What to do with those holiday leftovers
SAN DIEGO — For many people, the holidays mean a time for sharing a meal with loved ones, feasting until the point where some may be too full to have another bite.
As the meal nears its end and folks are unbuckling their belts to give space to their satisfied stomach, another nearly universal holiday tradition starts to unfold: deciding what to do about all the leftover food.
The holidays — stretching from Thanksgiving or New Year’s — is a time of year that can be easier-than-normal to end up with quite a bit of food waste.
Don’t put these foods in the garbage disposal after your Thanksgiving meal
Each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that around 70 billion pounds of food waste reaches a landfill, accounting for about a quarter of all municipal solid waste. During the holidays, federal officials say the amount of food that is received by landfills rises about 25%.
This excessive food waste can contribute to harmful emissions, pollution and other health hazards.
As much as 14% of all methane gas emissions in the U.S. are from landfill waste, according to the EPA — the third-largest source behind natural gas and enteric fermentation.
On top of that, U.S. food loss and waste contributes to about 170 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture — equal to the annual CO2 emissions of 42 coal-fired power plants.
Aside from the environmental impact, food waste can have a strain on your wallet. The average family of four spends around $1,500 each year on food that goes uneaten, according to the EPA.
With all that in mind, there are some suggestions about how to limit holiday food waste — like what to do with those leftovers from your feast before they need to be tossed.
Find ways to reuse leftovers
After a big holiday gathering, one of the easiest ways to make sure that any leftovers do not go to waste is by eating it all later!
If you’re hosting folks over at your home, a way to make this easier on you is by sending some leftovers home with your guests in Tupperware or other to-go containers for them to eat the day after your gathering.
You can also get creative with ways to use leftovers as ingredients for a new meal after the big feast. Leftover meat and vegetables can be made into a casserole or soup. Mashed potatoes can be made into some potato pancakes. If you want to throw basically everything into one dish, try making a shepherds pie.
Compost the leftovers
Most food scraps can be composted! Instead of throwing leftovers into a garbage bin, it can be put in an at home compost pile or organic waste collection bin — like the City of San Diego’s green bins.
The only kind of food that may want to stay out of your compost is meat or bones, as it can attract unwanted pests into your home or backyard.
If you do not have a bin or a way to compost at home, there are collection sites across the county that can take your leftover food scraps. To find a site near you, visit the county’s Waste Free SD website or the County Department of Public Works website.
San Diego reached highest-ever recycling rate last year
What to do for the next holiday
The easiest way to reduce food waste is to simply not cook too much for the number of people you are hosting. While it is a little late to do that with this Thanksgiving, there are a few more opportunities this holiday season to adopt a smart shopping strategy to have enough food that will make people’s stomachs happy without making too much.
If you are hosting, there are plenty of online tools — like SaveTheFood.com — that can help you calculate how much food you will need to prepare for the number of people coming over and how much they typically eat.
Have a happy holidays!!
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