Whatever else happens this Thanksgiving, you can count on a few things: There will be football. There will be a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. And there will be leftovers.

As the head chef at my house, it’s not only my job to make the Thanksgiving meal, it’s my job to manipulate my husband into eating the inevitable leftovers. In preparation for this year’s effort, I went to that great recipe book in the sky: the internet. As a public service, I’ll share what I learned so that you too can use up your Thanksgiving leftovers by Christmas. Let’s start with the star of the meal:

Turkey: According to my research, you should eat or freeze turkey within four days. The same goes for stuffing. Also for pumpkin pie, though I’m not sure that’s ever been tested.

An internet search for “how to use leftover turkey” came up with a whopping 532,000 results. I’ll just mention a few since you probably won’t have enough leftover turkey to try them all.

Along with the usual casseroles, pot pies, tetrazzinis and ala kings, you’ll find some unusual suggestions, for example turkey gumbo, turkey calzones and turkey gouda frittata, all of which sound…uh…gouda. I’ll probably stick with my old favorite, turkey noodle soup. Honestly if it weren’t for turkey noodle soup, I’d serve prime rib on Thanksgiving.

Mashed potatoes: Apparently extra spuds are safe for five days. But it’s going to take you longer than that to try all 3,730,000 of the results I got when I did an internet search for ways to use them. You might need more potatoes too.

I suggest trying those with the potential to reach the highest achievement of a leftover: being disguised so well that your family doesn’t know they’re eating leftovers. Sure you can make potato pancakes or shepherd’s pie. But to really trick the family, try cinnamon rolls, brownies or candy made with leftover mashed potatoes. Then bring some to my house.

Gravy: Mashed potatoes and gravy are truly a “mash” made in heaven. They go together like peanut butter and jelly, turkey and dressing and potato chips and cottage cheese. Trust me. They go together.

But making the right amount of gravy is challenging. Some people just put it on their potatoes. Some put it on their turkey or their stuffing or both. And some get on the gravy train and put it on all three. What’s a cook to do? Take a survey before dinner?

Besides some years my gravy doesn’t turn out so well. It should come as no surprise that I have more of it left over those years. I’m not sure it’s wise to reincarnate bad gravy in other forms, but good or bad, it can be added to soup or used as a sauce on pasta or meatballs. If it’s a particularly unsuccessful gravy year, you can do what I do: freeze it to throw away later.

Stuffing or dressing: I don’t make stuffing — the stuff that cooks in the bird. I make dressing — the stuff that comes from a box. Don’t judge me. I like it. If you wind up with leftovers of either one, there are many uses for it, including stuffed peppers, stuffed mushrooms, meatballs, casserole and more, which I think you’ll agree is much ado about stuffing.

Cranberries: There’s an easy way to avoid having leftover cranberries: Don’t serve them. And I wouldn’t except that one of my guests thinks turkey goes with cranberries like potato chips go with cottage cheese.

He’s the only one of my usual guests that thinks that though, so I always have leftover cranberries. There are plenty of recipes for using them, including treats like cookies, bars and cakes. But we always have plenty of other desserts on Thanksgiving.

So I do the next best thing: I send our leftover cranberries home with my one guest who likes them.

Dorothy Rosby is an author and humor columnist whose work appears regularly in publications in the West and Midwest. You can subscribe to her blog at www.dorothyrosby.com or contact at www.dorothyrosby.com/contact.