After the holidays, you are bound the be faced with a fair bit of leftovers. While some people try to eat as much of these leftovers as quickly as possible, others resort to throwing a lot of food away. Before you go either of these routes, consider some of these alternatives.
Freeze
There are so many different kinds of foods that can be frozen and you can even portion your food in freezer bags or containers and label them. This way, whenever you need a meal in a hurry, simply remove one of these bags from the freezer and allow to thaw in the fridge overnight or while you’re at work. Once thawed, simply heat and eat! The most important thing to remember is that your meals should always be labeled and you should not let them hang around in your freezer for months. The flavour will deteriorate so make sure that you enjoy within a month or two at the most.
Reuse
There are so many ways of putting various types of food to use in other ways. For example, if you have leftover chicken or turkey, you can make chicken or turkey salad. You can slice your roast beef and use it to make sandwiches and the same goes for ham. Leftover cake can be crumbled, blended with frosting and used to make cake pops. So, instead of eating the same cake, you can make it even more appealing!
Donate
If your freezer is already full and you don’t have any way of consuming all that food, don’t let it go to waste! There are so many people out there who don’t know where their next meal will come from. Why not take a moment to walk around or drive around your neighbourhood and hand out parcels of food to those in need? You could even approach charity organisations in your community and ask them to hand the parcels out or find out where you can do so yourself. During the winter months it’s even more difficult for those without homes, jobs, and food. For those who have extra, it would be a shame to let all that good food end up in the trash.
These are just three great ideas of what to do with leftover food from the holidays. Of course, if you know somebody like a neighbour, a fellow parent who’s child is in school with yours, or even a co-worker who is struggling, why not offer them some extra food? Even if they have cooked a small feast for themselves with whatever little they have, they could always freeze the meals you provide and this will help them get through the winter with a little less financial pressure.