When I was a child, we celebrated Thanksgiving with a mid-day meal. Supper that night had a predictable menu. We took homemade rolls, split them open, added cold turkey meat, cranberries, and other trimmings and had sandwiches. A couple of days later we would have homemade turkey soup for a meal or two. Leftovers are a part of the thanksgiving feast and I have memories of those meals that are as treasured as memories of the original feast.

We are a little bit more restrained in our Thanksgiving menus these days. Yesterday we had a quiet celebration with just the two of us. However, our menu was traditional with turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberries and, of course, homemade rolls. We ate our dinner in the evening, so we haven’t gotten to the leftovers yet, but I’m looking forward to lunch today.

I have fond memories of what our mother called smorgasbord. It was a meal, usually supper in the evening as our family had its big meal at noon, that featured small amounts of leftover food. There was plenty to eat, but not everyone could have the same menu, as there might not be enough of any one dish to feed the whole family. It always seemed special to me to be the one to finish up a dish without feeling the obligation to pass it to the next person.

Not everyone has the same feelings about leftovers as I. Our country, in general, has a huge problem with food waste. There is a lot of good food that is simply thrown out. There are some people who confuse “sell by” dates with a deadline to consume food. They read the dates stamped on packages rather than using their senses of sight and smell to determine the freshness of food.

We learned a different practice. In our second and third years of marriage, Susan and I spent our summers as managers and cooks at a church camp that was more than an hour’s drive from the nearest grocery store. One of the things that we learned early in that experience was to serve an abundant and special meal on the evening when the campers arrived. If everyone is raving about the first meal they eat, they find it harder to complain about the menu later in the week. We often would serve a turkey dinner with all of the trimmings on a Sunday evening as new campers were settling into the camp routine. It is remarkably easy to roast several turkeys in an oven while potatoes are boiling on the stovetop. We had a large commercial mixer that could mash huge batches of potatoes. We learned to make gravy. Pies were a bit challenging for dessert, so we generally followed up with another choice. We always made sure that there was enough quantity so that no one felt shorted on food, especially at their first meal in camp.

The rest of the week, we worked leftovers into the menu while making sure that no menus were repeated. The following week, with a new group of campers we might retreat an entire week’s menu. We learned a lot about portions and other ways to minimize food waste during those summers. Learning to prepare meals for large groups of people with only one trip to the grocery store each week taught us a lot about planning and safe food storage. We’ve used things we learned in the decades since.

Our refrigerator in our current home is probably the largest we have ever owned. With just two of us, it would be possible to get by with a smaller appliance, but our kitchen was designed with space for a large refrigerator/freezer unit. In addition we have a chest freezer in the garage for additional food storage. Some leftovers can be frozen and consumed weeks after the meal in which they were the featured menu.

Putting food away after dinner last night got me to thinking about how leftovers can be meaningful parts of giving thanks. Whenever we gathered with our Lakota neighbors during our South Dakota years, there were opportunities to share generous meals. Those providing the meals were careful to prepare more food than would be consumed by the crowd. Whether it was a funeral dinner or a mission gathering, paper plates and aluminum foil were provided and participants were encouraged to take meals home to be consumed later in addition to the meal being shared. The feast always extended beyond the original occasion. Sometimes the meals carried out of the gathering place fed people who could not attend the meeting. Food was taken to elders and other family members who might not have been present at the occasion. Counting the number of people in attendance yielded a much smaller number than the actual count of people served with the meal.

One of the ways of celebrating Thanksgiving is with abundance. We certainly put more food on our table last night than two people could consume. We got out some of our good dishes and nicer napkins and made a celebration of the meal that was visual as well as smelling and tasting good. But we also celebrate Thanksgiving by being careful with the extra food. We have been careful to pay attention to the leftovers as they are put into the refrigerator and we will make a plan to be as careful as possible to avoid wasting any of the food. Turkey bones and scraps of meat will be cooked into soup. There will be sandwiches and re-heated meals from the food. There might even be enough turkey to make a pot pie. Being thoughtful and careful with the bounty of food we enjoy extends our expression of gratitude.

Food scraps that are not consumed are kept out of the garbage that goes to the landfill. We have access to convenient composting at the farm and are careful to separate our waste so that we recycle what we can, compost what we can, and keep the amount that goes to the landfill to a minimum. It is all part of being careful stewards of the resources we have.

You won’t find me complaining about leftovers. They are a treat.