Hosting the big holiday feast is a rite of passage that most of us experience sooner or later. Getting everything prepped and on the table can be a real challenge, especially the first time. Then you’re faced with a second challenge: what to do with all those leftovers.
Some cooks consider leftovers, and the dishes made from them, to be the best part of Thanksgiving. For others, especially in small households, coping with leftovers feels more like a chore. (“Yes, we’re eating turkey again … ”) Sending home food with your guests is a good way to minimize that task, but it usually means also sending away your food storage containers and hoping to get them back one day. That’s why the viral muffin pan hack for Thanksgiving leftovers is so clever.
What Is the Muffin Pan Hack?
Like many of the best ideas, this one is simple. Instead of giving out your reusable food storage containers, pick up a stack of inexpensive disposable foil muffin or cupcake pans. The individual cups in a standard muffin pan have a capacity of 1/2 cup, which is a good single serving size. For those with bigger appetites or more mouths to feed, jumbo muffin pans hold closer to 1 cup per space.
Set out your disposable muffin pans at one end of the table, and encourage your guests to each fill a pan to take away. Place a roll of aluminum foil, or better yet, precut lengths of foil, at the other end of the table. Guests can use those to cover and seal the muffin pans so they don’t spill on the way home.
Why the Muffin Pan Hack Is the Gift That Keeps on Thanks-Giving
Sending leftovers away in muffin pans isn’t just convenient — it has a lot of real advantages. First, of course, you get to keep your reusable containers. But the pans also encourage commonsense portion control, allowing leftovers to be split equally among your friends and family.
It’s also better for your guests. Slopping all of the leftovers into a single container often results in an unappetizing mess by the time the food gets home. In a muffin pan, everything stays neat and separate. Finally, a muffin pan provides an easy option for reheating the leftovers. The pan can simply slide right into a low oven or toaster oven, to warm gently until the food reaches the USDA’s recommended food-safe temperature of 165 degrees.
