07 Aug 2017

A question about : Creative ways to use leftover Xmas food

A recent Great Hunt revealed that many of you buy far too much food for Xmas. We want to tap MoneySavers' collective knowledge on the best ways to avoid wasting that food. Do you have any top recipes for combining the typical Christmas lunch ingredients? What other ways do you make sure everything gets used up?

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Best answers:

  • Menu plan so that you buy things which can be used for the meal and then used in leftover recipes.
    63 leftover recipes - Food Network
    https://www.foodnetwork.co.uk/article...leftovers.html
  • Get a dog!
    Ours eats ANYTHING .......... & is very partial to such a wide variety of foods such as (for example) fresh pineapple and tomatoes to fish.
    With the price of dog food, it's as cheap as buying that AND it adds variety to his diet.
  • Ooooohhhh I love leftovers, they see us through January. I find some brilliant recipes on Pinterest but some of my absolute favourites are:
    Tatty Scones (using leftover mash)
    Mashed Potato and Veg pancakes served with leftover gammon
    Pasta with cheese sauce, stuffing and turkey
    Cheeseboard fondue
    Pannetonne Bread and Butter Pudding
    Plus all the usuals such as stir fry, curries and soups
  • Pies! Everyone loves a pie, so make a tasty pie filling with leftover turkey, stuffing and veg in a white sauce - absolutely delicious.
    Pasta bake always good. Again make a white or cheese sauce, mix in cooked pasta, turkey, stuffing and veg and bake for 20 mins. Nice done with cubes of gammon too.
    If you have any Xmas cake or pudding left and just can't face it, crumble it outside for the birds. They need high fat food at this time of year and will really appreciate it.
    Buon Appetito!
  • There's always the traditional turkey pie and curry but there's a few alternatives as well:
  • I always make extra veg. When it's cold I chop it all up finely and mix it together with mashed potatoes to make bubble and squeak cakes. They freeze brilliantly and are a lovely meal fried up and then served with a poached egg and some crispy bacon or slices of leftover ham.
  • If you have any leftover christmas pudding take out some (leftover?) vanilla ice cream and let it soften a bit then mix the ice cream and christmas pudding in a bowl before putting it back into the container and refreezing. Et voila, Christmas pud ice cream!
  • Pretty much any non-soft cheese will freeze so you can either save it for another day or grate it up into a box and freeze it so you've always got some handy for recipes that require cheese.
  • Take any leftover ham/turkey and mix it with any leftover veg with some cheese sauce. Put it in an oven dish and top with a savoury crumble mix (oats, butter, flour) and bake for 45 minutes.
  • Pretty much any leftover veg can be reheated in a pan of stock and then blitzed to make a really nice soup, especially if it's roast veg. Make it either more indulgent by adding a bit of any leftover cream you may have before blending.
  • I do love a turkey curry but what I always do is make more than we'll eat but put some aside. I'll then take a pack of puff pastry, cut out some circles, put some cold curry in and make turkey curry pasties. I'll then freeze them and then they're ready to take out and cook in the new year for a quick and filling meal.
  • My absolute favourite leftover is slices of xmas pudding, fried in butter then served with ice-cream or cream. Actually, my favourite bit of christmas dinner is the leftovers the next day - bubble & squeak, veg soup, etc.
  • How long will cooked turkey keep? I'm cooking a joint with a use by date of 26th but presumably the cooked meat will keep a little longer? I'm aiming to put the leftovers in a Balti curry on the 28th.
  • We have a Boxing Day pizza. Cooked on the BBQ, with the leftovers used as toppings. Hopefully the rain will hold off here on Friday.
    Merry Christmas everyone!
  • I've bought brie and part bake baguettes for Christmas dinner panni's!
  • Left over Christmas dinner soup mmmmmmm...
  • I like finding new ways to use up Xmas food, today we will have cold turkey, ham, jacket spuds, cauliflower cheese. Tomorrow will be turkey pie. I also plan on making in the next couple of days - mini smoked salmon quiches, mincemeat brownie tart, mince pie rocky road, Boxing Day muffins (using Xmas pud).
  • I love leftovers, we use them till January 1st.
  • I am using leftover mincemeat (Sweet) to make mincemeat muffins. Very yummy!
  • Was sent home yesterday with 'extra' Turkey, unfortunately it' was bone dry yesterday when served and now it's even worse.
    So rather than make the typical curry I've chopped it all up into bite size pieces, opened a jar of YS lemon & herb sauce, added some frozen peas and mushrooms and put it all in the slow cooker for a few hours.
    I'm thinking it'll end up being similar to chicken supreme and I'll be able to eat it with rice or pasta, mash etc
  • If you heat turkey up in the gravy it puts some moisture back.
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