( CNN ) -- When Thanksgiving has come and gone , and the turkey gorge is over , you 'll probably open up your refrigerator and find all sorts of tinfoil-wrapped casseroles and a lingering eau de sage . What 's a severely yammed out but unwasteful eater to do ? That 's where Melissa d'Arabian comes in . D'Arabian is the winner of season 5 of `` The Next Food Network Star '' and host of the Food Network show `` Ten Dollar Dinners . '' She gives us her five tips for Thanksgiving leftovers . 1 . Freeze while fresh . Why wait until your turkey has aged two extra days until you realize that you are in over your Thanksgiving head ? On Thanksgiving Day , as you are cleaning up after dinner , immediately cube up half the remaining turkey and package it up into quart-sized freezer bags , about a cup or two each portion , depending on the size of your family . Label and freeze , and now you 'll have the freshest leftover possible that becomes an easy ingredient in the freezer just waiting to have a second life a month or two down the road in another recipe : pasta , soup , savory pies , omelets , etc . 2 . Tired of turkey ? Trick your tastebuds . My Saturday strategy for the turkey I still have around ? Go ethnic or regional with these creative ideas . Think Thai ( turkey pad Thai , for instance ) , Mexican ( turkey taquitos ) or Southern BBQ ( pulled-turkey sandwiches ) . A whole different flavor profile will break the mold on Thanksgiving flavors , and you 'll fool your palate into thinking your dish is a fresh new idea , not a recycled leftover . 3 . Turkey 's gone , but what about all the rest ? Repurpose your sides . We all have side dishes that we make out of tradition , but that are n't eaten quite as much as we would hope . The result is leftover overload ! Cranberry sauce is a major culprit in my house . The solution ? Think of cranberry sauce simply as a tart fruit , and use as you would use any other . Make a yogurt parfait , or toss with apple slices and make a cobbler or crumble , or heat up and pour on vanilla ice cream and top with toasted pecans for a sundae . You can even make a fantastic sweet-heat salsa ( perfect with my turkey taquitos , above ) . The other major leftover is the ( in ) famous yams . One idea : think breakfast ! Make a delicious maple-yam compound butter and serve with scones or waffles . Turn sweetened yams into a filling for empanadas , or make cinnamon bran muffins with them . On the savory side , try swirling some yams into your leftover mashed potatoes for a delicious marbled potato side dish . ( I know ; I did n't give you any ideas for stuffing . But if you have stuffing leftovers , you need a new recipe . I 'm just saying . ) 4 . Ingredients are leftovers too , so scan the fridge . Remember one of my cardinal rules of saving grocery dollars : Wasted food is the most expensive food you buy , no matter how cheap it was at the store . So , be sure to check your refrigerator for lurking ingredients on their last legs so that you can leverage all your leftovers instead of tossing them . Use that leftover heavy cream you bought for mashed potatoes to make a quick homemade spicy butterscotch pudding . Use half a sour cream container to make your mom 's crazy Jell-o salad . Find a way to use up the other half ( those taquitos bail us out yet again ! ) . A good general strategy is to check your refrigerator weekly ( ideally just before menu planning or grocery shopping ) , and pull any 'must-use ' ingredients front and center of the fridge so you do n't forget about them . 5 . Feel good about less . Sometime between Halloween and the New Year , do a major purge of stuff you do n't need and donate it . And if you are feeling the squeeze of the economy as we head into the holidays , volunteer at a homeless shelter , food bank or soup kitchen . There is nothing like helping those who are less fortunate than you to make you feel grateful for what you do have , which will curb overbuying ( and overcooking ) and keep the holidays focused on what matters : the people in your life . And while it 's too late to change how much food you bought for this year , maybe next year this strategy will have you just buying slightly less . But this year , it will make us grateful for having leftovers at all , even if we do n't turn them all into a taquito .
Food Network host Melissa d'Arabian offers Thanksgiving leftover tips . Freeze your turkey right after Thanksgiving . Add a little bit of ethnic flair ( think taquitos ) Turn leftover ingredients into a new dish .