[~MS~]

This time of year turkeys are dirt cheap and are so easy to stretch into multiple meals! There is no way I can pass on an 8 dollar bird that will make 4 meals for my family of 3 plus a couple lunches for Missy. We don't do the stuffing/dressing when I roast the bird, first, neither of us like that whole texture/flavor of traditional bread cube/cornbread stuff and second it takes the bird a lot longer to cook. By not stuffing the bird it reduces the risk of not cooking properly so it all works.

I do a rub of garlic, pepper, lemon zest and onion in the cavity and all over the outside of the bird then just roast at 350 for about 15 minutes per pound. When the bird is done, first night we do 'traditional' big dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy and veggies and salad and rolls. When the bird cools, I take all the meat off the carcass and toss the carcass and big bones back in a stock pot and simmer it with an onion and some carrots and some garlic for a stock for later. When it simmers down and smells delish I strain the stock thru cheese cloth and then just let it cool then I usually put it in empty 2 ltr soda bottles then toss those in the freezer for base for soup on a cold day. For the meat, day 2 Missy takes it for lunch (she loves the dark meat) and we usually have hot turkey sandwiches for dinner. Two days of the same food is enough for anyone so I divide up the rest and usually chunk one portion into 'soup' size chunks to go with the broth that I froze ...quick and delish turkey soup later on. The other bag I make turkey Ala king...make a nice white sauce/gravy with some of the turkey broth, add the chunks and serve over either rice or potatoes. $2.00 a meal for a family of 3 for the protein is pretty budget conscious and tasty to boot.

For a roast, I do roast on the first night then a version of beef in gravy over noodles or potatoes for the second day. When I make tacos I intentionally make extra meat so I can make enchiladas later and not have to start from scratch.