How to Repurpose Your Thanksgiving Leftovers

Image credit: Emma Grazado for The Campus Trainer

For college students, Thanksgiving break means a lot of different things: getting a break from school, seeing our families and spending time with home friends. But, it’s also about the food! Thanksgiving food is what most students look forward to after months of dining hall meals or attempting to cook for themselves. Luckily, Thanksgiving often results in leftovers that need to be eaten after the holiday.

Here are some of the best ways that you can repurpose your extra food and avoid waste!

Friendsgiving

Friendsgiving, a sub-holiday of Thanksgiving, has gained popularity over the past few years. Oftentimes, people will organize a second Thanksgiving meal so they can celebrate with their friends. Instead of cooking more than once, plan a Friendsgiving for after the Thanksgiving, and have each guest bring some leftovers to share.

Meal Prep

For students who cook for themselves, planning meals in advance can make life so much easier, especially as finals are approaching. Using leftover food from Thanksgiving for lunches and dinners is a great way to make the most of what’s left and avoid waste.

Meal prepping while back at school is also a great way to get a taste of home as you close out the semester.

“My mom would make me a turkey sandwich for like a week after Thanksgiving with the leftovers,” said Rachel Jesse, sophomore government and politics major.

There are plenty of recipes that can put your leftovers to great use. Here are some of the best ones!

Mashed Potato Pizza

Grab a store-bought pizza crust and top it with the leftover mashed potatoes from your Thanksgiving meal. Get creative with toppings! We like to add mozzarella, green onions, hot sauce and bacon.

The Ross Geller

For any “Friends” fans, Ross Geller’s day-after-Thanksgiving sandwich is a memorable and effective way to use your leftovers.

Grab all your favorite Thanksgiving foods and toppings and three pieces of bread. Soak one piece of bread in leftover gravy, then assemble half of the sandwich on another piece. Pile on turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and anything else you have remaining! Add the gravy-soaked piece of bread to the middle of the sandwich, then fill the rest. Top it with the third piece of bread and enjoy!

Be sure to try some of these ideas to avoid wasting food from your Thanksgiving meals!