It’s that time of year again! The leaves have fallen, and cooler weather is firmly in place for the season. The air is crisp, and the faint scent of pumpkin-flavored everything fills the air. Thanksgiving is right over the horizon, and families around the country will gather around a dinner table filled with an abundance of delicious home-cooked food. But this holiday mainstay, as beloved as it is, produces an enormous amount of food waste each year. Families often prepare far too much, and once the event is over, that food ends up in the trash. In fact, Americans produce more than 25% more waste during the holidays compared to the rest of the year.
And though this wastefulness seems to spike around the holidays, we’ve made it an unfortunate part of our everyday lives. The average American family tosses, on average, over 1000 pounds of wasted food each year thanks to sheer wastefulness. That’s a lot! So, what are the best steps to reduce the waste and right the problem?
Tips for Reducing Food Waste During the Holidays
Food waste is a massive problem in our modern world, but you do have the power to minimize it. By taking careful measures during your next Thanksgiving feast, you can do your part to reduce the amount of food that ends up spoiling in the trash. Below, we’ve put together a few tips:
Plan Your Holiday Meal Ahead of Time
There’s no better way to reduce the amount of wasted food than by planning your holiday meal in advance. Knowing how many dishes you’ll need to prepare, having a thorough knowledge of what food will be remaining, and how to best store it will help you ensure that you don’t waste food or ingredients.
Be Creative with Leftovers
Leftovers are a fantastic way of minimizing food waste. After your Thanksgiving feast, simply store your leftovers in sealable containers and enjoy them for several days after. This will greatly reduce the amount of food that makes it to the trash. And besides, there’s nothing better than a leftover turkey sandwich!
Better Portion Management
Portion management is a major issue throughout the world, especially around Thanksgiving. Understanding how much you can (and should) eat in one sitting will significantly reduce the amount of food that ends up in a landfill.
Estimate Your Number of Guests
Having a good idea of how many guests to expect is another fantastic way of properly rationing out food and minimizing waste. By doing this, you won’t have to fill up the freezer in your metal building with containers of green bean casserole.
Plan What Ingredients You’ll need
How many times have you tossed extra ingredients in the trash simply because there’s no place to store them? If you take the time to plan out the ingredients you need, you can considerably reduce excess food.
Properly Store Leftovers
Taking measures to properly seal and store your leftovers will ensure that they last far longer. And there’s no better time to put that freezer in your metal building to good use! Storing leftovers properly will significantly reduce food waste.
Save Scraps
Sometimes, you can use ingredients or leftovers again for different meals! Using your scraps in clever ways can put a new spin on old dishes and minimize what food makes into the trash.
Donate food
If you’re expecting plenty of guests and end up with a large assortment of food, you could always donate! Donating food to the less fortunate is a fantastic way to help out while minimizing waste.
Encourage Guests to Bring a Dish
By having your potential guests prepare and bring a dish, you can reduce the amount of waste you’ll end up with at the end of the holiday. Additionally, this will save tons of time in cleanup efforts!
Understanding How Long Food Lasts
We’ve all opened a plate of leftovers that were “leftover” for just a little too long. It happens! But by developing a rough understanding of how long particular food types last will allow you to ration leftovers more efficiently. Your family will be well-fed, and you won’t have to worry about food waste.
Wasting Food is Wasting Money
It’s pretty simple! All the excess food you buy and toss away over the years adds up. It may not seem like much at the moment, but on average, families lose over $1500 a year in nothing but wasted food. Why give away all that money? You could easily use those funds for new home furniture, renovating a room, or even that metal building you’d been wanting.
Metal Buildings During the Holidays
You’re probably asking yourself what metal buildings have to do with Thanksgiving celebrations. But these versatile buildings can help in a great many ways over the holidays. Metal building prices are often more significantly more inexpensive than wooden alternatives. And they can be customized extensively. Whether you need a simple place to store extra furniture and supplies, or you intend to use the space to host an event, these steel buildings are the real deal!
If you’re hosting a large family event, these metal buildings make excellent party headquarters. Steel structures offer plenty of available square footage and can easily be insulated to create a comfortable living and eating space. Bonus points if you hook up the TV to catch the big game!
How Can Get Carports Help!
Thanksgiving is a holiday for enjoying time with friends and family. And part of that enjoyment centers around a large, delicious turkey dinner. But what happens to the leftovers once the meal is over? Many families will do their best to use these leftovers, but an abundance of this food still finds its way into the trash. And with so many people celebrating each year, it’s no surprise that tons of food are left to spoil and waste.
Therefore, it’s essential to do our part to minimize the amount of waste that occurs throughout the holidays. There are plenty of ways to accomplish this, from storing and saving leftovers to simple portion control. We all must play a part in minimizing food waste.
Get Carports is proud to offer premium metal buildings no matter the occasion. These buildings are strong, durable, and capable of standing up to the worst that nature can conjure. They’re also incredibly versatile and function well in almost any setting. Whether you’re hosting a large thanksgiving event, or you simply need a place to store your vehicles, Get Carports aims to be your one-stop-shop for everything metal buildings.
So, if you’re looking for some of the best metal building prices in the game, you’ve come to the right place! Call us today at (800) 691-5221.
