26Nov/09Off
Thanksgiving Leftovers: A Few Suggestions
Remember those leftovers are up for grabs. Get what is yours.
If your family Thanksgiving involves 10 or more people, there is some strategy involved in making sure you leave with enough of the ingredients you need to stuff yourself on Thursday night, Friday and well into the weekend. A few suggestions on securing your fair share (or more, if desired) of the leftovers:
- Cozy up to whomever runs the show. In my case, it means making sure my grandma knows how much I love leftovers and how her turkey and stuffing are my favorite. I do not need to lie to accomplish this, they are the best, but be prepared to exaggerate your enthusiasm for the food in an effort to secure larger portions for the road.
- Timing. After dessert, make sure you are no further than 10 yards from the packing of the leftovers. If you're in the yard throwing a football around, you'll have no chance at the good stuff. If you're asleep on the couch you can kiss the best leftover bird goodbye and you'll be lucky to end up with a handful of cranberries. Get close and if absolutely necessary, offer to help clean up and put food in tupperware. The offer to help should only be used if you're in a real battle with another family member for the best leftovers.
- Know what you want. Are you a fan of stuffing? Then make sure you focus your efforts on getting the best stuffing available. You dont want the crusty stuff from the edge of the pan. Love dark meat? Get in there and get it. If you've resorted to helping pack leftovers, go ahead and fill a container with all dark meat. When the distribution time comes, be ready to move for that container. At a minimum, make sure you secure some bird, some stuffing and cranberries for sandwiches. If the host happens to have a loaf of non-Thanksgiving related white bread in the cupboard, just take it. After the commotion of the day, they'll never notice it missing. Do whatever it takes to make sure you do not have go to a store on Friday to round out your leftover menu. If that means outright theft from loved ones, so be it.
- Play the game to win. Your family will most certainly include someone else who is playing the game. Play the game better than they do. Identify that person and their weaknesses. Exploit those weaknesses to get your food. If you have a relative with a cell phone nearby, wait until leftover distribution and make a call from your phone to draw them away from the playing field. Maybe you have a relative eagerly awaiting the best leftovers and they have a kid they're always talking about? Come in from another room smiling and say something like, "that <name here> is just too cute. You should see what they're doing now. You should take a picture!" In all likelihood that will draw your opponent out of the game temporarily. As this occurs, strike on the leftovers and go home with the best.
What to do with the leftovers once you get home? Below are some excellent leftover recipes:
- The Standard: two pieces of white bread, turkey, stuffing and Hellmann's mayo. I estimate that I'll consume 7-12 of these between now and Sunday.
- The Ultimate Leftover Sandwich.
- Ideas for sandwich spreads to enhance your leftover sandwiches.
- Some slightly unconventional ideas for leftovers (salads, wraps, etc.)
- 10 Ways to Use Leftovers
Any other suggestions on leftovers? Leave them below.
I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving.
