How to Safely and Deliciously Amp Up Your Holiday Leftovers
You made it. Thanksgiving has come and gone. It feels like you just completed a year’s worth of cooking, baking, cleaning and socializing all in one day. (Well, because you did!)
You may be relieved the holiday madness is over. Or maybe you wish it didn’t go by so fast. Either way, if you’re lucky, your refrigerator is stuffed full of delicious leftovers.
Before you swear off cooking for a while, keep in mind how long those leftovers sat out on the countertop and how soon you need to eat them up. Spoiler alert: Food should make its way into the refrigerator within two hours, and leftovers should be eaten by day three or four.
Leftover Food Safety
Before we get too far, let’s make sure everything gets packed up correctly. No matter how it’s going to be used, you want your food to stay fresh for as long as possible. But harmful bacteria that grow on food can cause foodborne illnesses ranging from inconvenient stomach upset to fatal reactions. Follow these simple tips to safely store and reheat leftovers.
Here are some general guidelines for how long to keep some favorite Thanksgiving foods in the refrigerator:
- Cooked vegetables: 3-4 days
- Ham: 3-4 days
- Beef, poultry or pork: 3-4 days
- Gravy: 1-2 days
- Stuffing: 1-2 days
- Seafood: 2 days
- Soups, stews or casseroles: 3-4 days
When in doubt, err on the side of caution and throw it out.
Post-Thanksgiving Recipes
Now that you know your leftovers are safe to eat, it’s time to get creative! You can go with a typical plate of food like the one you relished on Thanksgiving, or you can explore some fun, unique recipes like Thanksgiving leftovers casserole, a turkey, brie, bacon and cranberry sandwich, or turkey pot pie.
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If you’re still stumped on ways to use your leftovers, consider hosting a post-Thanksgiving dinner with friends or donate some of your leftover cans at your nearest food bank. For already prepared dishes, call your local food pantries and homeless shelters to ask about their donation policies.
We hope these ideas can help you clean out your fridge. Thanksgiving dishes probably aren’t something you make every day — if they are, we’ll be over for dinner next week! — so capitalize on the turkey while it’s here.
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