Thanksgiving eve we are so focused on what to prepare and stressing if we are going to have enough food for everyone. It's always ironic how much food is left over the following day! The worst part is most Americans tend to throw it all out.
"Americans throw away roughly $165 billion in uneaten food every year, according to government data. And about $293 million of that waste will happen during Thanksgiving — and that’s just for turkey alone."
To avoid wasting all that food we took time and money for, here are a few tips to keep in mind next year:
Portion control: Don't be worried that everyone won't have enough. Since thanksgiving usually means a great variety of food, there will be more than enough to go around
Provide Containers: This is something that will promote your guests into wanting to take home food. Make sure your guests know you are more than happy to be sharing all this left over food!
Double Checking Ingredients: This is always a common problem for my household, and that is buying ingredients we already have at home. Always make sure you aren't doubling up on things you already have
Freezing Food: There's certain foods you can definitely freeze and save for different recipes, such as fresh fruit for future smoothies, YUM!
Future Recipes: This is a personal instinct that I do in general, which is thinking of what I can turn a leftover into, my family usually has chicken instead of turkey and I always turn the rest of the scraps of chicken into a homemade chicken salad for lunch
If you have extra sweet potatoes from thanksgiving, consider our sweet potato pancakes for breakfast! See Recipe below.
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