“But we have all this turkey left! I don’t want it to go to waste, what can I do?”
I remember years ago, there was a commercial on TV, about how someone put together meals using leftover turkey, to the tune of The First Day of Christmas, with words that started; The first day after Christmas my true love made for me…and on the part of the tune that goes with “Five Golden Rings” it said, Flaming Turkey Wings.
All kidding aside, we don’t need to put ourselves and our families through that. Preserve your leftover turkey by canning it. It’s really very simple. Cut it up into pieces, put them loosely in a pint jar, cover them with broth or water, add salt if using water, get the air bubbles out, wipe the rims to insure there is no fat or pieces, put on a lid, a ring and process in a pressure canner.
For the broth, I plan ahead, that when we are finish cooking the turkey, we clean all of the meat off of the bones, I simmer the bones with pieces of celery (tops & ends) carrot peelings, tops and ends, and onion skins, and ends, to make a bone both. I just stick everything in my crockpot, cover with water and turn on low, overnight.
The next morning, and strain off the bones, with the hot broth in a glass pitcher, putting it in the fridge to cool. Then I put all the bones and fresh veggie pieces into the crockpot and simmer it while I’m at work. Then I strain off those bones, which I now throw away, and put that broth in the refrigerator to cool down.
Making your own broth is quite beneficial, both health wise, drinking is good for you, but also to add flavor to mashed potatoes, it can be used to make gravy (even if you don’t have any meat for a meal) and it can be used to make soups. Plus, you don’t waste all of that goodness.
“But I spent the whole day cooking for Thanksgiving or Christmas, why would I want to do more cooking,” you ask?
You really aren’t doing much, you put it in the crock pot and let it do the work for the cooking process and then the refrigerator for the cooling process. Plus, it’s less wasteful.
As for processing, it needs to be in a pressure canner, and a hot bath canner. For 75 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts. You will need to check with the pressure amount needed for your elevation, mine is 15 lbs., and follow the pressure guidelines for your canner. There are special electric canners for this process as well, but NEVER use and Instant Pot.
Another way to preserve it is to dehydrate the pieces or freeze-dry them. We have a dehydrator but cannot afford a freeze-drier and that’s okay. We all do what we can do, at our individual budgets. But I will tell you, I bought my dehydrator used, either at a thrift store or off of eBay. I’ve had it for over 20 years, and I’ve used it a lot and am learning new things. I probably will never get a freeze-dryer. They are great products, my parents have one, they have don’t some foods for me, and I love it. I just don’t see it in my budget any time soon.
PrintFriendly
