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Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
5 min
11/12/2025
When hosting a holiday meal, it’s easy for the amount of rubbish produced from food packaging and waste to be more than just an overflowing recycle bin; If you take some time for preparation, make some choices, and find some clever ways to manage your leftovers, you can create a beautiful holiday meal that gives a feeling of generosity while reducing food and packaging waste.
Hosting a zero-waste holiday dinner is not about being perfect or doing everything that you can possibly do to not produce waste; it’s about your intent. When you put conscious thought into all aspects of your holiday dinner, from planning your portions to preparing your food for compost, from using what is left over into something else, to creating an abundant and respectful table, you begin to positively affect how people perceive celebrating the holiday. In summary, a low-waste Christmas is a table that is both abundant and respectful; it reminds us that we can enjoy and celebrate the holidays while still being environmentally cautious if we develop a habit of reusing, being mindful about how we cook, and thinking about the way we serve our guests.
Before you start preparing your holiday meal, ensure that you are going to provide your guests with the amount of food that they will actually eat. Don't guess how much food people will eat—use realistic numbers. Kids usually eat less than adults; some people who are dessert-oriented do not eat the main course, or people will just gather around the appetisers. In developing your menu, select recipes that use overlapping ingredients; i.e., roasted vegetables that become soup the next day or bread that can be made into stuffing and brunch toast. When you develop an intentional menu, it means that you will definitely be producing less food.
This is the initiation of eliminating waste. When going to bulk stores or grocery stores, make sure you have cloth bags, jars, or boxes. Look for bulk produce without any plastic wrapping. For the holiday seasons and gift-giving occasions, purchase spices and nuts in quantities that you plan on using, not in the jumbo pack that sits in the pantry all year long. By shopping in this manner, you will reduce trash and save money.
Christmas dinners typically result in many disposable plates and cups; however, real dishes create a more elegant and waste-free meal. If you don't own a set of plates of the same style or colour, mix and match. No one cares at Christmas. Encourage your guests to bring their own plates or rent them from a rental company for large gatherings. You will accomplish the greatest waste reduction by avoiding single-use items.
Setting an attractive buffet or food station allows guests to select the food they will eat and prevents food from becoming wasted on uneaten plates. The placement of the lighter dishes (vegetables, salads, etc.) at the beginning of the buffet will naturally encourage guests to take less when they finally reach the heartier dishes; therefore, they will reduce waste without any uncomfortable conversations about too much/too little food taken or eaten.
When you have leftover food after a meal, use it to create meal items to eat during the remainder of the week. The first thing to do is to use the roasted vegetables you have left over and transform them into frittatas. If you have leftover turkey, you can use it to make pasta dishes. If you have leftover gravy, then add it to a base for your soup. You can freeze fresh herbs in cubes mixed with olive oil, and the bread can be turned into either breadcrumbs or desserts (i.e., bread pudding).
There is no need to buy a centrepiece for your dining table. Use fresh herbs (pot, not cut), citrus peels, paper leftovers from gift wrapping, and old ribbons you have saved for a rustic look or use the bowls for fruit as centrepieces. If you would like to light your table with candles, make sure to choose unscented candles in reusable holders. Less is usually more.
No matter how meticulously you plan to prepare your holiday meals, there will always be scraps. Set up a small compost bin in your kitchen for your vegetable peelings (carrots, celery, etc.), your eggshells (do not dispose of the thin inner shell), and your leftover herbs. If you don’t have a place to compost at home, many cities have compost programs/drop-off points available. Composting will significantly reduce your landfill waste from your holiday meal and provide an “environmentally friendly” way to recycle.
The number-one hack for creating a zero-waste party is to encourage your guests to take home their leftover food in their own containers instead of making them take the food home in plastic boxes or foil. Most importantly, everyone wins when this happens; you do not have to worry about waste, your guests will have a ready-made meal when they go home, and there are no more plastic containers or plastic wrap to deal with on your end, which creates a more relaxed feel. Make it relaxed by saying, "If you want to take home leftovers, bring a container!" This immediately changes the tone from one of excess to sharing.
Gratitude does not have any strict or prescriptive aspect to it, so creating a zero-waste party allows us to shift the holiday mood from one of excess and indulgence to that of gratitude. Your food will still taste as delicious, you will still have great conversations, and the overall appearance of your table will still be festive. However, the post-party trash, refrigerator, and guilt will be minimised, and this may be one of the best gifts you can give yourself this holiday season.
