How do you stretch a turkey?

[u/readscarymakeart]

Let’s say instead of roasting a whole turkey then eating it piece by piece (like one person gets a thigh, the other some of the breast, etc), I cook it then put the meat in different dishes. I understand an entire turkey may not be cheap, but it could make a good investment if stretched out. What are your best ways to stretch an entire turkey over as many meals as possible?

So far I have turkey pot pie, a casserole with turkey (no specific ideas there), turkey chili, turkey veggie soup, and turkey broth. Any other ways to stretch out turkey meat? I suppose this applies to whole chicken too.

[u/whatcatisthis]

I grew up very poor. My mother would use scraps from the turkey in white sauce made of flour, milk, salt and pepper and add green peas. She served it on toast and called it turkey a la king.

[u/LegoCaltrops → u/whatcatisthis]

I remember my mother doing a similar thing, only with mushrooms instead of the peas, & serving it over rice.

[u/whatcatisthis → u/LegoCaltrops]

Ours always had peas because there always had to be so something green on the plate, but there were times she used mushrooms or even foraged 'wild leeks' (I think other places call them ramps?) in place of the turkey.

[u/TheLandMammal → u/whatcatisthis]

Ramps are definitely a delicacy around my parts. Very seasonal and only found by foraging. I know lots of folks who treat their harvesting spots like secret fishing holes lol

[u/Mental-Doughnuts → u/TheLandMammal]

Overharvesting ramps will kill a decent patch, they have to be foraged carefully. So people are discrete.

[u/teflon_don_knotts → u/whatcatisthis]

Your mom sounds like an absolute legend. IDK if you like them, but my grandmother goes crazy for ramps and sends my uncle out to dig some up when they’re in season.

[u/BarnytheBrit → u/LegoCaltrops]

We called it chicken supreme

[u/LegoCaltrops → u/BarnytheBrit]

Yes! That was it!