The Many Alternate Uses for a Turkey Platter
For serving up turkey, goose, and the occasional leg of lamb, turkey platters are incredible useful. Unfortunately, for the remaining 362 days of the year, they can be an enormous storage hassle. These oversized platters are impossible to store in a normal kitchen cabinet or china hutch and always seem to be flopping over or getting in the way. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then, to learn that January is “Turkey Platter Month” at thrift stores across the country.
If your turkey platter isn’t decorated with a turkey or Pilgrims, it’s time to stop worrying about storage and start using that platter for more than just a Thanksgiving turkey. The many uses may just surprise you!
For use at large parties
For buffets and casual get togethers, turkey platters are very useful for holding large quantities of rolled cold cuts, slices of cheese, canap�©s, mixed vegetables or sliced fruits. These platters are spacious enough that a dipping or sauce bowl can be easily placed in the center. Hosting a barbecue? Put a turkey platter to use for holding barbecued ribs, stacks of hamburger patties, baked potatoes or cobs of corn.
Turkey platters also make wonderful desert trays and can hold a large assortment of cookies, petit fours, and dipped fruit.
TV tray
For shut ins and sick children, a turkey platter can be used as a meal tray. These platters are easy to hold, and easy to wipe up in case of spills.
For crafters confined to bed, a turkey platter is a wonderful way to contain crafting materials such as jewelry making supplies, embroidery floss, colored pencils, and other small objects.
Paint Palette
Unless your platter is highly porous or an antique, it can also be used as a spill proof watercolor palette. Our turkey platter can hold up to 14 different squeezes of tube paint, and offers a wonderful surface for mixing and diluting watercolors. Once we’ve finished painting for the day, the platter can then be washed in the sink. For stubborn paint flecks, a soft scrubby will safely remove any dried on paint. Acrylics and oil paints are not recommended for use on dishes as they can be very difficult to remove and will ruin the surface in the process.
As a substitute for a marble pastry board
Certain pastries are best prepared on a chilled pastry board. If you don’t have one of these in your kitchen, a turkey platter makes a wonderful substitute. Place the platter in the refrigerator until icy cold, then use the surface to prepare those delicious, flaky pastries.
Turkey platters really do have more uses than just serving up a Thanksgiving turkey. By using them in one of these many creative ways, you’ll soon discover that storage isn’t quite the hassle it used to be.
