How to Make Use of Leftovers

Some people love them, others hate them, but wherever you land when it comes to leftovers, there are plenty of creative ways to use them so you’re not eating the same meal several days in a row. After all, what was delicious on Sunday can be tiresome by Tuesday.

Saving leftovers stretches your grocery dollars, and if you keep plenty of pantry staples on hand—pasta, dried or canned beans, canned tomatoes—you can put a totally new meal on the table without a whole lot of effort.

Get Creative

How do you best use leftovers without getting bored? Get creative and repurpose them. Turn that beautiful Easter Coleman Applewood Smoked Spiral Ham into dishes like Ham Salad, Ribollita Soup with Ham or Spinach and Ham Quiche.

If one package of Hickory-Smoked Uncured Bacon is too much to cook for breakfast, save what you don’t use and bake up some Bacon and Cheddar Cheese Scones or a delicious dinner of Sun Dried Tomato and Bacon Pasta Salad.

Our website is full of recipes you can use or adapt to use every tasty bite of Coleman pork.

Tips for Safety and Freshness

You can save leftovers in one of two ways—by refrigerating for short-term use or by freezing to keep them longer. In general, items will hold in the refrigerator for three to five days and in the freezer indefinitely, although the quality will deteriorate the longer they’re frozen. Experts recommend using frozen food within three to six months.

In either case, the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service has recommendations that will allow you to safely save food that will still taste good when you’re ready to eat it.

Cooking Safety

1. Cook red meats like pork to an internal temperature of at least 140°, the temperature at which bacteria die. Ground meats should be cooked to 160°.
2. Don’t let foods sit out more than two hours before refrigerating or freezing, unless they’re on a warming tray for hot foods or in an ice bath for cold foods. Bacteria grow rapidly between 40° and 140°, and cold storage doesn’t destroy it. If you’re at a summer picnic or backyard barbecue on a hot day, foods shouldn’t be out more than an hour.
3. The same goes for charcuterie trays and cold cuts. If you want to serve longer than two hours, make a smaller tray and refresh it periodically with sausages and meats from the refrigerator.
4. Cool thoroughly before wrapping and freezing. If you have a large piece of meat like a ham or roast, cut it into pieces for faster cooling. Split a large pot of soup into smaller containers to cool more quickly.

Storage

1. For the refrigerator, use storage containers with airtight lids or airtight zipper bags. For the freezer, tightly wrap leftover meat in foil, then place it in a freezer bag and squeeze the air out.
2. Label the containers with the date and contents. Nothing is worse than finding a bowl of mystery meat with blue fuzz all over it hiding in the back of the fridge or a bag of icy and frost-bitten bacon at the bottom of the freezer.
3. Put older items at the front and newer ones at the back. A small magnetic white board attached to the front of the fridge or freezer to keep track of what’s in there and for how long is a valuable tool.

Reheating and Thawing

1. When you reheat, make sure meat is heated internally to 165°, and bring liquids like soup to a rolling boil.
2. Never thaw foods, especially meat, on the kitchen counter at room temperature. Instead, place it in the refrigerator for several hours. If you’re in a hurry, thaw it in the sink in a bowl of cold water. Replace the water every thirty minutes.

When to Say Goodbye

If, despite your best efforts, you suspect something has been in your refrigerator or freezer too long, use your senses and good judgment to decide if you should throw it out. Look at it—if it’s discolored or moldy, get rid of it. If the smell is off or worse, ditto. Touch it—if it feels slimy or the texture is wrong, then it’s better to get rid of it than try to salvage it. If it’s been in the freezer too long, you’ll see an excess of ice crystals and freezer burn, and it just won’t taste good if you try to cook it.

In the U.S., consumers discard 40 percent of the food we buy, but you don’t have to be a contributor to the problem. With a little planning and creativity, you can become the solution.

The Coleman Way, since 1875, is our commitment to quality, taking pride in humanely raising animals on family farms in the U.S.A. with no antibiotics ever, no growth hormones, and 100% vegetarian fed. The result is premium, great-tasting, all-natural meats in a variety of cuts and flavors that can be easily prepared and that you can feel good about serving to family and friends.