I used to have a family holiday dinner party on the first weekend in December. Everyone was allowed to take home leftovers and they would tell me that leftovers were the best gift to receive...consumable, time-saving and tasty.

Years ago a friend invited my wife and I to a Thanksgiving meal. It was to be him and his wife, his brother, and us two, but because he wanted to have lots and lots of leftovers he had bought a 24 lb turkey. He had to remove all of the racks from the oven and place the roasting pan on the bottom of the oven for it to fit, and he kept checking and checking the internal temperature as the hours went by. I think dinner was supposed to be served early afternoon, but the turkey wasn't done until about 9:00 P.M.

I used to always purchase the to go containers. Then had a guest take entire pies, loaves of pumpkin bread, etc. They don't attend anymore, invited, but don't come. Lucky for me, she is my future daughter in law!

My daughter does Friends-giving and it was today. We brought home some crab dip, pumpkin pie, apple pie, baked ham, and the most delicious sauteed green beans with garlic.

I cook the biggest turkey I can get usually between 22 & 24 lbs. No more work cooking a big one. I often think the bigger ones have less meat though. Its generally just us, our adult sons and their SO. Remember I'm a hermit and never learned how to make friends. Anyway my sons will usually stay into the evening and reheat a plate. Instead of them taking leftovers they return the next day for dinner again where I reheat everything. Than the third day I make turkey noodle soup, homemade crusty rolls, a big salad and a Hersheys chocolate cake...and yep my boys return for the third day. LOL.. its all fine with me....I love my family all being around the table talking and laughing. my boys also do ALL of the dinner clean up those three days not allowing me to do anything other than get my table linen in the wash. I wouldn't have it any other way. What can be better than family around the table all sharing.

No leftover packing here. Holiday meals and visiting involve journeys by family or us of various types and lengths not amenable to carrying food. Meals are cooked and consumed in the same place and left behind after departures.

My daughter had not planned to do any Thanksgiving cooking because she was invited elsewhere, and then, she chanced upon a 10 lb turkey for $5. She said, "I'm going to buy that bird, cook it, and have leftovers for days". She did not mention stuffing, but I think that will be a given. Her mother trained her how to cook turkey and passed along a great recipe for stuffing.

I was thinking about this and realized when I was growing up I never was exposed to anyone ever taking leftovers home. Friends and family had some large family/friends dinners when I was a child and never once can I recall anyone taking food home, even those that brought things left them for the host and hostess. Actually very few brought things unless a specialty was requested of a family member or a very close friend. You ate what was served and it would probably be considered rude to have your items clash with the menu.

This makes me wonder. When did doggie bags for guests become a thing? Or was I simply brought up in a different family culture?

That said, I do offer leftover turkey, ham etc. or dessert to my kids to take home if they wish. Usually they just want a bit of slice meat for sandwiches the next day.

watchme,

When growing up we always attended Aunt Mary's for holiday meals. She was a young widow with a huge house used to entertain her family. At age 6, (1956) I got my first take home goodie bag from Aunt Mary. I remember what was in it.

Turkey, stuffing, cranberries, bread pudding and a small pouch of trail mix.

I felt so special, so loved.

So, we always send our kids away with something, even if they live within walking distance.

No-one in my family ever took leftovers home either, nor were they offered to guest. I wish they did. The turkey went fast enough but the side dishes just lingered and ....ugh.

Elizabeth, before, we didn't divvy up leftovers, just sort of took home what we brought. However, a couple of years ago, I started saying, does anyone want some of my __________, before I take it? Soon, each of us was saying it to the other. Could work. I didn't start it intentionally, but it made others stop and think, so now's your chance to pawn it off/get what you might want :)

My sister, after all is said and done, takes her almost reclusive boyfriend an entire plate. She uses my same plate every time, and brings it back to the next holiday. I am thinking of getting a paint pen or marker and putting his name on the bottom as a joke.

I love it when a delicious meal provides leftovers for several households.

When the family comes here, I always ask who wants to take home what. I pack it up while putting away leftovers and place it in the coolers that they brought for their contributions. There is just always too much food in our fridge after a family meal. I get really tired of leftover turkey.

We always have Thanksgiving at my Moms and every body brings a ton of food so that we can all take home leftovers. We do all the cleanup, so as we are washing dishes we always make Mom up a couple of plates, clean her fridge, and then make plates for all to take home. We even buy take home plates just for this purpose. Love the leftovers.

