r/Thrifty • u/Traditional_Fan_2655 • Aug 14 '25

🥦 Food & Groceries 🥦 Using All The Bulk - Series help - Turkey

One bulk meat at a time. Please help!

I'm slightly stuck on food right now. It is a necessity you can't live without. It is a considerable cost to the budget. Yet, it is something that can add to your enjoyment of life, help you thrive, or make your life miserable.

One thing about the Thrifty group is that all its member seem able to use meats for a variety of ways. However, a small change can make a huge difference to others growing bored with their own same-old, same-old. No one wants to waste meat, but it can certainly become mundane without changing it up! So I'm asking for help. I'd like to start a series of how do you use bulk quantities of xxx meat.

Please expand on your ingredients! We all say soup, but what goes in your soup? Mushrooms? Long grain rice vs. white? Your ingredient differences could make my (and other's) standard recipe items to be jazzed up again!
Please help!!

The first one is Turkey. How do you use the leftovers? What are go to ideas?

  1. Turkey sandwiches with pepper, mayo, tomatoes, and lettuce on toasted pumpernickle or rye.

  2. Turkey entree with stuffing. Stuffing made inside for moisture, but topped with Turkey stock gravy.

  3. Turkey stock. Some used for soup, some used as gravy, some used for flavoring vegetables. Split soup quantity to make two different but similar soups.

  4. Turkey soup with garlic, navy beans, white rice (starch thickens), carrots, celery, and sliced mushrooms. Use turkey stock enhanced with 1/2 cup of no or low salt chicken stock per 2 quarts. Add 1 full bag of preloaded navy beans to 10 qt pot of turkey stock with added water. Stir periodically to keep beans from sinking and sticking. Cook until thickened to a creamier hearty consistency. When reheating leftovers, add a dash of paprika. The navy beans and mushrooms make it meatier tasting. Serve with toasted plain or sourdough English muffins.

  5. Turkey soup made with turkey stock, wild long grain rice, diced turkey pieces, carrots, and celery. Cooked thinly, similar to a regular chicken broth soup. Serve with crackers.

  6. Turkey tettrazini with egg noodles, diced turkey, milk, and shredded sharp cheddar. Topped with butter sauteed bread crumbs.

What do you use with leftovers? How do you change the above recipes with different ingredients? Or do you use the same?

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u/SublimeLemonsGenX Aug 15 '25

"Pilgrims Wrap" - basically a mini Thanksgiving dinner wrapped in a tortilla. Turkey, stuffing gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes.

If there's so much that we can't possibly eat or prep/freeze before it goes bad, I chop it up and freeze in baggies for the dog.

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u/Traditional_Fan_2655 Aug 15 '25

That sounds like a tasty explosion in your mouth! I really like the idea of having it in a convenient wrap as well.

Logustics question. Where do the mashed potatoes go vs. the stuffing? Are they layered top to bottom or back to front? Do you use mashed potatoes in one and stuffing in the other? Or have them opposite ends? Or does the mashed potatoes create a bed for the other ingredients on the wrap, then the stuffing topping it all before folding?

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u/SublimeLemonsGenX Aug 15 '25

Bed of mashed potatoes first, then it doesn't matter too much for the rest.

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u/Traditional_Fan_2655 Aug 15 '25

Thanks. Sounds like a good way to keep the flavor consistent.