by Barbara Stockton

Created on: March 02, 2009   Last Updated: December 24, 2009

With todays rising food costs the expense of putting on that holiday feast has tripled, so left overs become more important.  That one holiday meal has to last longer than they used to  because the cost for this one meal takes up your entire weeks food budget so this one meal has to be stretched to make up several meals. Many people make other leftover dishes like turkey croquettes, one of my favorites, soups, meat pies, and sandwiches. I have made many of these dish in an attempt to use up the leftovers, but there is only one problem with these recipes, before you use all those left overs, everyone is sick of them.

Now my mom was ingenious when it came to putting the left overs to good use. Her idea for using the leftovers was to make her own T.V. dinners. These were great because when ever she was too busy to make a full meal she would reach into the freezer and heat up these dinners. It was great because we could have the holiday meal when ever we wanted it without getting bored with the meal.

First my mom bought the sectioned containers from Tupperware complete with the lids. Today you can buy these containers in any discount store, for a reasonable price, which will allow you to have extra in stock. My mom would slice out the meat, placing over the stuffing, cover with gravy, add a scoop potatoes with the gravy onto the sectioned plate along with vegetables, cover and freeze. You can also make the turkey croquettes or individual turkey pies for the freezer, as a quick and easy meal. These meals are so convenient for those times when ever she needed a quick meal. All she just had to do was to place the container in the microwave and cooked for three to five minutes, stirring the potatoes occasionally to ensure that they heat completely. She would make these T.V. dinners with any left overs including macaroni and cheese, Shepard's pie and even spaghetti. This would allow for a variety of dinners for us to choose from. These dinners are also so easy that the kids themselves can just pop them into the microwave and help in the preparation of the meal themselves.

If you really want to get creative with this idea involve the children with preparing there own T.V. dinners and labeling them for use later. The children will love making there own prepared meals that will be labeled just for them. The great thing about this idea is that it can be used anytime even when you have leftovers from any dinner you can prepare these dinners so you always have a variety of meals for that quick dinner, on a long day.

The thing I always liked about making your own frozen dinners is that you knew exactly what went into the preparation of the dinner and it is all natural without all the extra additives. This is a quick and nutritious way to feed your children when you don't have the time to make a big meal. The two greatest benefits to these dinners, is that first your children will love them and secondly the clean-up is quick and easy.

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