Preserving Holiday Leftovers
If there's one thing that the holidays bring aside from cherished time with friends and family – it's leftovers. You're likely about to face, if you haven't already, a plethora of leftover holiday cookies, fruit trays, vegetable platters, ham, turkey, pies, salads and more! It's often daunting trying to organize and use up all of your leftovers and even more frustrating when you pull them out, only to realize that they've gone to waste.
Today, we're sharing some of our favorite tips for using up all of those leftover foods – and keeping them fresh for up to 5x longer than traditional storage methods – this holiday season!
A simple and favorite appetizer dish during the holidays is definitely the crudité platter. We've often found ourselves with a mountain of 1 or 2 of the vegetables left on the platter at the end of the evening. A great way to reimagine these leftovers is to turn them into a roasted vegetable medley, like this one from Kristy Bernardo of The Wicked Noodle. The best part? This recipe can be made with just about any vegetable you like, so feel free to use whatever leftovers you have!
FoodSaver® spokesperson and host of Southern at Heart on the Food Network, Damaris Phillips, also has some great tips for managing holiday leftovers! Send guests home with seconds (or thirds!) of their favorite dishes– it's an added touch that sends your love home with friends and family. You can keep the custom portions fresh by removing the air and sealing them in FoodSaver® zipper bags to take home. Make sure to save some extra for yourself too – throwing extra turkey meat in the deep freezer now means you'll be ready to whip up some delicious turkey chili on the next snow day!
One thing we never let ourselves take for granted is our slow cooker. And as things start to pile up in the refrigerator and freezer around the holidays, we couldn't be more thankful for them! We love this recipe for Creamy Chicken and Dumplings because you'll likely have the majority of the ingredients hanging around at this time of year anyways!
Finally, not every family may have this problem, but have you ever wondered what to do with a half-full bottle of wine after hosting a holiday party? Paired with the FoodSaver® FM5000 for an airtight seal, the FoodSaver® Bottle Stopper helps preserve the quality of your wine, keeping flavors in and air particles out.
What are your tried and true tips for using up holiday leftovers? We'd love to hear! Share with us on social @FoodSaver!
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