Slow Cooker for Savings

What a *feast* we had for Thanksgiving! After cooking and eating almost a dozen dishes, I wasn't up for much more work. This is when you put your slow cooker to work.

No matter how well you carve that turkey, there is much more left than you realize. Simply put the carcass (bones, skin, and all) in your crock pot, set on low, and forget overnight.

I say "simply", but this does take some effort, especially if you have a too small crock pot like mine. You need to bring some muscle, some skill or a friend to squish that carcass into the crock pot. Fortunately, my mom has this move we like to call "Hulk, smash!" where she crushes that turkey with her bare hands, and now you can fit the whole leftovers of a 16lb turkey into a round crock pot.

Now, just add a little water or chicken broth, turn on the heat (I do low for 8 hours), and leave it while you sleep. If your crock pot's like mine, and goes into warming mode after the cook time is complete, it will be too hot for you to process right away. Turn it off while you eat some leftover pie for breakfast, so it can cool down a bit.

Look at all these glorious turkey bits!

You'll need to spend some time sifting through the pot to remove the skin and bones, and there may be some tiny little bone fragments. But a little bit of patience pays off! That skin and bones makes an amazing rich, gravy-like broth; I was left with a whole quart. I started with a carcass from a 16lb turkey, that was fairly well carved, and still ended up with 2 1/2 pounds of meat falling off the bone. Some pieces will be sizable and good for sandwiches; some will be smaller and good pot pies, soups, or turkey enchiladas. At the end of this process, I had less than half a small compost bag of waste.

Making the most of your turkey? About ~$12 value.
Watching your mom "hulk smash" a turkey? Priceless.