As I left the supermarket with a trolley full of Christmas provisions I couldn’t stop thinking about what to do about that extra kilo of weight that I had gained…While I loaded the car with bags, I knew that I wasn’t carrying this extra weight because I had broken into the stollen bites prematurely. The mandatory wearing of face masks in stores had made it impossible to indulge in any free samples of enticing mince pies and other holiday goodies normally pushed by the usual smiley demonstrators. No, my extra kilo of weight was entirely due to having simply too much turkey. That is, the only turkeys left to buy on the supermarket shelves this Covid Christmas were supersized.
Admittedly, in a global pandemic there are much more important things to worry about than having an oversized turkey. Primarily, there will be far too many families that will have to face celebrating the holidays without a loved one this year. Not to mention, the families who have found themselves in dire financial circumstances and having to rely on food banks. And with huge swaths of the UK suddenly being promoted to Tier 4, most people’s holiday plans have had to radically change at the last minute. After a year of lockdowns and social distancing, Covid has not only caused a massive upheaval in families but a lot of hurt and pain at a time when we need closeness the most. But on a practical note, many also find themselves in the absurd predicament of realising that they have bought too much food for their unexpectedly downsized Christmas. It may be a trivial and even embarrassing problem but what do you do to prevent food waste?
For me, my excess food problem rested solely in the massive turkey which I was not entirely sure I could even fit into my fridge. I knew the beast was far too big for the size of my family despite their impressive appetites but I felt I couldn’t turn it down. Eating a succulent roast turkey is a central part of our family’s Christmas dinner so trying to get away with serving a smaller stuffed chicken would likely cause culinary warfare. As I heaved the titanic beast into the shopping trolley my mind began to work on solving the food conundrum of exactly what to do when you are stuck with an overweight turkey. Since I have come up with 3 main alternatives to help avoid reaching turkey tipping point, I would like to share it with the masses of people who will also be facing this rather unusual dilemma.
If your turkey is too much of a beast:
Share the problem. Find someone nearby to share the monster with rather than facing it, alone. After all, it’s the season of giving so who’s going to turn down the gift of your juicy turkey? You just need to find someone who hasn’t also been landed with a whopper. As long as you practice good hand hygiene and do not share crockery and utensils, sharing and giving gifts of food with your neighbours and family is still considered to be Covid-safe and is often the easiest solution to having too much food. Of course, there are two ways you can go about sharing. You could either roast the whole turkey before sharing it out or portion up the raw turkey to give to someone else who could cook it to their own recipe.
Get roasted. Providing you can fit the mammoth turkey into your oven, roast it as planned on the day but come to terms with the fact that it will take longer to cook. After the meal is over and once you can take stock of the enormity of your leftovers, don’t think of it as a problem. Instead, see it as the solution to your future dinner dilemmas. Simply package up the cooked leftovers into several smaller portions and freeze them to use at a later date. Rest assured that having some frozen cooked turkey on hand to add to a last minute soup, curry or pasta dish will someday save the day. Some future evening when time is short and the mood is quickly turning hangry, you will be able to whip up some speedy turkey tacos like that superhero, Jamie Oliver.
Have a massive breakdown. Instead of cooking the gigantic turkey, select a much smaller portion of it to roast. There are a multitude of YouTube videos and online sources out there to show you how to easily breakdown a whole turkey into its separate legs, wings and crown. Then all you have to do is freeze the remaining unused portions that you can cook sometime in the future.
After considering the options I have finally come to a decision of what to do with our Christmas beast. Since it will fit in the oven I have decided to overlook the extra cooking time and have committed to roasting it whole. Then, after giving away what leftovers I can pack off with my children who will be returning to university I will freeze the rest to be enjoyed in some future meals.
Now this is the point where you would expect me to give you a great recipe or two using some of that leftover turkey…But now on the eve of Christmas Eve the great turkey still remains crammed inside our fridge, waiting to be roasted. However, without a doubt, there will be leftovers. Which means there will be some turkey recipes in the New Year to watch out for that will help you empty out the freezer of leftovers.
After a tumultuous year of Covid and everchanging Tiers let’s hope that the New Year will bring us a bit closer to normalcy. It may seem a First World problem of the highest order to have too much turkey but I still hope that more of our problems can shrink to the trivial in the New Year.
