By: Alice Green, Fontbonne Dietetic Intern
The holidays are coming, which means we’ll be making and eating more food than we can imagine. With events centered around heaping amounts of food, we will no doubt have leftovers. Instead of throwing food away, you can find fun ways to use it in new recipes! Did you know that globally, about 30% of food is wasted? This equals to 1,250 calories a day! Families spend over $1500 a year on food that is later wasted. It’s not good for the environment either, as this food takes up more space in landfills. You don’t have to add to these statistics! Operation Food Search is on a mission to reduce food waste, and so can you. Whether you want to make a turkey sandwich or add it to soup, there are many ways to make use of all of your leftovers. If you don’t think you’ll eat it immediately, store it in an airtight container in the freezer and it can last for months.
Here’s a few ideas to get you started:
- Use leftover potatoes (of any kind) in a soup
- Add cranberries to sandwiches, or even bake them into cakes or muffins
- Make a turkey salad with leftover cold turkey, cranberries, and any other vegetables you have on hand
- Throw it all together and make a turkey-based soup
- One of my favorites- Turkey Pot Pie! As a fun take on chicken pot pie, it is simple to throw together if you have pie crust, cooked turkey, and veggies. See below for an easy to prepare recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 pie crusts (you can buy frozen or make your own)
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1/3 cup chopped onion
- 1/3 cup flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 ¾ cups broth
- 1/3 cup milk
- 2 ½ cups shredded or diced turkey (cooked)
- 2 cups mixed vegetables
Steps
- Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Melt butter in a saucepan. Add onion and cook for about 2 minutes, or until tender
- Stir in flour, salt, and pepper and blend well
- Gradually add milk and broth, stirring until the mixture become bubbly and thickened
- Stir in turkey and vegetables
- Scoop mixture into crust-lined pan
- Top with second crust, seal edges, and poke top of crust to let air out while it cooks
- Bake for 30-40 minutes. After 20 minutes, put foil on edges of crust to prevent excessive browning
- Let stand for 5 minutes until you eat and enjoy!
*Recipe adapted from Pillsbury
Do you have any fun ways that you use leftover food from the holidays?