At ReFED, our staff is deeply passionate about our mission to catalyze the food system toward evidence-based action to stop wasting food. So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that ReFED employees go above and beyond to minimize food waste in their homes. And that’s particularly important during the holiday season, when the Environmental Protection Agency estimates the amount of household garbage can increase by 25 percent between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. Since food makes up about a quarter of what we throw away, a lot of that extra trash is wasted food.

So to help you get ahead of it, we asked the ReFED staff to share helpful tips for reducing food waste around the holidays. Check them out below!

Sara Burnett, Executive Director

We always make a big deal out of "sample dinner." It really is leftovers, but we rebrand it as "samplers," so you can try all sorts of cuisine. We also mash up leftovers if needed to add to the samples, e.g. rolls turn into sliders, roasted veggies get thrown in a quiche.

Minnie Ringland, Manager, Climate & Insights

In Buffalo and other places where the outside temperature usually stays below freezing, we use the back porch as an extra fridge/freezer!

Jackie Suggitt, Vice President, Business Initiatives & Community Engagement

I don’t plan/shop for any other meals during the week of big holidays—I find we either eat out or eat leftovers (or do something simple like pancakes or grilled cheese) to compensate for the amount of food and time/energy that goes into holiday cooking.

Jeff Costantino, Communications Director

Try your best to cook for the number of people that you will be hosting. Look up how many people a dish will serve (or use a tool like the Guest-imator) and then only prepare three-quarters or a half size of that dish to better align with the number of people you’re serving. Because leftovers are great, but how many servings of stuffing can you actually eat?

Erik Mudrak, Senior Frontend Software Engineer

Prevent food waste by leveling up your grocery list! We reuse a shared checklist organized by aisle in the Notes app, and uncheck items every week. Also, we leave a sharpie and some masking tape by the freezer so that we can easily label and date the leftovers we put in. It keeps the freezer more organized and makes it much quicker to find something tasty (and reduces the amount of time you spend with the door open).

Dana Gunders, President

This Thanksgiving, we hosted. Along with everything else I was cooking, I sauteed an onion, added some broth, and then added all the vegetable scraps as I was cooking—even the carrot ends, asparagus ends, cauliflower butts, etc. I let it cook while everything else was cooking and then pureed it with a little cream and voila, we had "Thanksgiving Scrap Soup" to go with the rest of the meal (though could be saved for post-meal too).

Ann Dang, Development and Finance Coordinator

We love hosting a New Years Eve's party for all our friends! We usually go heavy on the appetizers and dessert which are my favorite. I'll freeze leftover dessert in little snack-size zip lock bags to have a sweet break here and there in the New Year!

Skyler Sinclair, Director of Engineering

On Thanksgiving, when my house realized we'd made too much food, I brought some to my neighbor who has trouble getting out and cooking for herself. I can't think of a better way to reduce food waste than sharing with the folks next door!

Nate Clark, Communications and Content Manager

Even when you’re extra careful not to cook too much, or have maxed out your freezer space, it’s possible that you’ll still end up with some unavoidable food scraps. Check your options for diverting those food scraps from landfill—whether that’s curbside collection, a drop-off site, home composting, or even signing up for a subscription collection service!

Check out additional tips for reducing food waste in your home.