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?!
What do YOU do with your Christmas leftovers?
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Lucky we didn’t host but we got to take home some left overs and they are gone already..
Ah, good work you did very quickly!
We don’t have dinner here, but get tons of leftovers sent our way. They know me well… my cooking skills are extremely limited! We do tend to make good use of our leftovers year round though. Sandwiches are great. We also make soup with leftover poultry, sauces with leftover chicken or beef, ham is great in an omelet or quiche or frittata, also home made hash. Pot Pies are great with almost all veggies too.. dinner in a pie YUM! Deserts get shared at work, with friends (seldom are deserts left over though!).. I may not cook but I’m super frugal so very little ever goes to waste. When all else fails.. feed it to the dogs or the chickens!
Oh, these are all great ideas, Kim! I have a hard time believing that you don’t cook with all of these yummy suggestions 🙂
I have two 20 something year old sons that make sure the leftovers are all eaten up. And for Christmas dinner we have a nontraditional tradition of grilling rib eyes. After all the cooking I do between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’m always happy knowing the hubs is doing the grilling and I just have to bake the potatoes and prepare the other sides. Great tips!
Oh yes, boys are always great for putting away leftovers 🙂 And that’s a good idea about having your hubby take care of the meat!
My Hubs isn’t big into leftovers so if it is something that can be frozen, I will do that and eat it myself when he is away…. or make something else out of it that he has no idea that I used leftovers.
You are very sneaky! 🙂
I’ve got lasagna and chili in the ‘fridge and I’m hoping to pull them out for a Smorgasboard (a.k.a. “leftovers night”) TONIGHT! Great post, Kristen!
Yummy!!!
We’ve been blessed with many leftovers, but they don’t last more than a few days between the five of us. And since my children are off school, they eat them whenever they’re hungry and I don’t have to cook. Win/Win! Lol! Love your suggestions too. I should tell my neighbor to read this.
That’s great, Cherie! No wasting of food at your house 🙂 HA! Yes, I think you should totally share with your neighbor 🙂
Christmas leftovers have something of a progression in my house: turkey sandwiches for a few days, and I eat stuffing and gravy by the bowlful, since I love the stuff. By tomorrow or the day after, most of the meat will become turkey fajitas, which we’ll eat for supper for a couple more days, and, once we’re sick of that, we’ll use the fajita meat to make a turkey chili. The rest of the original meat, plus the turkey bones, some leftover gravy, and a lot of the leftover veggies, got stuck in the freezer right after the supper; in the next week or two, we’ll pull those back out and make soup from them. We are happy about leftovers, but we like to have a bit of variety, so we try to reinvent them so that we get a lot of different meals from the same bird 🙂
Sounds like you’ve got the process down pat over there!
I love how you think! We do not waste anything around here either. My motto is to make stuff that tastes sooo good that folks are happy to dive into the leftovers, reinvented or ‘as is’. That being said, there are the one-time recipes that are not that good and are never made again, but the worm beds are happy!
LOL I’ve had a few one-time recipes too, Natalie! 🙂
I like your idea with the cranberry sauce! I definately need to freeze some of our leftovers – the freezer is one thing I need to get acquointed with! Happy New Year!! ~Renee
I used to not freeze much, because I would forget what was in there, and suddenly I’d have a freezer full of “stuff” that made no sense, ha! I’ve re-trained myself since then 🙂
I am terrible – my husband won’t eat leftovers so mine go to the garbage
Oh dear 🙁 Well, perhaps you can find someone else who will eat them!
My 3 sons are like garbage bins, for sure. Call them and they will finish up. If there are really huge amount, we put it in the freezer.
HA! I’m glad they eat well! 🙂
Great ideas!!
Thank you! 🙂
we put everything (roast potatoes, gravy, veg, meat, cranberry sauce etc) in a deep oven dish (glass or ceramic) and put a layer of puff pastry on top, Christmas pie is the best easter meal ever (it all gets frozen in one big bag until we want the pie, defrost, add pastry, cook)
Now that is a fantastic idea!!!