How long does cooked turkey last in the fridge or freezer?

The pinnacle of the Christmas period is the long-awaited dinner with all the trimmings.

While many look forward to eating as much as they can on Christmas Day, it's rare that every little morsel gets finished. Despite this, there's a long-standing tradition of making meals in the following days of Christmas with the leftover turkey.

In fact, there are a lot of delicious meals that can be made from leftover Christmas dinner including the humble turkey sandwich and bubble & squeak. However, it's important to keep in mind that leftovers don't last forever and you could get seriously ill if you're not careful.

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The last thing anyone wants is to spend New Year's Eve hurdled over the toilet because you ate some turkey a day later than was safe. While it may surprise you how long turkey can last in the fridge, it's not a very long time.

According to the Food Standards Agency, you can freeze food right up until its use-by date. If you've bought a turkey from the supermarket, it should have a printed use-by date on the packaging which you should always double-check before preparing.

If you want your turkey to last as long as possible, ensure that you cool it down and cover it in the fridge within an hour or two of cooking. If you opt to put your cooked turkey in the freezer to save for a later date, make sure that you eat it within 24 hours after it's defrosted.

Since pre-cooked turkey makes for a great ingredient in a variety of dishes, you may want to create a whole new meal with your leftovers. In this case, you can refreeze the meal - but it can only be reheated once so as to avoid any dangerous bacteria growing.

According to the NHS, all leftover food should be used within a 48-hour period to avoid the risk of falling ill with food poisoning - this means there are only a couple of days after Christmas to get through all your leftovers.

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