Tips to Reduce Food Waste During the Holiday Season
One of the greatest joys that comes with the holiday season involves sitting around the table and sharing a meal with loved ones. Laughter over good food and drink, that first bite of your favorite dish you’ve waited a year to have again, and that extra slice of pie despite having zero leftover space in your stomach can become treasured lifelong memories. However, the holiday months are also linked to a significant uptick in food waste. Of the 1.3 billion tons of food that gets wasted or lost annually, 312 million pounds of food is wasted on Thanksgiving alone. According to ReFED, a non-profit dedicated to reducing food waste, this is equivalent to wasting over ten pounds of food for a ten-person dinner.
The impact of food waste:
Food waste isn’t just a missed opportunity to turn leftover mashed potatoes into a fun new dish or some money from your paycheck going down the drain (although these are worth noting!). The overall impact has serious consequences for the environment and economy, as well as food security and nutrition.
Food loss and rotting food waste is the largest source of methane emissions in the U.S. and accounts for 4.4 gigatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually. Methane is a particularly troublesome greenhouse gas (GHG), as it has 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide. Uneaten food also wastes essential resources, such as the water, energy, and land used to grow the food.
From a socioeconomic perspective, food waste also has far-reaching implications. An estimated 40% of the food supply in the U.S. goes unsold or uneaten, costing the economy $495 billion dollars. Given that one in seven Americans are food insecure, there’s also a significant missed opportunity for perfectly good food to go to those in need. While many of the challenges and responsibilities of this problem are at an industry, infrastructure, and policy scale, consumers do have a critical role to play in supporting food waste reduction. The good news is, there are easy and practical ways to reduce food waste at home that save you money and align with your sustainable values. With the holidays around the corner, it's the perfect time to try out some of the tips below!
Tips to reduce your holiday food waste:
Have a plan:
Calculate how much you need to serve each person and purchase food accordingly. It’s easy to dash to the grocery store and throw festive ingredients into your cart that you’ll “probably use,” but adhering to a realistic grocery list will ultimately save money, fridge space, and perfectly good food from going to landfills.
You can use a tool like Save The Food’s Guest-imator, which estimates how much food you need to feed guests based on appetite levels and the type of meal. It can also be beneficial to check with guests beforehand to see if they’d like leftovers to take home with them. If they do, asking them to bring tupperware can also help avoid the use of plastic cling wrap and aluminum foil.
Know the difference between ‘Use By’ and ‘Best By’ dates:
Date labels printed on food packaging typically refer to quality, not safety. Even then, there’s actually no national standard for how those dates are determined or described.
‘Use by’ can indicate when a product should be discarded for food safety reasons, whereas ‘Best By’ is simply about optimal food quality and can be consumed beyond that date. Ultimately, it’s best to use your judgment – if a food looks, smells, and tastes good, it may be okay to consume despite what the date on a label says.
Storage:
Not properly storing ingredients and leftovers is one of the main contributing factors to household food waste. This is a great interactive guide with tips and tricks to keep common food items fresh and tasty for as long as possible, including fridge, freezer, and storage hacks, as well as fun ideas for how to revive the ingredients in new ways. Many Thanksgiving leftovers freeze well, with some (like soups, rolls, and fruit pies) able to last for months and others (like potatoes, roasted vegetables, and herbs) lasting up to a year.
Have fun with leftovers:
Leftovers, especially ones from your favorite holiday meals, have infinite reuse potential. You don’t need to let yourselves be confined by reheating the dishes as they came every day straight for the week following (although they’re tasty that way too, of course). Reimagining leftover dishes into new dishes can be a fun way to look forward to your next meal while reducing food waste.
Mashed potatoes can become easy potato pancakes, stuffing can be made into delicious savory waffles (and topped with cranberry jam - yum!), turkey can be thrown into quiches, frittatas, and soups, and multiple leftover dishes can even be thrown together in one epic casserole. If you wound up with one too many ingredients, unused pumpkin puree can be great for things like pumpkin mac and cheese, martinis, and overnight oats; pecans can make for delicious pretzel pecan turtles; and cranberries can be folded into festive holiday scones — the possibilities are endless!
Compost and donate:
Composting what you don’t end up using as leftovers is a fantastic way to reduce holiday food waste. Luckily, most elements of common holiday meals are home compostable. While you can’t compost meats like turkey or ham, other common scraps from side dishes, fruit from pies and cakes, and vegetable peelings and rinds are all compostable. Donating unopened and shelf-stable ingredients to your local food bank is also a great way to reduce waste while supporting your community.
With a little planning and intention, reducing food waste — especially during the holidays — is an easy and important part of a sustainable lifestyle. After all, holidays with less waste and overconsumption allow for more connection, gratitude, and focus on the real things that matter to us all.
Delilah Harvey is a sustainability consultant, climate content creator, and writer based in Los Angeles. With a background in strategic communications and sustainable business, Delilah specializes in offering practical tips, accessible educational info, and inspiring stories that empower individuals to live more sustainable, connected lives. Her work is driven by the belief that sustainability can be joyful, community-driven, and impactful for both people and the planet.
Sources:
Americans will waste nearly 312 million pounds of food this Thanksgiving. ReFED. (n.d.-a). https://refed.org/articles/americans-will-waste-nearly-312-million-pounds-of-food-this-thanksgiving/
Climate and resources. ReFED. (n.d.-b). https://refed.org/food-waste/climate-and-resources/#:~:text=Municipal%20solid%20waste%20(MSW)%20landfills,800%2C000%20metric%20tons%20of%20methane.
Consumer Food Waste. ReFED. (n.d.-c). https://refed.org/food-waste/consumer-food-waste
Dimberg, K. (2024, November 11). 18 Thanksgiving leftovers you can store in the freezer (and 3 you can’t). Taste of Home. https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/freeze-thanksgiving-leftovers/?srsltid=AfmBOopPm08mudjQirkY-1OMao3CddYaNtnm2-jQ3uqU9yQnGKuNc0hi
Fighting Food Waste and hunger through Food Rescue. Feeding America. (n.d.). https://www.feedingamerica.org/our-work/reduce-food-waste#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%20people,pounds%20of%20food%20this%20year!
Food Waste Analysis & Food Waste Audit. ReFED. (n.d.-d). https://refed.org/food-waste/the-solutions/
Robinson, D. (2024, August 15). 20 facts about food waste. Earth.Org. https://earth.org/facts-about-food-waste/#:~:text=20.,to%20a%20more%20sustainable%20planet?
Wiener-Bronner, D. (2022, July 17). Confused about sell by dates? you’re not alone | CNN business. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/17/business/sell-by-dates-food-safety/index.html
