Tips to Reduce Food Waste at Thanksgiving

"Each year, the average American family of four loses $1,500 to uneaten food — that’s about 1,160 pounds of food. With Thanksgiving around the corner, it is timely to think about how we as individuals can keep our household food waste in check.

Thanksgiving may be different this year, but we can still have a special celebration with a few adjustments. At the same time, we can reduce our food waste. For example, we may not need the turkey that serves 12 people when we have only six at the table. While many of us like turkey sandwiches the next day with a slice of pumpkin pie, we may waste a lot of perfectly good food if we over prepare and don’t take steps to freeze or store leftovers properly until they can be eaten. Wasting food is a waste of money that could be used elsewhere. As the USDA Food Loss and Waste Liaison, I would like to share with you a few tips that can help reduce food waste at our holiday meals and save you money.

Plan your holiday meal

Before you go to the grocery store or order online, plan and make a list to reduce the chance that you’ll buy more than you need. Research shows that making a written list can help shoppers avoid impulse purchases, which may include foods they don’t need. For turkey, one rule of thumb is to plan for one pound per person, or a pound and a half if you want leftovers. For smaller-than-normal gatherings, consider preparing only the favorite family side dishes to go with the main course. You might serve one type of your favorite rolls or dessert instead of several. If you want to prepare all of your family’s traditional dishes, consider cutting recipes in half if you are cooking for fewer people this year. If you do have guests who want to bring a dish, coordinate in advance on who is cooking which dish.

While preparing dishes, save the scraps for future cooking

Freeze scraps like vegetable peelings and meat trimmings for your future culinary creations. Use them later in savory broths and hearty soups to provide comforting warmth on cold days. Or cook the scraps to make other foods or ingredients. You can season potato peelings and bake them into chips, or sauté extra chopped onions to make recipe-ready caramelized onions.

Store or give away leftovers

Place food in clear containers marked with the contents and date. That can increase the chances that the leftovers in the fridge will be remembered and actually eaten. If you have guests who want leftovers, let them choose their favorite dishes so that their take-away food containers match what they will really enjoy. For example, guests who only like white turkey meat would likely waste a leftover drumstick or wing.

Be creative with your leftovers

My favorite post-Thanksgiving treat was when my mom made fritters with the leftover mashed potatoes for breakfast the next day. Extra rolls and bread that are getting stale can be made into bread pudding. Think about what your family did to save food from being wasted and add your own touch of creativity. Try your hand at making homemade turkey stock with the bones, or make turkey chili with leftover meat. Whip extra buttermilk or cream into French toast batter. You could even start a new family tradition of serving a pot of turkey soup on the weekend after Thanksgiving..."
Thanksgiving food waste