Tell British Turkey what you do with your turkey leftovers – £250 voucher prize draw!NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

British Turkey have asked us to find out how Mumsnetters use their leftover turkey during the festive season.

Here’s what they say, “British Turkey is a campaign to encourage people to eat more delicious British-farmed turkey both at Christmas and all year round. Turkey is a great versatile meat as it carries flavours really well, and what’s more, the breast meat is a really healthy choice as it is high in protein and lower in fat than any other mainstream meat so eating turkey makes perfect sense at family mealtimes and for those watching their weight. Look out for mince, breast fillets, steaks and diced thigh in supermarkets.

“However, Christmas is just around the corner and focus will be on buying traditional whole turkeys and large joints for the Big Day. British Turkey is here to help with everything you need to roast your turkey to perfection. We know that cooking a whole turkey for the Christmas table may seem a little daunting for some, but it certainly has its benefits. As well as having the most festive nostalgia, a whole bird is best value for money - for about the same price as a crown or a ready stuffed breast joint, you get the lovely leg meat. This means yummy cold cuts for Boxing Day and even enough leftovers enough to create a tasty dish for the freezer. So this Christmas plump for a whole turkey - you’ll get 3 meals in 1!”

So, do you buy a whole turkey for Christmas, or at another point during the season? If so, what do you do with the leftovers (or do you manage to finish the whole turkey on Christmas day?!)? Perhaps you make turkey sandwiches for lunch for the next few days? Or maybe you make a lovely turkey curry with the leftovers? Whatever it is, we’d love to hear it!

Everyone who adds their comments will be added into a prize draw to win a £250 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks
MNHQ

Last year it was turkey sarnies, Turkey and ham pie and turkey stir fry. and picking handfuls every time we went past the fridge

Am going to go back through this tread for ideas this year!

We tend to keep it quite traditional, so sandwiches for Xmas day or Boxing Day tea of turkey, stuffing, white bread, and mayo /chutney or lashings of butter as you see fit.

Then there is always a pie made with turkey, ham, misc veg in a white sauce with puff pastry. We freeze at least one meal's worth, sometimes more, depending on how much we have left. That will probably become a curry a few weeks later. I had some shortcrust pastry to use up last year so made turkey empanadas too, and they were delicious.

I buy a huge turkey and a wonderfully creamy turkey risotto on Boxing Day. I add streaky bacon and mushrooms as well. I serve along side more pigs in blankets and crusty garlic bread.... A wonderful change from the full turkey christmas dinner.

I prefer the cold buffet on Boxing Day than the actual roast (hard work eh?), especially Turkey & chutney sarnies (home made blackberry chutney was definitely the best). My brother makes the awesome turkey curry. We tend towards chilli con turkey, really good with a spot of chocolate in it.

We buy a turkey crown, my Mum prefers it and it's what they have always bought. Leftovers are used for sandwiches for a cold tea on Boxing Day with cheeses and crackers.

I only buy a small turkey; enough for Xmas dinner and ONE lot of sandwiches, then I cut the last bits up into small pieces, simmer it in some gravy with a little finely grated carrot and watch our tabby, Isaac have the biggest grin on his face as he wolfs it down. Freeze the rest of his feline festive stew for him for the rest of the year.

I buy a crown and we have it with all the trimmings on Christmas Day, then cold turkey with salad on Boxing Day, which the kids love.

We buy a whole turkey.
Leftovers and bubble & squeak on Boxing Day
Make a huge turkey risotto and freeze half
Turkey sandwiches
Cold meats and potato salad
Does us for ages!

We usually buy a crown because, like you say in the intro, it really seems too daunting to cook a whole turkey! I might look into it and try it although dh usually does Christmas dinner and most of the cooking all year roun tbh.

With the leftovers, I love turkey and cold stuffing sandwiches or turkey and beetroot sandwiches, with a little bit of sea salt on.

We always buy a whole turkey and we have a LOT of leftovers since there's just the four of us (and boys are 3 and 5!)
Leftovers are turned into sandwiches for us plus a Jamie Oliver turkey, ham and leek pie recipe which is yum!

