If you have been entertaining this Christmas, have a large family, or if you are any thng like me, your fridge will be packed with Christmas left overs. It is important that you freeze things within 48 hours, if that is your intention, as meat, especially, will only last 2 or 3 days in the fridge. I freeze my meat in 2 meal portions, and make sure it is well wrapped so that it doesn’t get freezer burn. It will last in the freezer for up to 6 months without deteriorating. It is a good idea to label it with what it is, and the date.
Cheese is the thing that I have loads of left. Hard cheese will last quite a while in the fridge but soft cheese should be eaten within 2 weeks. I will keep picking at the hard cheeses eg cheddar and red Leicester etc, if I leave them in the fridge, and so I intend to grate mine up today and store it in bags or boxes in the freezer. I use it straight from the freezer over the next couple of months in sauces for things like lasagne, for cheese on toast, macaroni cheese, or on pizza. I also freeze cream so that Mr S doesn’t keep putting it in his coffee, or I if I have condensed milk I make ice cream with it, as I did yesterday. If I have lots of cream I will make butter with it. I am hoping to find some discounted in the supermarket today or tomorrow.
We will eat meals made from left overs for two or three months as nothing goes to waste. Some things I put in as ingredients, and other things I make as a dish that is ready to be cooked when it has defrosted. If you are reheating any cooked food it is important that it reaches 70⁰C. We bought a food probe for about a fiver and use it all the time to ensure things are cooked and safe. I don’t want to get food poisoning and so I never warm things up more than once.
Things like Christmas pudding will be fine if covered for months, as will mincemeat. We put mincemeat into apple pies, flapjack, bread and butter pudding, or just have an out of season mince pie with custard.
Some of the things that we have made in the past from Christmas left overs are
2. Turkey curry
3. Turkey stew
4. Stilton and cranberry puffs made with puff pastry.
5. Turkey pasta, either Mediterranean or creamy
6. Turkey potato bake ( layers of sliced potato with turkey and leeks in a white sauce)
7. Turkey and ham cottage pie
8. Pigs in blankets and vegetable tray bake.
9. Macaroni cheese with ham in it
10. Bubble and squeak
11. Christmas Dinner pasties (with bits of the whole turkey dinner in).
12. Turkey supreme and rice.
13. Turkey Gratin (using bread crumbs and stuffing as a topping
14. Ham and potato croquettes
15. Dauphinoise potatoes with ham in
16. Toad in the hole with pigs in blankets in
17. Turkey pizza
18. Turkey savoury Rice
19. Turkey lasagne
20. Ham pasta
What are your favourite dishes that you make with Christmas left overs? Turkey is usually a bit dry and so I usually serve mine in a creamy, white sauce, gravy, or a Mediterranean type tomato sauce. Just changing the topping makes it a different meal.
With having our Christmas a week early, and celebrating again yesterday, I am getting to the stage that I just want some clean, healthy food. Luckily, our local community fridge did a shout out at 7pm on Christmas Eve as they had had a big delivery of fruit and vegetables that they did not want to waste. I therefore have strawberries, blue berries, and an odd piece of fruit in my fruit bowl that I can make a fruit salad from for lunch today.
I will be looking for food bargains this week, but they will only be intentional buys. I will look for cheese (it stores well and will last months), cream to make butter, and fish, but we don’t need much else. I even have milk frozen. I have stored lots of the cheap vegetables in my conservatory and porch, which are quite cool in temperature during the winter, (unless I keep the door open and let the kitchen wood burner warm it up). These should last me a couple of months at least. Broccoli is in the fridge in jugs of water, and the cauliflowers will be made into piccalilli, the red cabbage pickled, the leeks frozen. All this food should just about keep us going until Easter. At the beginning of the year I try to spend as little as I can so that I can save the food budget for the lean times when the garden isn’t producing yet, or has stopped producing. I do still have Swiss Chard and spinach growing which are good to add to curries and stir fry.
I hope that your Christmas is going well if you celebrate it. If you are struggling, or spending it alone. I wrote a blog last year that might help. Sending hugs to all of those who are having to work (which includes members of my family), and to those that are ill, or missing someone from the table. I added my brother as a Robin to my Christmas cake to remember him by. Happy Christmas. I hope that you can find some simple joy in your day🧑🎄
Hi Toni,
Wonderful ideas for using up my leftovers – thankyou! I absolutely LOVE your christmas cake, it is amazing! And the robin, as a reminder of your brother, is a lovely and thoughtful touch! Good luck and best wishes for the New Year! :)
I don’t freeze meals from the Christmas left overs but wrap up parcels labelled fajitas for 2, turkey pie, and will add bacon, mushrooms and leeks when I make the pie and mostly make it with white sauce. Some parcels are labelled casserole and others curry. If there’s enough vegetables to freeze after bubble and squeak on Boxing day I sometimes freeze some of that. Left over uncooked vegetables that are stored in the summerhouse will be checked and we will decide if anything needs to be used or frozen. We make a lot of soup so it will all be used.
Good tips for leftovers, as always Toni. Thank you
Great recipe ideas for leftovers Toni – thank you.
Thanks for commenting