Thanksgiving is an important holiday for my family. Although we no longer have the giant celebrations we did in the past, we still make it as festive as possible. This includes the traditional turkey dinner with all the special holiday side dishes. As a frugal mom, I am extremely conscience of money and wasted food so I have developed a few ways to save money and not waste our Thanksgiving dinner leftovers. And, it isn’t the normal turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce and dressing.
Less is More – I no longer go “all out” for Thanksgiving dinner. Instead of buying a huge turkey, I buy a smaller one. I don’t serve every side dish I know how to cook. I try to keep it as simple as possible and eliminate wasting money and food. As much as my family loves my turkey, sweet potatoes and green bean casserole, we can only eat those leftovers for so long before we start dreading Christmas and the leftovers from that dinner.
Turkey Shepherd’s Pie – I make a tukey shepherd’s pie with almost everything leftover from our Thanksgiving dinner. I layer the turkey, dressing, vegetables and whatever else is left in a cast iron pot. I heap the mashed potatoes on top and pop it in the oven until the potatoes are golden brown. What is leftover from that dish is then frozen and eaten as snacks or lunches.
Fried Vegetables – As a southern cook, I can fry anything and it will taste good. This is true of the vegetables leftover from Thanksgiving dinner. My family is quite fond of my “fried green bean casserole.” I simply dipped the grean beans in flour (after adding the spices we like) and fry them in vegetable oil. It tastes great – especially the green beans that are smothered in the cream of mushroom soup. I do the same thing with cauliflower, yams and broccoli.
I hate waste – especially when it comes to money and food. I love the fact that these dishes are easy to cook and “just different enough” from Thanksgiving dinner so my family doesn’t end up hating turkey and all the fixings. These simple ideas help me to save both money and food without submitting my family to weeks of turkey sandwiches.
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