It’s estimated that in America 305 million pounds of food annually are wasted from Thanksgiving dinner alone.
Try following these tips to reduce waste and create new dishes for Thanksgiving and beyond- you may even find a new favorite recipe for the season!
1. Plan your Plates
- Check out this chart to estimate what to purchase or make this year:
- When creating a cheese or charcuterie platter, leave cheeses whole or in larger pieces when you can- this will help keep it from drying out and any uneaten cheese can be frozen for making dishes like macaroni and cheese or pizzas later.
- Don’t think your crowd will polish off a whole pie? Make or purchase smaller desserts like cookies, puddings, or spiced nuts (these will also store well in a glass jar for future snacking)!
2. Buy in Bulk
- You can buy as much or as little as you need in our bulk department!
3. Store Your Ingredients for Maximum Shelf Life
- Check out Grocery.coop's guide to Keep Produce Fresher for Longer
- Learn the best way to store cheeses.
- How to Store Common Baking Ingredients
4. Use Every Bit of your Perishable Ingredients
- Unused pieces of fruits or vegetables can be frozen or pickled.
- Leftover stock or broth can be frozen.
- Extra herbs can be dried for future use, preserved in oil, used to whip up fresh salad dressing, infused into vinegars, or made into cleaning sprays or incense.
- Unused canned pumpkin makes great pasta sauce or pumpkin bread. Plain, unseasoned canned pumpkin is also safe for cats and dogs to eat!
- Leftover milk or cream can be used to create smoothies or puddings. (Pair with leftover bread in a bread pudding!)
- Vegetable trimmings can be used to create soup stocks and homemade pectin, all natural food coloring, or used to dye fabric! Be sure to compost anything you can't eat.
- Citrus peels can be zested and used to make extracts or natural "sprinkles".
5. Saving Leftovers for Later
- Package up a portion of each item to send home with guests or use as a quick post-Thanksgiving lunch. You can also freeze whole meals or individual items for whevever you feel for a Thanksgiving meal!
- Extra wine can be frozen and used as an ingredient later.
- Donate- use the Food Rescue Locator to find local organizations that can redistribute unneeded food.
6. Reuse and Re-Imagine
- Turn leftover turkey into Taiwanese Turkey Rice, Turkey & Cranberry Salad, or a turkey pot pie. Don't forget to make stock from the bones!
- Put stuffing in your waffle iron for a crunchy, savory treat.
- Cranberry sauce can flavor cake or cocktails!
- Make sweet potatoes into pancakes, biscuits, or a queso-free quesdilla- or just re-bake them.
- Mashed potatoes can fill pierogi or knishes, be turned into gnocchi, aloo tiki, or flatbread, or top a shepherd's pie.
- Chocolate truffles create a rich cup of hot chocolate.