My favourites are cold turkey sandwiches & turkey risotto

We make a turkey and leek pie (pie mix in a bowl with a puff pastry lid) for either Boxing Day or the day after Boxing Day. We have lots of turkey sandwiches but also freeze some turkey to use in curries / stir fries later on in the month.

Turkey and salad cream sandwich or a nice Turkey stir fry! Mmm.

Turkey Curry and a Turkey Risotto. We always have loads left over.

We make our Turkey on Christmas eve though and we always have Turkey and Stuffing buttys on Crusty Barms with some pickles and pickalillie (sp) for our supper. IMO this is the best way to start Christmas.

We often just use leftover turkey in sandwiches with lots of cranberry sauce and lettuce but sometimes, if there’s enough, I make this for a really easy and light dinner:

Turkey & Bacon Caesar Salad

Leftover turkey, shredded
Pack of ready cooked crispy bacon, roughly broken into pieces
3 Romaine lettuces (or whatever lettuce you like)
A whole cucumber
Freshly shaved parmesan cheese (as much as you dare!)
Jar of Caesar dressing

1. Wash, dry & tear the lettuce and divide equally between 4 pasta bowls

1. Chop the cucumber into chunky slices and add to the bowls

1. Divide the turkey and bacon between the bowls

1. Sprinkle over the parmesan shavings

1. Pour the Caesar dressing over the salads

You can add a jacket potato or pasta or crusty bread if you like but either way, this makes a slightly special and very yummy supper for lunch or dinner on boxing day...or any other day of the year!

I really love turkey and would willingly eat it every day. I think you can just about substitute it for every recipe that calls for meat, which gives it a different twist, chilli con carne, cottage pie, stir fry etc.

My own favourite which I look forward to after Christmas, after the roast, and then after the Boxing Day cold turkey and chips, is the turkey paella, chuck in some prawns, rice, peas, green peppers and whatever else is in the fridge. Bliss.

I once went to someone's house for Christmas day. They served beef for dinner. I was so disappointed, I had to go to the shops when they reopened to get a turkey, so I could enjoy my Christmas week meals.

We have a Boxing Day tradition of making Jamie Oliver's Turkey & Leek Pie. You can put all the leftover turkey in as well as stuffing and it's always gone down well with the whole family.

We usually just make a stir fry (marinade in Teriyaki Sauce), and some sandwiches. Goes very well in a grainy bread with pastrami.

Lots of inspiration on this thread though! Hadn't thought of freezing the cooked meat.

A big whole turkey! We usually do turkey and stuffing sandwiches or if there is plenty left it will get thrown in a soup, curry or I will make a pie! Yum!

We have a whole turkey, can't see the point of crowns.

Leftovers are used for turkey and ham pie, turkey, brie and cranberry sauce paninis, turkey and spinach stir fry and also just nibbling bits of turkey (especially dipped in cold gravy).

I tend to buy another when they are reduced after Christmas and another at Easter. They really are astonishingly good value for the amount of meat you get.

Turkey works really well in a stir-fry, because it's more flavourful - and it's nice to have a lighter meal after Christmas. I buy turkey steaks for this, too, at other times of the year.

And turkey curry, coronation turkey (with raisins!), turkey in a tasty cream sauce with peas on tagliatelle. And turkey, sausage stuffing, and cranberry relish sandwiches.

Christmas requires a whole turkey.

I always buy a whole turkey as I love the leg meat and turkey is my children's favourite meat, so we tend to eat it throughout the year, not just Christmas.

I use the leftovers in soup, gorgeous turkey and cranberry sandwiches, the obligatory turkey curry, turkey salad and stir fry.

As well as the obvious sandwiches, we have always made a turkey curry with our leftover turkey, it's a bit of a tradition in my family!

Agree that turkey is great all year round though, we make lasagne with turkey mince and think it's much nicer than beef mince!

Last year we had Turkey and veg pie with bubble and squeak from the rest of the left overs!

I've just made a fab Thai Turkey curry.