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No Dish Left Behind: How to Make Leftovers Last

Heather ChaEditor

Updated Thu, November 27, 2014 at 5:01 PM UTC

Leftover Recipes — You'll welcome all the leftover food after Thanksgiving once you see Bon Apetit's guide of how you can cook up a number of new, tasty dishes from what you have.

Photo: Thinkstock

Send a Meal Home — Want to entice Uncle Fred and Aunt Emily to take a plate home? Here’s a thoughtful and stylish DIY to-go container that’ll ensure dinner guests leave with their hands full with this easy-to-assemble to-go kit from Yahoo DIY editor-in-chief Katie Brown.

Photo: Yahoo DIY
Yahoo DIY

How Long Leftovers Last — As much as we'd like Thanksgiving to last all year, the food we make for the holiday has a lifespan much shorter than that. Cranberry sauce is one side dish that can last up to two weeks, but there are definitely other items you'll have to toss long before that. Here is a handy chart to avoid any food poisoning issues this holiday.

Photo: Thinkstock

Gravy Leftover Tips — Gravy is a delicate dish and can go bad quickly. For the first week, you can boil down the gravy to prepare it for another round of cooking. If you want to freeze your gravy, mix in a little flour first. And store your meat in some of the gravy to keep it from drying out!

Photo: About.com

Herb Ice Cubes — Keep leftover herbs from browning with this ingenius idea. Freeze the herbs in an ice cube tray with olive oil. You saved your herbs from being wasted and now have them ready to throw into dishes for future meals.

Photo: The Kitchn

Store 'em Separately — Even though the turkey, stuffing, and gravy taste delicious together, you will want them in individual containers to maximize the shelf life.

Photo: Thinkstock

Mason Jar Meal — Have the next week's lunch ready to go! Portion out leftovers into mason jars and you'll have a whole collection of grab and go meals.

Photo: Big Red Kitchen

Pie To Go — One piece of pie is never enough. Let guests take a slice home to enjoy later with this easy pie box template and print out project.

Photo: Studio DIY

Leftover Box Labels — Thanksgiving leftover labels are just a mouse click away! These printable box labels are a super easy way to pretty up food containers.

Photo: I Should Be Mopping the Floor

Pie Crust Makeover — Repurpose any leftover crust into a hand-held pie. Call it a calzone, call it an empanada wannabe, whatever it is, you can be sure it's delectable. Find the recipe here.

Photo: The Mother Huddle

Ever heard of a host running out of food on Thanksgiving? We haven't either. That's probably because we all tend to cook way too much for the big dinner, and that's never going to change. But now it's time to figure out what do you do with the overwhelming amount of food left over so that nothing goes to waste. From making new dishes with turkey and stuffing to packing away leftovers for guests, we've got 10 solutions that will solve your Thanksgiving leftover problems.

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