by Mindy Crump

Created on: December 25, 2008

The time where the entire family sits down to eat the ever so large meal that you slaved on for an entire afternoon, has come and gone. As your guests begin to leave, you desperately plea for them to take some of the left overs home with them. Instead they say "Thanks but no thanks" as they get into their cars and drive away, leaving you with a sad yet stressed out expression upon your face. Then you ask to no one in particular, "What am I going to do with all this food?" There are many different things you can do with your left overs but it's important for you to first take a deep breath and tell yourself "I can get rid of this food.

Not too many people like to have the same holiday meal each day until you run out of your left overs. It gets boring, it gets sickening and your cravings for other food comes into play. So why not turn that same boring meal into something completely different. Look at the food and think of new, inventive meals you can create using what you have left. Maybe make a casserole with the left over stuffing and meat. Maybe make your own version of shepherd's pie duck style. You could even try to make your own pizza using the left over vegetables, left over meat etc. as your toppings. The meals that you could make using your left overs are endless. A helpful tip would be to search for yourself on the internet for different recipes to use. If you have a favourite chef, try to find out what meals they would make with left overs.

Now if you tried a few recipes out but are really sick and tired of eating your leftovers no matter what type of meal they are in, what ever you do, do not throw your food out! Do you know how fortunate many of us are where we are able to buy food whenever we want and eat what ever we want? You might have heard this from your parents while you were growing up, but there are thousands of people all around the world who would do anything for the food that you no longer want. If you can no longer take another bite of that dressing before you gag, or the site of the turkey makes you cringe go get your phone book. Go on, go get it. Now open it to the yellow pages and find a local shelter who would be glad to take your left over food off your hands. Not only will all that food you can't stand will disappear, but you will and should be proud of yourself for helping people who really need it most.

If you give some thought into what you want to do with you left over food, you can come up with some creative ways to make meal time different and more enjoyable. Not just for yourself and your family, but possibly for other people as well.

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