Joanne Roach (00:13)
Hello and welcome to the Food for Kids podcast. I'm Joanne from the Foodies.
If you celebrate Christmas, it's only a week away at the time of this going out, and if you don't celebrate Christmas, you might still be going to other family gatherings or doing other parties or celebrations over the bank holiday period. So for any of those occasions, this episode is for a bit of thinking ahead to reduce food waste and save a bit of money.
Usually once a month I do an episode about how to store different types of foods and use up gluts and leftovers, basing them around the foods featured in my veggie patch story books. But the food from the December book is a cheeky apple who sneaks out of the storage shed to teach children about foods being stored once they've been harvested and we already covered apples during the apple and pear episode in November. So instead this month could be used to focus on storage tips and recipes for celebration foods.
I'm putting this out a week before the holidays because once you're in the middle of it, it's often too busy to stop and think. So this is just a few pointers to try to make life simpler when you get to it. So here goes with some suggestions. None of them are rocket science and you probably do loads of them already. This is just supposed to be a handy reminder ahead of time while it's not so busy.
First of all, if you're hosting or you have a big family or for whatever reason you'll have more volume of food or more individual types of food than you would normally have in, now's a good time to have a quick think through what you might do in terms of immediately storing leftovers.
Have a quick look at any lists you might have made of what you're making on different days or make a quick list if you haven't already and note which things tend to get a lot of leftovers either because they're big like a turkey or because they're unusual and get eaten in batches like a cheese board or party pastries. Have a quick look which days those will be made or eaten first and have a think about where the leftovers will go. If you have a lot of fridge space then you're not going to have issues. But if you have less space, then you can think about taking out items like jams, sauces, chutneys, et cetera, which don't need refrigeration in the short term, but just last longer in the fridge. If you dig out a decent box over the next week, then you'll have something to pop those into for a few days while fridge space is at a premium, and then pop them back after.
Also think about the vegetables you'll be buying and store them in the most efficient way possible. Root vegetables, potatoes and brassicas like cabbage and sprouts and quite a lot of fruits don't really need to be in the fridge, but they do last longer in a warm central heated house if they're somewhere cool. So if you're buying way ahead of time, you might decide to have them initially in the fridge until just before Christmas, but then you can take them out in the last couple of days when all your fresh last minute foods arrive. Again, just think about a box or a container to sling them into so that they're easy to move about and you're not just chucking them on the worktop when the shopping arrives.
Supermarkets often have empty cardboard boxes that you can have, or a bag for life or two are quite easy to carry and stash things around for a few days.
If you want to get ahead on some of the Christmas prep and you have freezer space, then I'll link in the show notes to some of our regular guest Kate Hall's videos on how to prep those veggies, things like roast potatoes, sprouts and so on, so that you can take out just the amount you need for each meal and a little spare and you don't end up with a mountain in the fridge.
If you've still got some bits and pieces in the fridge or freezer that are taking up space, but you're not going to use over Christmas so it's a idea to use them up, now's a good time to do it. I'll put a link in the show notes back to episode 49 where I ran through some ways to use up things in advance.
Then thinking ahead to the food you're going to cook over the holidays, are there things that you make because they make one of your guests happy, but your own family doesn't really like them enough to use up the leftovers? If so, have a think if you've got any containers that you can send the leftovers home with those guests who like them.
If you haven't got any old takeaway containers or ice cream tubs knocking around, then supermarkets make cheap takeaway containers that you can send things home in. Or freezer bags are quite good for dry items. Similarly, are there things that your family does eat, but not in the quantities that you often end up with? Again, think about containers to send those away with people. You'll probably notice yourself that if you go to a party and they offer to send you home with a doggy bag and it's a one minute job to give it to you in a suitable container, then you're much more likely to accept it. Rather than if you're offered something but then they have to start rummaging around in cupboards to find a pot with a lid and you have to return the pot and it might slop over in the car etc. So if you want to be able to fob those foods off onto people who will eat them more than you will then have your containers ready to help them to say yes.
While you're thinking about containers to give things away, think about containers to store and freeze your own foods. At this time of year you're often using every container you have, either for the fridge or the freezer. Get in some extra freezer bags if you need to and either labels or a marker pen to label the foods so things don't end up as an unrecognisable frozen blob.
Save a few food containers like yoghurt pots and ice cream tubs over the next week as you use things. They might not be suitable for repeated reuse, but they might do for a couple of days in your fridge so that you can free up your proper freezer and microwave safe containers for storing longer term things.
