How to make a sustainable holiday meal easier

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The holiday season is ramping up in North America, which for many of us means more time spent gathered around a table full of delicious food shared with family and friends. It’s also the time of the year with some of the highest levels of food waste.

According to ReFED, a US nonprofit dedicated to reducing food waste, Americans throw out 305 million pounds of food on Thanksgiving alone. Put in more practical terms, the food ending up in landfills this weekend could provide six and a half meals for each of the more than 30 million food insecure individuals in the country.

Beyond the effects on our communities, food waste has a devastating effect on our planet. 

When we throw out our food, we’re also wasting all the energy it took to grow, harvest, transport, package, and sell it. And when that food ends up in landfills, it rots and releases high levels of planet-harming greenhouse gasses.

In fact, each stage of producing and disposing of our food generates emissions that are worsening climate impacts around the world – with food waste alone accounting for 8% of our total global emissions.

According to Project Drawdown, reducing food waste is the highest-impact action we can take as individuals and households to combat climate change and limit its effects on our communities and our planet.

To help you lead by example for a climate safe future this holiday season, we’ve put together a list of the top five ways make a sustainable holiday meal easier – complete with useful tips, handy tools, and delicious recipes.
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1. Make a plan
   When hosting a holiday meal for family and friends, one of the biggest fears (aside from your uncle’s ill-timed jokes) is not having enough food for everyone. Happily, savethefood.com has created a handy “guest-imator tool”.
   
   All you have to do is input the amount of guests you’ll have and a few other details about the meal, and it will give you a menu and shopping list of the exact amounts of each food item you’ll need.
   
   You can use this information to create a shopping plan to help you make sure your guests will leave full and happy – without the waste.
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2. Take stock of what you have 
   You may want to rush out to the store with your list, but when you get there it can be hard to remember if you have certain items at home. As a result you buy more than you need just to be safe.
   
   Before you head out to the shops with your plan, take some time to go through your fridge and pantry to see what you already have. This not only saves you money, but will also help make room in your fridge for those delicious leftovers.
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3. Shop the farmers market first
   At this time of year, big box grocery stores are stocked from floor to ceiling with just about every item imaginable – and often on a buy-one-get-one sale. This makes it easy to buy things outside of your list, and more than you need.
   
   Try starting your shopping at your local farmers’ market. Not only will you be less tempted to overbuy, you’ll also be supporting your local farmers who are growing with more sustainable, planet-friendly methods.
   
   In fact, supporting small local food producers is one of the first steps towards creating climate safe food regions. When we buy from local producers, we cut down on both the amount of food lost and pollution created in transport – which, in the case of large-scale industrial producers, can be thousands of miles from farm to fork.
   
   Plus, with climate impacts already disrupting availability of food around the world, shortening this food supply chain helps us build resilient communities by making them more self-sufficient. 
   
   What better way to give thanks than to fill your table with seasonal, fresh food grown with love and care, while strengthening your community at the same time?
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4. Use what you’d toss and compost the rest
   Out of habit, many of us throw out large portions of our food that can actually be eaten.
   Helpfully, in the past few years there has been a push to encourage what’s called root-to-stem cooking – which can help you trim down on food waste, while also saving money and incorporating more nutrition and flavor into your menu.
   
   Carrot tops? Make a delicious carrot top pesto.
   Onion skins and veggie peels? Freeze them to use later in a flavourful veggie broth.
   
   And remember to compost leftovers, not throw them away. Composting food waste keeps it out of landfills (reducing emissions) and recycles essential nutrients back into the soil, keeping our local environment healthy and vibrant.
   
   For more ideas on ways to use food scraps this holiday and beyond, check out the Scrappy Cooking YouTube channel.
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5. Store and use leftovers wisely
   Let’s be honest – leftovers are one of the best parts of a holiday meal! But if we aren’t thoughtful about how we store and use them, they often end up in the landfill.
   
   Encourage your guests to bring their own reusable containers so they can take some home. Store whatever is left in tightly sealed glass containers, and make a plan to use them over the next 3-4 days.
   
   And if you’re getting tired of turkey sandwiches by day two, here are some tasty and creative recipes to get the most out of your leftovers.
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Gathering around the table to share a wonderful meal is one of life’s great pleasures. As we come together this holiday season, we can also take the opportunity to use our actions to show gratitude not just to our family and friends, but also for this beautiful planet that sustains and nourishes us.
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