Our leftovers usually become work lunches or soups. Still yummy either way!
I love a good cold sandwich made from holiday leftovers. Turkey and/or ham on a dark rye bread with cranberry sauce = delicious! work lunches and soups are the usual route here.
Great suggestions! We had a really small Christmas (Eve) dinner this year, so no leftovers, but I will definitely keep your ideas in mind for the future. Thanks for sharing!
No one in my family likes the dark meat so we give it to my neighbor. She loves it and can make so many things with it.
All awesome ideas. I try to cook enough food for the day only but if there is leftovers we have it the next day. I hate throwing food away!
Great tips, we always have so much food left over, it is crazy and I hate freezing it. Donating is a great idea.
These are all great ideas. We implemented several. My favorite is sharing.
We rarely have any leftovers! With the hubs, 2 sons, 2 sons-in-law, 4 grandsons – what leftovers? As I’m putting away the little bit of leftovers, I can hear them saying, “I call the turkey, I call the dressing . . . ”
I do remember the year I made everyone’s favorite dessert and had tons of leftovers. I stopped the insanity the next year. These are all good tips for leftovers, especially about sharing with the neighbors.
I love your idea of sharing with the neighbours, especially the elderly. Perhaps a swop would be good too!