And finally, looking at the meals you're gonna cook over the holidays themselves, are there any gaps where it's just your family eating and you could make a leftover style meal in between those bigger event meals and use up some of those leftover items as you go along. Things like noodle meals, burritos or tacos or omelettes can all use up a small amount of leftovers from one big meal before starting on the next one. And this can be a bit less daunting than if you just store all your leftovers until the end of the events and then have mountains of fridge and freezer leftovers to use up in January. In a minute, I'm going to run through some suggestions for ways to use up traditional holiday foods in other meals. So have a think if there are any small slots where one of those would free up fridge space and head space for you.
On the other hand, you might be someone who just prefers to get through the celebration meals, freeze all the leftovers as you go, and then spend the downtime after the relatives have gone to browse ideas to use stuff up, in which case, stick to that if it works for you. But if you're someone like me who will use up all of your creative capacity and food enthusiasm during the hosting part of the holidays and you won't want to face thinking about it afterwards, then now might be a good time to have a quick think with a cuppa and a TV show on in the background and a bit of a browse to take the mental load from afterwards. So that's why I'm giving some suggestions now. Do whatever works best for you.
OK, so you've had a think about where stuff will go, who to give some things to and what to store your own things in, and you've had a quick look at your timetable to see when you can eat some of those leftovers as you go along. So when it comes to the day of, how do you make sure that you make the most of those leftovers? As we've covered in previous episodes, fresh or cooked food, which has not been messed about with, can be kept safely and reused as long as it's refrigerated within two hours. I will put a link back to episode six with Jenna Brown, who's an environmental health expert about how to store and use leftovers safely. And also to episode 49, where our freezer friend, Kate Hall talks about how to freeze leftovers from these big holiday meals.
There will be a lot of links in the show notes about freezing individual foods too. So I'm not going to go through all of them here, but just remember that it's best to get things into the fridge when you've finished eating the meal and not let things sit about for ages. If you want to cool large items down quicker, break them into smaller pieces, so for example take the legs or breasts off the leftover turkey carcass, or cut a nut roast or wellington up into slices. And if you have a wet leftover item to cool down, like cauliflower cheese or a curry or a stew, then using a water bath will cool down most items within about half an hour to a temperature which is low enough to go in the fridge. By water bath, I mean just standing the pot of your curry or gratin etc. inside another bowl with tap water that comes halfway up the sides and then change the water every 15 minutes or so. The heat transfers to the water and cools the pot down much quicker. if you've got a few ice cubes to chuck the water even better. But get your leftovers into the fridge within a couple of hours and then you have a couple of days or so to use them up or move them onto the freezer.
So that's the overall plan of action to get foods from their first meal into a stored state to use them up. Don't forget you should only reheat cooked foods once. So if you're going to reheat things later, then consider the portion sizes before you freeze them. You don't want to end up defrosting and reheating a huge portion of something which is much too big for one leftover meal and then having to ditch half of it anyway because of not being able to reheat it again. For example, might want to break a turkey apart into small chunks and then freeze those on a tray and after a couple of hours when the pieces are frozen, chuck them in a bag and then you can take the right sized handful out in the future to use for a new meal rather than having to take out a whole turkey leg or a whole turkey breast in one go. The same works for veggies. Open freeze them on a tray and decant them into bags rather than freezing in a big block all together. And for things like curries or sauces, try to freeze them in smaller portions that are the size that your family would normally eat in one meal. Again, this is why thinking through your containers now will make life easier on the day.
OK, so you've stored your leftovers and you want to use them up. So here's some ideas of how to use them. There are loads of great recipe ideas online, so I'm not going to do loads, but this is just to give you some ideas and maybe one or two you might not have thought of. And I'll put some links to examples in the show notes so don't have to think too much when you're full of chocolate and you just want to watch a film.
