It’s estimated that over 300 million pounds of food are thrown away every Thanksgiving! Don’t let your leftovers add to the waste.

A World of Waste

The food you throw away ends up in a landfill, where it decomposes and releases the powerful greenhouse gas methane. (Composting also creates methane, but considerably less.) Methane and other gasses, like carbon dioxide, build up in the Earth’s atmosphere, where they prevent heat from escaping into space. This causes the planet to get hotter. As we’ve witnessed firsthand in recent years, this “global warming” doesn’t just lead to hotter summers and melting glaciers, it also contributes to weather events that make storms stronger, droughts more damaging, and flooding higher.

Growing, processing, transporting, buying, and cooking food takes a lot of natural resources, human effort, and money—all of which is wasted when the food doesn’t go toward nourishing people.

To avoid these consequences, it may help to treat food waste the way the environmental movement has taught us to treat other household products: reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Hungry for more?

For more expert guidance on healthy cooking, eating, and living, subscribe to Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter, published each month by the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. 

Reduce Waste

While it can be hard to figure out exactly how much food will satisfy your diners, some general rules can help. For example, standard advice is to buy one pound of raw turkey per person (don’t count vegetarians and children too small to eat that much). For potato dishes, one-half to one-third a pound of potatoes per person is suggested (or less if there are a lot of sides). For other dishes, use the recipe’s “number of servings” estimate, but keep in mind that not everyone will eat everything on table. Also consider whether you had too much or too little last year, and adjust accordingly.

Cooking less is one way to reduce waste, as is cooking fewer dishes. But, for many, leftovers are part of the joy of the holiday. If you end up with more leftovers than you want, you have several options:

1. Encourage your guests to pack up and take home their favorites. (If you don’t have a stack of re-usable takeout containers, invite guests to bring some of their own.)
2. Invite friends to bring their own leftovers to a potluck brunch, lunch, or dinner a day or two after the big meal.
3. Freeze leftovers for quick, easy meals at a later date.
4. See if a local food pantry or soup kitchen will take extras (likely only unopened/uncooked foods).
5. View leftovers as an opportunity to get creative and make new dishes.

Uncooked waste can be reduced, as well. Veggie scraps can be stored in a bag in the freezer to be turned into broth at a later date, and all uncooked plant scraps can turn into compost to nourish your garden or plants.

Reuse Leftovers

Everyone has their favorite post-Thanksgiving leftovers! A turkey-stuffing-cranberry sauce sandwich is a classic, but there are many other options. For example:

• Portobello mushrooms topped with stuffing/dressing
• Shepards pie (diced turkey and leftover veggies topped with mashed potatoes)
• Turkey chili
• Turkey tetrazzini casserole (try it with whole wheat pasta)
• Turkey burritos (preferably on whole wheat tortillas)
• Turkey soup
• Carrot, sweet potato, or squash soup (or a combination)
• Fresh salad greens topped with leftovers like veggies, roasted squash, cubed sweet potatoes, and even cheese and olives from the hors d’oeuvres tray and pecans that didn’t make it into the pie.

Planning for re-use can be helpful. For example, if you like the idea of puréeing leftover carrots with some broth to make carrot soup, consider what carrot recipe you start with. Would you prefer a sweet soup made from maple-glazed carrots, or a savory one from, for example, roasted carrots with olive oil and thyme?

'Recycle' Scraps

Recycling is converting waste into reusable material. In the case of Thanksgiving leftovers, that means turning that turkey carcass into turkey broth. Simply put the skeleton into a pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Add veggies like onions, carrots, and celery (and/or the ends and peels saved from cooking the meal) and any unused fresh herbs. Simmer for about two hours, then strain. Add in diced turkey, diced veggies, and noodles, rice, or potatoes, or anything else you like in your soup! (If you like to take a few days off cooking after entertaining, simply seal the carcass in a freezer bag and freeze until you’re ready.)

If you peel potatoes, cover the fiber-rich strips of peel with water in a sealed container and refrigerate. Later, you can drain them, let them dry, toss them with olive oil, pepper, and a little salt, and roast them until they’re crispy.

Cutting down on food waste, from holiday meals or every day, takes a bit of planning and thoughtfulness, but it doesn’t have to be difficult or labor-intensive. In this season of giving thanks, show your appreciation for the Earth we live on by finding what works for you.

This article originally appeared in the Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter, published each month by the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.