The Best Way to Pack Your Guests’ Leftovers for Thanksgiving
My love for plastic soup containers is well known . I think it’s the perfect vessel for sending guests home with leftovers for Thanksgiving or other times. They’re transparent , meaning you’ll likely eat what’s inside, but they’re also stackable, dishwasher safe, and cheap enough that you won’t mind sending them home with guests.
You can pack each container with one kind of leftovers, or you can add a bit of each layer to create a kind of leftover parfait. However, if you’re the type of person who doesn’t like their food touching, soup containers may not be the best leftover storage system for you. If you need a clear distinction between each casserole and starch, check out this clever hack from everyone’s favorite internet mom, Babs:
Instead of putting various leftovers in one container, Babs suggests creating a “leftover station” and asking your guest to pack their leftovers into disposable cupcake liners. Arrange any leftovers on the table, along with cupcake liners and lids, and ask each guest to put as much as they want into each hole.
Disposable cupcake liners are cheap, so you can buy as many as you need to fit your guest list; they are pre-portioned, so everyone gets a little of everything; and they are separated, so nothing touches. (I’ve never been bothered by touching food – it will all touch my stomach – but for some people it’s a real problem!)
Disposable cupcake liners are also oven-safe, meaning your guests can put the entire remaining tray straight into the oven when it’s time to reheat (350℉ is a good temperature for reheating most foods; heat until they’re preheated). Just be sure to remove the cranberry sauce before putting it in the oven. Nobody wants hot cranberry sauce.