OK, so first with turkey. Again, it's already been cooked once, so anything you make that reheats that turkey should ideally be eaten in that second sitting, so make small batches. We all know the idea of a turkey curry, but shredded bits of turkey are great in ramen bowls or Laksa or Pho with broth. You can make child-friendly ones and then add spices or more challenging ingredients like ginger at the end for the grown-ups or for more adventurous eaters. You can chop or mince turkey into burgers or meatballs to go into buns, into pitas with salad or into a tomato sauce with pasta. Both can be fried or oven baked or air fried. You can make up turkey burritos with added rice or beans or salsa or guac or a more Christmassy burrito using leftover roast veg and potatoes with the turkey and some cranberry sauce too. And cold turkey wraps with salad and mayo in them and some French fries on the side are a lovely mix. You can put shredded turkey into tacos with peppers and onions. If you want to shortcut, use a supermarket taco mix, salsa and guac or sour cream or cheese, shredded lettuce for children who don't like things too spicy. You can make super quick pasties using a sheet of ready rolled puff pastry and fold squares or triangles over turkey fillings, either with leftover veg and either gravy or a creamy sauce, or go drier with something like stuffing and cranberry sauce. And turkey's also really nice in a creamy sauce over pasta like a fricassee. Or just use a jar of creamy sauce bought in advance. With some garlic bread and salad it gives a nice break from that holiday vibe.
Okay, so that's turkey.
So now brassica vegetables – that's cabbages, kale, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli. They're all good added to pasta with something salty like bacon or smoked tofu and a light sauce or some cheese. I'll link to a recipe to give you an idea. Cooked brassicas can also be great in things like omelettes, potato cakes, bubbles and squeaks. Any uncooked ones are great in a slaw and you can go creamy or more Asian style dressing. Uncooked shredded brassicas are also great with noodles or noodle soups because they cook through in the broth but still have some crunch. And either cooked or raw brassicas can be chopped or shredded small and put into a Japanese style pancake. I will link to a recipe I mentioned in a previous episode which is great for cabbages and sprouts.
Roasted vegetables like root veg and potatoes can easily be made into soup or added to cooked meats for quick stews, made into patties like bubble and squeak, and you can make those patties small and oven cook or air fry them, if like me, you never liked the hassle of a huge pan to cook them through evenly. I'll link to some air fryer bubble and squeak patties and another one which has a nice spicy mayo. If you have a selection of veggies to use up, adding a tin of lentils and a tin of tomatoes and then any spices you like can make a lovely stew with a big hunk of bread. You can stir fry up a hash of veggies and potatoes and serve them with a fried egg. You can put a load of roasted vegetables into a dish with a white sauce or cheesy sauce, gratin style, and then top with breadcrumbs or a crumble topping. I'll link to an example of a crumble one. Or mix them with gravy and stick some scone dough on top, either homemade or shop bought dough, to make a quick cobbler. And finally, you can mix most root vegetables with garlic, lemon and a tin of chickpeas or beans and whiz them up to make a hummus style dip for toast.
For potatoes in particular, you can also add roasted ones into an omelette. You can add spices for a Bombay potato style side dish. Or you have a lot, can chop them smaller and put them on a plate and pile nacho style toppings on top, such as salsa, jalapenos, cheese or cheese sauce and grill them until the sauce bubbles.
And finally, if you always buy fancy cheeses for a holiday cheese board, but find yourself with loads of half pieces of odd cheese and don't want to just keep making yourself eat cheese when you've had enough, you can put them all together into a cheese and onion tart. Just use a shop bought pastry to make life easier, I'll link to an example. You can also break them into smaller chunks and freeze them so you can have this as a fun meal in January when you need the comfort food. Or another way to use up random cheese pieces is to make a fancy mac and cheese, and if you want to use everything up at once you can even smash up any leftover crackers and pan fry those crumbs with a bit of garlic to sprinkle on the top. Just make sure to make a note if any of the cheeses on the cheese board are the mouldy or blue or unpasteurised ones, the ones that are unsuitable for young children, pregnant women or elderly people, and either don't put those in or make sure that those groups don't eat them.
OK, so those are my suggestions for things to make with common leftovers. Whatever you end up making with your leftovers, make sure it's something you enjoy. It's nice to be a bit experimental with leftover foods, but it's also really nice to enjoy what you're eating. So pick out things that you know your family will like. Or get the ingredients in the freezer until you've got the headspace to think about them later. It is a good thing to try to use up food and reduce food waste, but no one's gonna know if your leftover ideas aren't adventurous. Food doesn't have to be Instagram worthy, it just has to make us happy.
I hope something in there will be helpful and when you're staring blankly at a tub of leftover vegetables you might remember this episode and come to the show notes for ideas
I'll drop a load of links to try and be helpful so you can enjoy your food as much as possible with family and friends. There's one more episode now before the Christmas bank holidays, so I hope to see you on that one. But in the meantime, happy eating!
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