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Kate Hall’s Top Tips For Saving Your Christmas Leftovers

If you’re guilty of cooking far too much food on Christmas day and then letting those leftovers go to waste, this is for you!

When it comes to your leftovers there are a few handy things to know, to help you ensure they always get eaten (even if you don’t fancy them the next day).

The UK Food Standards Agency advise leftovers should be eaten within two days, but if you know this is unlikely to happen, you can freeze them instead (and yes, it’s okay for them to be in the fridge for two days before you freeze them).

The key thing is to make sure your leftovers haven’t been sat out on the side for hours, though. It’s tempting to just roll onto the sofa after Christmas dinner, but taking a couple of minutes to get your cooled leftovers into a container and then into the fridge is vital!

Whilst it might be tempting to cook your leftovers into another dish and then freeze this (hello, turkey curry!), you’re actually better off freezing the individual leftovers to cook with later, because food really shouldn’t be reheated more than once.

Cooked meat can be frozen wrapped in baking paper or foil in usable portions and stored in a freezer bag, or frozen in gravy to help keep its moisture.

And veggies can be frozen on a lined tray before storing them in a freezer bag (to stop them clumping together), or if you’ll be making soup with them, you can blend the leftovers (I like to add some cooked onion too), then either freeze them flat or in an ice cube tray. When you want your soup, you can simply break off a piece or grab a few cubes, heat them through and add some boiling water or stock!

Make sure you check out @freshmilkandmore on Instagram for easy video instructions and more top tips from Kate!