1. Make Less
We tend to overdo it when it comes to quantity at holiday gatherings, and taking the time to estimate how much food you’ll need can mean less wasted – and less to clean up – when the party’s over. Get a rough head count and try to think about how much each person will really eat. If you’re having 12 people, do you need four pies and a few dozen cookies? Probably not.
2. Reuse those leftovers
You can go beyond the old day-after-Thanksgiving turkey sandwich and stretch leftovers into a satisfying meal or side dish. Need some ideas? Check out these 6 ways to revamp your leftovers!
3. Send it away
Stock up on containers that you don’t mind giving away, and send your guests home with some of the leftover food. If you want to avoid plastic, Mason jars are great for stashing wet leftovers and they’re not so expensive that you have to get them back. You can wrap dry foods like breads and cookies in natural wax paper to send them home with your guests.
4. Embrace the freezer
As you’re putting away leftover food, portion it out and stick it in the freezer. You’ll be happy to remember that squash casserole on a busy weeknight!
5. Embrace ugly produce
Much of the waste in our food system happens before produce ever makes it to the grocery store. It gets discarded because it’s an irregular size or shape – not because it’s rotten. There’s not much that we can do about that as consumers, but one way to keep some of that ugly produce out of the landfill is to support small farms and shop at your local farmers market.
When you get your veggies from the source, you can opt out of the food system that’s built on a mountain of waste. When you’re making a pie or casserole, who cares if some of the apples were misshapen or the carrots had two legs instead of the usual one?
6. Donate it
Food banks and homeless shelters need donations more than ever around the holidays. Next time you’re faced with a mountain of leftovers, wrap them up and make a donation! Not all organizations will take unpackaged food, so call ahead to make sure they’ll accept your leftover pumpkin pie.
7. Get (pot)lucky
A pot luck is much easier to host than a meal where you’re doing all the cooking, but it can also help you reduce waste on the back end. Ask guests to bring food containers, and at the end of the evening, you can all divvy up the leftovers! That way, no one is stuck with more than he or she can eat, and less food goes to waste.
We tend to overdo it when it comes to quantity at holiday gatherings, and taking the time to estimate how much food you’ll need can mean less wasted – and less to clean up – when the party’s over. Get a rough head count and try to think about how much each person will really eat. If you’re having 12 people, do you need four pies and a few dozen cookies? Probably not.
2. Reuse those leftovers
You can go beyond the old day-after-Thanksgiving turkey sandwich and stretch leftovers into a satisfying meal or side dish. Need some ideas? Check out these 6 ways to revamp your leftovers!
3. Send it away
Stock up on containers that you don’t mind giving away, and send your guests home with some of the leftover food. If you want to avoid plastic, Mason jars are great for stashing wet leftovers and they’re not so expensive that you have to get them back. You can wrap dry foods like breads and cookies in natural wax paper to send them home with your guests.
4. Embrace the freezer
As you’re putting away leftover food, portion it out and stick it in the freezer. You’ll be happy to remember that squash casserole on a busy weeknight!
5. Embrace ugly produce
Much of the waste in our food system happens before produce ever makes it to the grocery store. It gets discarded because it’s an irregular size or shape – not because it’s rotten. There’s not much that we can do about that as consumers, but one way to keep some of that ugly produce out of the landfill is to support small farms and shop at your local farmers market.
When you get your veggies from the source, you can opt out of the food system that’s built on a mountain of waste. When you’re making a pie or casserole, who cares if some of the apples were misshapen or the carrots had two legs instead of the usual one?
6. Donate it
Food banks and homeless shelters need donations more than ever around the holidays. Next time you’re faced with a mountain of leftovers, wrap them up and make a donation! Not all organizations will take unpackaged food, so call ahead to make sure they’ll accept your leftover pumpkin pie.
7. Get (pot)lucky
A pot luck is much easier to host than a meal where you’re doing all the cooking, but it can also help you reduce waste on the back end. Ask guests to bring food containers, and at the end of the evening, you can all divvy up the leftovers! That way, no one is stuck with more than he or she can eat, and less food goes to waste.
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