How to Use Thanksgiving Leftovers:
Do you have more turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, and dinner rolls than you know what to do with? Know that you can typically substitute any classic chicken recipe with turkey. Check out these idea below.
Healthier Turkey Nachos- This idea is an easy meal that combines tortillas chips, leftover turkey, reduced fat shredded cheese, reduced sodium taco seasoning and lots of veggie toppings (lettuce, tomato, black beans, jalapenos, etc). Load it up with various vegetables to increase the nutrition.
Turkey Pot Pie- Make a turkey pot pie like you would a classic chicken pot pie, but with your abundance of leftover turkey.
Turkey Vegetable soup- You an sub shredded turkey in your chicken vegetable soup recipe, or even your hamburger vegetable soup recipe.
Turkey salad – Try this chicken salad twist with shredded turkey, halved grapes, chopped celery, and toasted pecans.
Potato cakes- Use your leftover mashed potatoes to make potato cakes.
Speaking of Leftovers…
Did you know there’s a national Throw out Your Leftovers Day? It’s conveniently almost one week after Thanksgiving (November 29th). Here are some tips for ways to reduce food waste, save money, as well as information on leftovers and food safety.
Ways to Reduce Food Waste and Save Money:
How to save food and money strategies from www.savethefood.com and www.foodnetwork.com.
1. Plan your meals in advance- this can help avoid waste from the start and it doesn’t need to take up a lot of time. Think about what you’re going to cook that week on the way to the store and you will cut down on your food waste in a simple way.
2. Be creative in the kitchen- substitute what you have for similar items in a recipe, like we mentioned above for the “turkey pot pie” or “turkey salad”, which both take a spin on the classic chicken pot pie and chicken salad.
3. Designate one night a week for making meals out of soon to expire items- A mix of the items in your fridge that may go bad soon can turn in to a creative, new meal. Use up those items before they expire so you won’t have to throw them out.
4. Freezing- Freezing leftovers keeps your foods lasting longer, allowing you more time to use them before they go past their prime eating time.
5. Grocery Store Checkpoint- Right before you checkout your items, look at what is in your cart and rethink if you’re going to use all of the items and put things back that you know you won’t likely get around to cooking or eating right away.
Storage Times for the Refrigerator and Freezer:
Home-refrigerated foods have a short time limit before they spoil and could potentially be bad for your health, so check out some of these guidelines below to make sure the food you are eating from your refrigerator or freezer is still safe (found on www.foodsafety.gov ).
Category
|
Food
|
Refrigerator (40˚F or below)
|
Freezer (0˚F or below)
|
Fresh/Raw Poultry
|
-Whole: Chicken/Turkey
-Pieces: Chicken/Turkey
|
-1 to 2 days
-1 to 2 days
|
-1 year
-9 months
|
Leftovers
|
-Cooked Poultry
-Chicken Nuggets or Patties
-Pizza
|
-3 to 4 days
-3 to 4 days
-3 to 4 days
|
-2 to 6 months
-1 to 3 months
-1 to 2 months
|
Soups and Stews
|
-Meat or Vegetable added
|
-3 to 4 days
|
-2 to 3 months
|
Salads
|
-Egg, chicken, ham, tuna, and macaroni salads
|
-3 to 5 days
|
-Does not freeze well
|
In addition, if you have a difficult time remembering or understanding food and beverage storage, there is an app to help you. The FoodKeeper app is available on Android and Apple devices that was developed by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service with Cornell University and the Food Marketing Institute. This app helps you keep your items fresh longer than if they were not stored properly, according to foodsaefty.gov. Click the link below to check out more information on the app!
We hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving J
-West Lakes Hy-Vee Dietitians Team
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