Thanksgiving dinner can take a couple weeks of preparation. With everything from picking out the perfect recipes for family and friends, and the hours of work that goes into bringing it all to the table, you deserve to get as much out of any leftovers you can. But sometimes, some of your best dishes might live a shorter shelf life than they otherwise would.
For every dish, theres a better way to keep it fresher for longer. Whether tradition or where youre storing it in the fridge limits the longevity of your leftovers, weve outlined a few ways you can keep the life in your leftovers a little longer below.
Thanksgiving Leftover Tips
Stuffing + Mashed Potatoes
Theres often the temptation to store leftover turkey with its main course compatriotsstuffing and mashed potatoes. But that can lead to cross-contamination, loss of flavor, and a whole mess of other problems. Instead, store separatelylike individually wrapped slices of piein a shallow container. If possible, wed recommend not stacking tupperware. That ensures colder air can circulate on all sides, cutting down on the window for bacteria to spread and spoil your food.
You can easily heat stuffing a mashed potatoes back up by fluffing your leftovers, dotting it with some melted butter, and warming it up in tin foil or a baking pan for fifteen to twenty minutes at 350 F. These microwave tips can also come in handy.
Cranberry Sauce + Gravy
Both can easily be stored in heavy duty ziploc bags or air-tight containers. Gravy can keep even longer by freezing it into blocks with an ice cube tray. Wed just recommend spraying or coating the ice cub tray in cooking oil so its easier to pop them out once theyre frozen. You can free up your ice cube tray by keeping them in a plastic bag in the freezer once they reach that point.
Cranberry sauce can keep in the fridge for up to two weeks, in part because of its high acidity. But again, avoid stacking whenever possible. That will help it cool on all sidesand stay that way. Storing Thanksgiving Leftovers, part 2
Thanksgiving dinner can take a couple weeks of preparation. With everything from picking out the perfect recipes for family and friends, and the hours of work that goes into bringing it all to the table, you deserve to get as much out of any leftovers you can. But sometimes, some of your best dishes might live a shorter shelf life than they otherwise would.
For every dish, theres a better way to keep it fresher for longer. Whether tradition or where youre storing it in the fridge limits the longevity of your leftovers, weve outlined a few ways you can keep the life in your leftovers a little longer below.
Thanksgiving Leftover Tips
Stuffing + Mashed Potatoes
Theres often the temptation to store leftover turkey with its main course compatriotsstuffing and mashed potatoes. But that can lead to cross-contamination, loss of flavor, and a whole mess of other problems. Instead, store separatelylike individually wrapped slices of piein a shallow container. If possible, wed recommend not stacking tupperware. That ensures colder air can circulate on all sides, cutting down on the window for bacteria to spread and spoil your food.
You can easily heat stuffing a mashed potatoes back up by fluffing your leftovers, dotting it with some melted butter, and warming it up in tin foil or a baking pan for fifteen to twenty minutes at 350 F. These microwave tips can also come in handy.
Cranberry Sauce + Gravy
Both can easily be stored in heavy duty ziploc bags or air-tight containers. Gravy can keep even longer by freezing it into blocks with an ice cube tray. Wed just recommend spraying or coating the ice cub tray in cooking oil so its easier to pop them out once theyre frozen. You can free up your ice cube tray by keeping them in a plastic bag in the freezer once they reach that point.
Cranberry sauce can keep in the fridge for up to two weeks, in part because of its high acidity. But again, avoid stacking whenever possible. That will help it cool on all sidesand stay that way.