Thrown food helps increase household waste by more than 25% between Thanksgiving and New Years, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Regardless, at the center of the celebrations, almost every holiday has one thing in common – meeting loved ones for a delicious meal.
Despite the good season, a problem can begin with your plate. Discarded foods add more than 25% to household waste between Thanksgiving and New Years, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Jackie Suggitt, director of capital, innovation and engagement at ReFED, a national nonprofit fighting food loss and waste in the United States, agrees that food waste increases, especially towards the end of the year.
“When you consider that there are lots of guests and unexpected visitors over the holidays,” said Suggitt. “So people try to have different options on hand for people that don’t always get eaten. It is also a time of different schedules. Children have vacation from school, other family members have company vacation … They are all atypical meals. “
Given the increase in vaccinations and the availability of boosters for COVID-19, Suggitt said, “there is a feeling of wanting to catch up in the past two years”.
Amid rising food costs and supply chain bottlenecks, families are looking for ways to celebrate without breaking the bank.
To save money and reduce waste, this year Suggitt shared ReFED’s Food Waste Five, which you can use when preparing your holiday meals.
Plan ahead
Before entering the supermarket, plan not only what you want to buy, but also how you want to use it.
“A lot of that planning ahead is done before you go to the grocery store because once you get there it’s so hard,” said Suggitt. “Ask anyone who is not shopping with a list or is hungry, it is really difficult to show discretion when buying.”
“Don’t buy groceries without having a meal plan a few days in advance and think about the times you will be eating at holiday parties or out.”
She recommended using the guest imator on savethefood.com, created by the Natural Resources Defense Council, to help cottage chefs plan their parties and purchase the right amount of food.
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Other tips Suggitt mentioned include checking the labels, shopping with leftovers, and buying less while shopping more often to keep the groceries fresher.
Store your groceries properly
When you come home from shopping, it is important to store your groceries properly so that they can last longer.
“For example, fresh herbs can be kept in a glass of water like flowers … and kept in the refrigerator,” said Suggitt. “Apples should be kept in the refrigerator, but oranges can stay on the counter.”
The US Environmental Protection Agency recommends storing bananas, apples and tomatoes alone because some products “release natural gas as they ripen, making other products spoil faster”.
Use your freezer
By buying frozen products or preparing your own frozen meals, you not only reduce food waste, but also save time.
“There are many additional benefits across the board too, obviously for meal prep … you can save time having food pre-frozen and not having to start from scratch,” Suggitt said.
A wide variety of foods can be stored in your freezer, including bacon and sausage, casseroles, and soups, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. Exceptions are canned food and eggs in shells.
Learn the labels
One of the most confusing parts of preparing your own meals can be date tags on food, including “Best When Used By” and “Sell By”.
“Knowing what these labels actually mean can help prevent consumers from throwing away food that is still good,” Suggitt said. “These labels usually relate to the quality of the products, not the safety of the products. We encourage consumers to use their best judgment. If a product looks good, smells good, and tastes good, then it’s probably okay to consume. “
According to the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, these labels are provided by manufacturers “to help consumers and retailers decide when food is the best quality.” With the exception of infant formula, these labels are “not an indicator of the safety of the product and are not required by federal law”.
‘Eat down’ to use leftovers
After the holiday meals come and go, encourage some creativity to use your leftovers wisely.
While taking the first step in planning before grocery shopping, Suggitt recommends adding a day to your schedule to “finish off” your leftovers.
“You can create this scrap heap by thinking of things like tacos or soups or salads that you can be really creative about with a range of different ingredients,” she said.
With careful planning and ingenuity, you can use these tips to reduce food waste during the holidays and into the new year.
Catherine Nolte is a corps member of Report for America, a national utility that places journalists in local newsrooms. She can be reached at cnolte@swtimes.com. Southwest Times Record and Report for America are working to place a new generation of journalists in community news organizations across the country. Will you support this effort today?
This article originally appeared on the Fort Smith Times Record: 5 Tips to Reduce Food Waste During Your Christmas Party