Leftover tips for cooked turkeys and how long they last in the fridge or freezer

Christmas has come to an end but the feasting is far from over as families up and down the country fridges pick through their fridges packed with leftovers.

Turkey will no doubt be on many Brits' Boxing Day buffet menus- but just how long can it be eaten?

For some, the turkey is already in the bin.

Some people who purchased festive poultry from Tesco, Aldi and Morrisons say their Christmas dinners were ruined this year when they discovered the meat was rotten.

But for the vast majority of households whose delicious Christmas feasts went smoothly, the leftover smorgasboard is just beginning, and the Manchester Evening News has some tips.

Turkey curries, Christmas dinner pies and festive soup are just some of the ways we choose to reinvent and stretch the life of our roasted meat.


  • How to get a free Boxing Day takeaway worth £15 if you don't want to cook tonight

  • PrettyLittleThing boss hands out mind-blowing gifts to strangers on Twitter

But exactly how long does our leftover Christmas poultry last for?

(Spoiler alert: The recommended amount of days that you should keep your cooked turkey for is shorter than you might think).

According to the Food Standards Agency , it is safe to freeze food right up until the use-by date.

So make sure you check the date on the packaging beforehand.

But there are things we must do first in order to get the most out of our turkey leftovers.

Leftover meat should be cooled, covered and put into the fridge or freezer within one or two hours.


  • Boxing Day shoppers queue in rain from 5am to bag top deals in a £4.4bn splurge

If you choose to freeze your cooked turkey, once it's defrosted you must eat the food within 24 hours.

You can also use previously cooked and frozen turkey to create a new meal.

And the new meal can be frozen too but make sure you only reheat it once.

For those who choose to refrigerate their cooked leftovers, the NHS also offers advice.

Its website states that leftover food should ideally be used within a 48-hour period.

So following this advice you have just two days post-Christmas Day to gobble up all your turkey leftovers.

Turkey recipe ideas

The  Love Food Hate Waste  website is dedicated to reducing the amount of food waste in households across the nation.

Type in your leftover item into the website's search engine  here  and discover inventive recipe ideas to give your food new life.


  • Worst Christmas dinners of year – with some eating garlic bread and baked beans

You can filter suggested recipes by dietary requirements, difficulty and cooking time.

Recipes include  turkey and cranberry spring rolls  ,  turkey tagine  and  turkey and sweet corn burgers .

And if you have several Christmas dinner leftovers you could visit the  Super Cook  website.

Super Cook lets you tick off every ingredient you want to use up – even if it's a random combination.

Then you will be suggested recipe ideas that contain all of the ingredients you've selected.

Source: Read Full Article