As with many other religious celebrations, food plays a key role during the Christmas festivities. Sitting around the table, we share our time with family and friends -some of whom we haven’t seen for a while- and a lot of effort goes into making it as special and enjoyable as possible. This is an occasion where we give a lot of importance to the quality of what we eat, as well as the quantity. In terms of Christmas food “more is still more” and, as a result, we often end up buying far over what it will be consumed.
Preparing for Christmas is an arduous task. So many options and treats become suddenly available to us at the supermarkets… Who can resist? Approximately 66% of people admit to buying too much Christmas food that ends up in the bin. In the UK alone, the food waste goes up by 30% at Christmas, amounting to a total of 42 million dishes of Christmas food going straight to the bin.
How to avoid food waste over Christmas
A lot of the work to avoid food waste over Christmas must be done in advance. It wouldn’t make a lot of sense to fill the whole table with highly perishable food and then expect everyone to eat it and be disappointed when they don’t. Planning, as well as a bit of preparation, is essential to reduce your waste.
The first thing to do is to make an inventory of the food you already have in your cupboards. So many times, we forget that we have stuff because we don’t use it enough. This is particularly the case with spices and sauces. When doing that, remember that “best before” is the date until which a product retains its specific qualities when the product has been stored appropriately and the package unopened. While “use by” dates tell us until when a food may be used safely.
Guess who is coming for dinner
We all probably eat more over Christmas and are more open to try dishes and ingredients we don’t eat during the year. However, it’d be unlikely that we triple, or even double, what we eat.
After you have gone through the content of your pantry, think about who you are going to be feeding and when. We often have around people that we know well, but, if that’s not the case, consider sending them a quick questionnaire beforehand to find out their “deepest” dietary secrets. Some things to consider:
🎄How many guests will be coming and when
🎄What meals will they be joining?
🎄Are they big eaters?
🎄Do they have any dietary requirements?
🎄What food do they hate?
🎄How many children will be there?
Craft your Christmas menu carefully
Once you have all the information related to your guests, you can think about the menu, and what ingredients you’ll need. There are many apps out there -Paprika; Forks over knives; Yummly, etc- that can help you with this process as well as give you delicious ideas to include in your Christmas dinners. Whatever your choices are, try to have the following in mind:
🎄Unify as many ingredients as you can. Many festive recipes include ingredients that you’ll only use ones. Are they necessary? Can you substitute them for something else?
🎄In the case of the big Christmas meals, think about setting up a menu budget per person, including starters, mains, drinks and deserts. This would help you get a clear understanding of where the costs go, but also of how much food you are planning to eat.
🎄Adapt your portions to your guests’ taste. How many have said that they don’t like brussels? If many don’t, cook just a little for those who do.
🎄Don’t be afraid to move away from the traditional menu. You can serve a special meal without having to include the typical Christmas dishes, if you think that means you have the same enjoyment and less waste.
🎄Go for variety or quantity, not for the two. There are two types of menus. The ones that include very few dishes, but more amount each of them. And the ones that have more smaller dishes. Don’t mix them both.
🎄In terms of desserts, think small. The chances are that everyone will be pretty full at the end of the meal.
Christmas aftermath, what to do with the leftovers?
The chances are that, even if you follow all our advice, you’ll still have some leftovers after your Christmas meals. Ask your guests to bring a container to take some of the leftover with them. Once you have shared whatever was left, you can freeze the rest or, in the case of sauces and cheeses, use them as ingredients for other meals.
Christmas is a wonderful time to spend with our dearests and to treat them as well as treat ourselves. Just make sure you do it in a conscious way, that is good for you and for the planet. Have a jolly and not wasteful Christmas!
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