We always cook enough so we can have leftovers and also to go boxes for those that are not able to come but live near. We always brought home leftovers from my Mother's after I was married. I have been married almost 64 years. Leftovers for our family are great. We are having Thanksgiving at my son and daughters in law for the first time, and my son asked if I would bring some to go boxes.

Sue

We have a big family - our parents, plus 7 of us kids and our spouses and children - and we have always had leftovers. Divvying up leftovers has been a thing for us for 40 years, otherwise, there is too much food for the host family to consume themselves.

It's just the five of us for Thanksgiving. Dh had me buy a smaller bird because we don't enjoy turkey as much anymore. We had a larger bird a few years back. I told the kids we were having a week of turkey. That got old pretty quick even though I used all kinds of recipes. I do plan on making a turkey pot pie. I'll freeze anything else we don't eat in the first couple of days.

I bought my sweet potatoes yesterday, bought extras so there should be enough to send some sweet potato casserole home in their care packages. I'm going to use my recipe from last year which has Tony Chacheres spice and bacon which they really liked.

I now have a big package of to go boxes from Sam's Club and I will take several of those to my son's for our meal. I am also taking some quart sized storage bags and some flat foam trays, to be covered with foil or plastic wrap. I like to put mine in the bags if it will work. Happy Thanksgiving.

Sue

Besides the long drive to get here, leftovers are the only negative for spending TG with my daughter and her family..... I just have to cook me some turkey, and some side dishes I love after I get home... ;)

Moni

Had thanksgiving last night with family but alas, only have green beans as left overs. I was planning on having left over turkey so I have no idea what I'll eat today. Guess I better check my freezer and pull something out for dinner. Hope every one has a wonderful day with lots of food and family!

If you are near the north Houston area Satine come over and I'll make up a 'to go' box for you.

Thanks Lucille but Im way over in Maryland! Hope you are having a great day.

We just ate, just me, Lauren and her boyfriend. They went to visit a friend so I cleaned up and started boiling the bones for turkey & dumplings.

Oh gosh my guests left with 5 huge aluminum trays of leftovers plus 3/4 of 3 different pies, lol! They have about 5x more leftovers than we do. We eat leftovers for a few days but that's it. I gave away most dessert as I don't need it and DH doesn't like sweets.

It's become a tradition where we give away tons of leftovers. They bring the meat and DH takes some of that so it goes both ways.

My host didn't offer me any of the leftovers. :-( Guess I'll just have to make my own turkey breast once the weather cools off.

Sharing leftovers is half the fun, and not just on Thanksgiving. I always try to make sufficient quantities of food for sharing. It is nice to have a meal or two of different sides than the ones you always make yourself. Or an easy sandwich or soup of leftover meat when exhaustion hits the next day.

The exception is a certain relative's house where she won't put away the food for many hours after the meal because "No one has gotten sick and died yet." I've cleaned the kitchen and put food away in a timely manner quite a few times there. But when she insists I leave it and come into the living room to chat, I won't eat the leftovers. Luckily, she is not so careless with food safety during the prep and cooking part of meals. And luckily, no one has died from the leftovers yet.

We were all able to take home thanksgiving leftovers. I took some thigh meat, a wing, (I love the dark meat), dressing, gravy, mashed squash and Cole slaw. I'll nuke all but the Cole slaw tonight or Sunday.

We were happy to bring home a little roast beast and turkey but there wasn't an enormous over abundance of food prepared. There were fifteen of us; our hosts planned everything so that there was more than enough for our meal, but not so much that we all needed Tupperware.

It seems like a burden on the hosts to provide such a huge volume of food. I don't remember my own mother doing that or over all my years of hosting or enjoying others graciousness did anyone cook enough food for everyone to fill their takeout containers. Except for pies, lol.

I will make a turkey and our favorite sides for Xmas and am looking forward to it. Robert is already planning on how he will fix the turkey.

For once my family didn't go overboard with too many side dishes. We've got enough of everything for another delicious meal each, and enough turkey meat to freeze a few portions of turkey-in-gravy for future meals. The whole carcass is on the porch waiting to be made into soup. (It was 26 degrees last night so plenty cold enough to be food-safe out there.)

We didn't bring anything home although there were pies and lots of turkey left. My husband popped the brisket in the oven last night at 200 degrees and we'll have that for our dinner. It smells wonderful in here.